Over 60 Spitfires found buried in Myanmar (Burma)

[Brit plumber]

Has this English eccentric found sixty perfectly preserved Spitfires buried in a jungle grave? | Mail Online

They stop short of saying what the fibre optics picked up down there.

On the bright side Peter, there could be another 1000+ Browning .303 machine guns to play with.

BBC News - Spitfire redux: The WWII guns firing after 70 years buried in peat

[jmoore]

That they buried new Spitfires wouldn't be a surprise. What would be a surprise is that they weren't pushed into a pit with a bulldozer and then then simply driven over with the same bulldozer as it pushed dirt into the hole. That would be normal!

[Peter Laidler]

Or didn't even unload them off the supply ships and dumped them overboard like the unwanted 432's (our M113's) after Gulf 1

Anyone else want to come in and wager/pledge (a VERY safe) a small sum, of say, £5 if Farmer Giles and his pals do find anything remotely like Spitfires. To Any local to you Forces charity nominated by Badger?

I've got to come clean and confess that living within a few miles of me I know two people who are involved in the aircraft restoration game. One makes certified parts that the engine sits on (are they called 'bearers'?) and other similar parts and another makes complete(?) tailplane assemblies including some fabric covered stuff for certainly Hurricanes and maybe Spitfires (do they have fabric covered tails?). They have heard about this stuff for years now and chuckle about it.

If the planes are anything like the Catalinas at the bottom of Loch Erne, then they won't be going anywhere!

[PrinzEugen]

Although it would be nice if they were dug up pristine, ready to be bolted back together there does seem to overall be a lack of evidence that they're still there. The news report refers to a bore hole passing through timber at a depth of 40ft (no suggestion that it found anything else) - certainly that would suggest that someone was being very thorough in disposing of some unwanted equipment!

[Peter Laidler]

That's right Prinz. When they were boreing down to the Flying Fortress -= or was it a Liberator - and the Lockheed Lightnings in Iceland, they came up with a core of ice and positively identifiable wing section. But alas, no Spitfires yet.

To be honest, I 'd be pleased if they did find 'something' or even any aeroplane. It'll have made losing my wager to a worthy charity fun

[browningautorifle]

I promise to be suitably overwhelmed if they find something. But, I doubt it.

[villiers]

Maybe they´ll be similar to "still in the wrap Enfields" ... too expensive to unwrap, so we might just as well pack some bricks in grease proof paper and pretend that there´s a Spitfire inside.

[Lee Enfield]

That they buried new Spitfires wouldn't be a surprise. What would be a surprise is that they weren't pushed into a pit with a bulldozer and then then simply driven over with the same bulldozer as it pushed dirt into the hole. That would be normal!

I've seen pictures (Actually I think it might have been film footage in the "World at War" series) from the Burma theater after war of bull dozers scraping a hole, pushing Spits and P38s into it and then pushing the pile of dirt back on top.

StarDestroyer.Net BBS View topic - How do you get rid of Surplus Equipment in 1945? (PIC HEAVY)

[Old_Crow]

There are artifacts buried all over the world from WWII. Why the powers that be waited so long to dig them up I don't know. I live near a WWII artillery range. Every hunting season someone finds something buried right here in NC. I don't think people could fathom that stuff would wash up 60 years later at that time.

[browningautorifle]

Most of the stuff that comes up on arty ranges is something that should be left alone. Usually UXO and it's deadly. They didn't have to bury it. It buried it's self.