20 Crated Spitfires Found in Burma????

[Phil Lloyd]

I heard a similar story when I was an engineering drawing student back in the early nineties. I was studying at the UCE in Birmingham and my final project was to produce a set of drawings of the German Henschel Hs 293 glider bomb at RAF Cosford.
My course lecturer who had worked for Blackburn Aviation told us of a story regailed to him from a test pilot who had worked at the Castle Bromwich airfield after the war. Around 1948 when production of the Spitfires ended, he said that surplus engines and other material were buried in the air-raid pits on the airfield. It is now a housing estate and interestingly the camouflage paint is still on the outer factory walls. Whether this is a chinese whispers story which has been embelished over the years I don't know. But I always wondered if it was true...
Regarding the Burma Spitifre expedition I sincerely hope it bears fruit, however a couple of things just don't seem logical to me...
Firstly, why not just destroy the aircraft instead of going to the trouble of burying them in pits 40 feet deep? Surely this would only be done if someone intended to return and recover them.
Secondly, why not just assemble them and fly them elsewhere?
Thirdly, surely there would be substantial paperwork about this event. You don't just bury dozens of brand new fighter aircraft without orders from up high.
...and finally, from a GEN newsreel I saw of MKVs being uncrated in North Africa, the Merlins (or Griffons) were not fitted, so I suppose you may need alot of engines too!
As I say, I do hope they find something but have my doubts.

[Tony Kambic]

What about the excitement in finding the P-38 "Glacier Girl" in Greenland, expecting it to be in perfect condition. The freezing and thawing over 40 some years basically crushed the aircraft. So if the Spits are there, cosmoline and crated, still could be some surprises.

[Larry deZeng]

Hope springs eternal.

[John Beaman]

Gee, no titilating reports of Spitfires buried in the last week? What gives? Does this mean there may not be any?

[Graham Boak]

According to the latest issue of Aeroplane, further digging at the site has been banned by the Myanmar authorities because of fears of damage to airfield facilities. The archeologists have stated that there were clearly no Spitfires present. The organiser has blamed the sponsor and film crew for the choice of site not being optimal. It might have been more convincing had he said this beforehand. He has moved to Myatkina, with presumably the last of the true believers, to find the Spitfires he knows to be there.

The world awaits.

[John Beaman]

So, Graham, as opposed to a "wild goose chase", this might be a "wild Spitfire chase"? sorry!

[RangerJimK]

Originally Posted by Tony Kambic

What about the excitement in finding the P-38 "Glacier Girl" in Greenland, expecting it to be in perfect condition. The freezing and thawing over 40 some years basically crushed the aircraft. So if the Spits are there, cosmoline and crated, still could be some surprises.

Actually, "Glacier Girl" and the other members of the Lost Flight landed on top of an active, growing glacier. So, it wasn't so much a case of "freezing and thawing over 40 some years," it was a case of snow falling and not melting, and then repeat in every snowstorm up to the present day.

A fascinating story, indeed! But as I recall the story, the probe hit one of the B-17s first, and it had indeed been seriously damaged by the ice. But the aircraft hunters came back the following year and found "Glacer Girl" which appeared to be in pretty good condition. And that's the one they excavated.

Yes, it had some damage which wasn't discovered until the inspection phase, but I don't think that it was "basically crushed."

Jim Kirk

[John Beaman]

The BBC announced today that the search for "crated Spitfires" has been called off. It commented that it apparently a myth in spite of what some "eyewitnesses" have stated.

[Graham Boak]

I've yet to see any comment from David Cundall, who has put so much effort into this search. I suspect he may have a different attitude.

The BBC report, and further comments on the Key Publishing website, have highlighted the small number of Spitfires (37?) ever brought into Burma by ship, and the procedures taken to fly out or specifically scrap airframes when the RAF left Burma. Something you'd have thought could have been researched before this farce ever took place, but if you view it in terms of the publicity gained by the sponsor it becomes more understandable why they ever bothered.

[John Beaman]

Originally Posted by Graham Boak

but if you view it in terms of the publicity gained by the sponsor it becomes more understandable why they ever bothered.

Truth, indeed, Graham!

"The only bad publicity is no publicity", attributted to Heda Hopper