20 WWII Spitfires in Original Crates??

[doc540]

Almost too good to be true.

20 Spits buried in Burma at the end of WWII.

Burma govt. gives ok to search and recover!

One can only HOPE!

The new Battle of Burma: Find 20 buried Spitfires and make them fly | Mail Online

 

[feralmerril]

Hope this is true. Still, I remember storys years ago of harleys being sold surplus for next to nothing and yet I never could track one down. I had a cousin that was in the navy on a carrier durring the war and told me about how they would shove fighters off the deck into the ocean if they had as much as a flat tire to make room for ones wanting to land!

 

[m1gunner]

Hope this is true. Still, I remember storys years ago of harleys being sold surplus for next to nothing and yet I never could track one down. I had a cousin that was in the navy on a carrier durring the war and told me about how they would shove fighters off the deck into the ocean if they had as much as a flat tire to make room for ones wanting to land!

It would make you cry to see the stuff we abandoned in Viet Nam. Some pushed off carrier decks, some just left on the tarmac.

 

[Chromedhearts]

'Wish they were Coursairs or Thunderbolts, but I guess the Spits fill the same role for our UK brothers.

 

[A10]

Wow! To see a squadron of Spitfires flying together.....now all we need is an even dozen B17's for them to escort!

 

[m1gunner]

Spits were short range aircraft, the long range escorts were done by other "Little Friends".

Did you, perhaps, mean to say Lancasters?

 

[Qball]

20 brand new (well, sort of) would be a sight so see .

Please let this be true

 

[A10]

Spits were short range aircraft, the long range escorts were done by other "Little Friends".

Did you, perhaps, mean to say Lancasters?

Sure....but I really like the sound of the B17! It was more for viceral enjoyment than historical reenactment.........

 

[feralmerril]

Slightly OT, but I once flew with a old RAF pilot that flew de Havilland mesquitos. He said the spit pilots were a little miffed at him as he always had the right of way on take offs as the mesquito would boil over in a short time if it didnt take off right away.

 

[CajunBass]

Spits were short range aircraft, the long range escorts were done by other "Little Friends".

Did you, perhaps, mean to say Lancasters?

In the early days of the 8th AF's campaign, Spitfires provided escort for the B-17's to the limit of their range. Later P-38's, 47's, and 51's took over the job, but it wouldn't be unheard of for Spitfires to do it.

My wife and I were at our LGS one day last summer, and there was a fellow there with a delightful English accent, talking to a couple of the fellows. He was showing them a picture of a young man in an RAF uniform. Suddenly 2+2 = 4, and it hit me. HE was the young man in the picture. He told my wife, he had been 19 when the picture was taken and yes, he had been a Spitfire pilot during the Battle of Britain. We were talking to one of the men Churchill called "the few." It was quite an honor.

 

[feralmerril]

I had a english girl friend that died on me. She claimed her dad was killed flying a spit. Her mother also was killed by a bomb in the battel of brittan. She was sent to boarding schools by the goverment.
Her mother lived near the gate to the victors plant in newcasle. A german bomber was trying for the plant and a bomb fell short and killed her mother and twin brother she said.
Latter when I was a lockheed guard there was a guy that was a english rep for the rolls royce engines we used on our L-10-11s.
We got talking and he told me he flew spits. I mentioned martine`s history and he almost started to cry. He knew of the incident and was part of the sory that the lone german bomber got through! He said the bomb fell short and killed a number of people that lived just up the street! It`s a small world!
I went through a bad divorice and put a ad in the paper for a nanny as I was fighting for custody and worked graveyard. We worked out a arrangment and she lived with me for about 12 years untill she died of cancer christmas of 1998. At a distance she was a close match to the nanny in that TV series!

 

[wbraswell]

Aren't Spitfires are mostly wooden. Don't they have termites in Burma

 

[novalty]

It would make you cry to see the stuff we abandoned in Viet Nam. Some pushed off carrier decks, some just left on the tarmac.

My step-father said the same thing. Equipment just pushed off carrier-decks into the ocean, some of it brand new.

 

[sjmjax]

Could be mistaken but I think...

Spitfires were all aluminum.
Hurricanes has some fabic covering - parts of fuselage I think.
Mosquitos were partially plywood.

 

[BaldEagle1313]

Aren't Spitfires are mostly wooden. Don't they have termites in Burma

Mosquito bomber was the mostly wooden plane, not the Spitfire. Being much lighter than a normal plane of its size, the Mosquito was very fast in its day. It also had no armament whatsoever - only defense was the speed. Powered by two Rolls Royce Merlin engines (same engines as in the Spitfire Mk II) with no gun turrets to interrupt airflow, when it debuted the top speed was 10% faster than the Spit - 390 MPH vs 360 MPH. The lack of gun turrets also made production simpler, and therefore quicker, a major strong point.

Later versions included supercharged engines increased the top speed to over 435 MPH.

 

[Kinman]

I also heard the deals about harleys and jeeps, only witnessed two complete military harleys in crates belonging to a very wealthy but equally wierd guy who also had a pair of each 426 hemi and 427 side oiler engines.
The worst military equipment loss I witnessed was during the Vietnamization period of the early 70's we handed over beautifully maintained ocean going tugboats, swifts and fleets of harbor vessels. I remember that while the Navy ran the swifts they were always out patrolling the harbor, when the Vietnamese took them over they spent most of thier time tied up at the docks, on good days laundry would be flapping in the breeze, kids playing on deck. We did the same thing with all of the materiel that was over there, probably one of the reasons after we left and the renegades took over they were the best equipped 3rd world military power. Hell Im suprised we didn't leave them a couple destroyers, battleships and a carrier or two.

 

[ikor]

Sadly these birds will be rotted and full of mud. Think 'monsoon season in SE Asia' There will be no new squadron of Spitfires. Nice idea however.

 

[jag312]

The worst military equipment loss I witnessed was during the Vietnamization period of the early 70's we handed over beautifully maintained ocean going tugboats, swifts and fleets of harbor vessels. I remember that while the Navy ran the swifts they were always out patrolling the harbor, when the Vietnamese took them over they spent most of thier time tied up at the docks, on good days laundry would be flapping in the breeze, kids playing on deck. We did the same thing with all of the materiel that was over there, probably one of the reasons after we left and the renegades took over they were the best equipped 3rd world military power. Hell Im suprised we didn't leave them a couple destroyers, battleships and a carrier or two.

I wonder if there are any Douglas Sky Raiders left there. If there are any survivors, and if the government would be willing to sell one, a friend and I would really like to buy one.

 

[wbraswell]

I knew the Mosquito was wooden, I thought the Spit had a lot of wood in it. Some Mosquitos were armed fighters, while some were bombers and photo-recon.

 

[deralte]

Each week when I go to our local Air Base I get to see a Spitfire mounted on a pedestal in front of the club. Its there because the 4th Fighter Wing is desended from the volunteers that flew them before the US got into the war.