Burmese Spitfires

[Neil Hutchinson]

Now, if they could find all those crated Mosquitoes in China - that would be a coup!

TTFN,
Neil

[ian redshaw]

Now, if they could find all those crated Mosquitoes in China - that would be a coup!

TTFN,
Neil

Coup, is that Chinese for compost??

Ian.

[Neil Hutchinson]

Redshaw, you hopeless child, Coup means successful action

[Ken Bones]

Redshaw, you hopeless child, Coup means successful action

Woosh!

Bonzey

[Vince Raia]

Well with all that hair you can't expect him to have brains under there too

[Bob Thompson1894]

Now, if they could find all those crated Mosquitoes in China - that would be a coup!

TTFN,
Neil

Coup, is that Chinese for compost??

Ian.

Thats where you keep your chickens, Ian....

[Ken Bones]

Oh dear! I knew what you meant Ian.

Whoosh and whoosh again.

Bonzey

[sean smith]

May be some nearer home? http://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/worl ... ngham.html

[ian redshaw]

Oh dear! I knew what you meant Ian.

Whoosh and whoosh again.

Bonzey

Cheers for confirming my sanity Ken, right over their heads!!!

Ian.

[Paul Holt]

I see on the BBC news this morning an article saying digging starts next week. Should be an interesting few weeks then.

[stewart clifford]

Too late, Chocky got there first, dug them up one night and shifted them back to his unit in Wiltshire.

In this months Flypast mag it has an article on this and the team have a blog which you can follow, I'll put the details of it on here later.

[Paul Holt]

Cheers Stewart, would be good to follow the dig.

[stewart clifford]

it's http://worldofwarplanes.eu

Also in the same edition there's a bit about a wildcat which has just been pulled intact from lake Michigan, they think there's atleast 70 more aircraft in that lake alone. Gives the doubters something to think about, there is so much of this stuff in lakes, forests, caves under the ground as well as no end of airframes in store all over the world. It always makes me laugh when I her the uneducated say "that can't happen".

[Paul Holt]

nice one

[david whiston]

I think this is absolutely fantastic and I think / hope we will all be pleasantly surprised once the aircraft are excavated. I am not an expert at this sort of thing but, I have sort of made a living digging holes all over the world so I have a little experience. My understanding is that the "cases" are burried in what was at the time a dried up river bed which is why they are lying under 36 feet of material. Now the last time we did any digging in that region the "soil" was what we might consider as marl, lots of clay in it . If you have seen the size of the cases and there are photo's of these on the web they are very similar to what we would call an ISO 20ft container the rear door pillars are 6 inch square. Now if you saw the "time team " dig of the WW1 trenches do you recall that the timber uncovered in the "mine" shaft leading to the German lines was in excellent conditon despite being under water since the end of WW1 ??
So my theory is that firstly the cases are more than capable of supporting the weight of the material that is covering them, if the material does have a lot of marl in it then the closer you get down to the cases the more compacted it becomes and the more compacted it is then the less likely water can pass through it , sort of a clay jacket,, the only issue is were the cases placed on similar material before burial to prevent water coming up from the old river base . So water proof could also mean air proof ??? I do not know you guys know much more about spitfires than me , but my hope is that they are sealed ( mummifed ) by the clay, Ok the electrics will most likely be shot, but everything else ??? who knows. The Engine powering the first re pro fe2b built by the Vintage Aviator was I beleive ( I am probably wrong) discovered in a farm yard in Argentina ?? open to the elements,, it seems to be running ok today ...
Anyway I say best of luck to the team in Burma and I truly hope they strike gold

[Mike Booth]

One aspect of this that fascinates me, is that there is just a chance that we will see genuine preserved camouflage and marking from the period.
Something that must be almost unique .
Another thought is that if it is possible to recover artifacts from the Titanic, this dig must be a piece of cake.
I hear digging is underway, so it can't be long before some pictures are made public.

[Bob Thompson1894]

I think this is absolutely fantastic and I think / hope we will all be pleasantly surprised once the aircraft are excavated. I am not an expert at this sort of thing but, I have sort of made a living digging holes all over the world so I have a little experience. My understanding is that the "cases" are burried in what was at the time a dried up river bed which is why they are lying under 36 feet of material. Now the last time we did any digging in that region the "soil" was what we might consider as marl, lots of clay in it . If you have seen the size of the cases and there are photo's of these on the web they are very similar to what we would call an ISO 20ft container the rear door pillars are 6 inch square. Now if you saw the "time team " dig of the WW1 trenches do you recall that the timber uncovered in the "mine" shaft leading to the German lines was in excellent conditon despite being under water since the end of WW1 ??
So my theory is that firstly the cases are more than capable of supporting the weight of the material that is covering them, if the material does have a lot of marl in it then the closer you get down to the cases the more compacted it becomes and the more compacted it is then the less likely water can pass through it , sort of a clay jacket,, the only issue is were the cases placed on similar material before burial to prevent water coming up from the old river base . So water proof could also mean air proof ??? I do not know you guys know much more about spitfires than me , but my hope is that they are sealed ( mummifed ) by the clay, Ok the electrics will most likely be shot, but everything else ??? who knows. The Engine powering the first re pro fe2b built by the Vintage Aviator was I beleive ( I am probably wrong) discovered in a farm yard in Argentina ?? open to the elements,, it seems to be running ok today ...
Anyway I say best of luck to the team in Burma and I truly hope they strike gold

I believe they were laid on teak logs, and have a roof over them made also from teak.

[david whiston]

I just read the cooment on the rcmf forum its a BBC report that they have "found a case" and its full of water... BUT this does not match up, the location and number of reported cases is wrong. This report I think refers to the reported earlier mark aircraft that the team said they were also aware of. my previous comments refer to the 36 cased Mark 14 aircraft supposedly at Rangoon international airport. WHICH the guy who has been looking for these aircraft discussed when he was on Breakfast tv, HE ALSO SAID ,,,,, that they had drilled down to one of the cases at Rangoon and a fusalage was clearly visible, he did not say anything about water nor did he say Spitfire fusalage he simply said fusalage. but the numbers now reported do match up with the volumes of aircraft reportedly buried at two diferent sites ...Fun isn't it. I think they are conducting two digs back to back for two diferent Spitfire types at two diferent locations,,,, Any replies please forward to my assistant Dr Watson at 22a Baker street London,,

[jimlambert]

Back in 1976 I was travelling through the highlands .. near Applecross when I spotted a Spitfire lying completely intact lying at the back of a barn with various bushes and assorted undergrowth poking out of it .. I made some enquires with the farmer and he said I could have it for 100 quid ... what a bargain !!... A few of my mates helped me to get it back to Glasgow and after a few months with the cataloy and a bit of knuckle busting I got it fired up and MOT'd I ran it for a while till the overdrive fragged the box into oblivion...... It also ended up at the bottom of a big ditch full of mud ...... Happy New Year ........ Jim

[Vince Raia]

Now the dig has started, this must be the hottest thread on the forum, I for one am watching it with baited breath!