Wingman Posted April 14, 2012 Share Posted April 14, 2012 Article on 20 buried Spitfires located in Burma - very poorly written piece but very interesting as they are believed to be still in sealed crates - if they succeed there might be more Spitfires flying than 1st line RAF fighters! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Cantwell Posted April 14, 2012 Share Posted April 14, 2012 OMG, new spitfires in crates? sealed edges, greased up, are we looking at the most significent aircraft find ever here????? sounds like the spitfire market is about to explode Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben B Posted April 14, 2012 Share Posted April 14, 2012 Interesting that they're fighter jets apparantly! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Cantwell Posted April 14, 2012 Share Posted April 14, 2012 yes, saw that, says it a few times too, daft journos Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin Harris - Moderator Posted April 14, 2012 Share Posted April 14, 2012 Which article are you (Ben, Alan) reading? However, advances in technology and the emergence of more agile jets meant they were never used My only real quibble would be that the jets that replaced Spits (and other piston engined fighters) weren't "more agile". Perhaps it could have been worded better but I read this as jets replacing them. That's the only reference I can find to the word jet in the article. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mondeoman Posted April 14, 2012 Share Posted April 14, 2012 As Martin says, the article does NOT call Spitfires jets.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wingman Posted April 14, 2012 Author Share Posted April 14, 2012 Actually, chaps, the copy has been corrected since this morning - probably due to the comments made about it - "The Prime Minister secured a historic deal that will see the fighter jets dug up and shipped back to the UK almost 67 years after they were hidden more than 40-feet below ground amid fears of a Japanese" was the original. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hogster Posted April 14, 2012 Share Posted April 14, 2012 Yes deffo called the spits fighter jets earlier. But tabloid journo`s aren`t always renowned for getting the facts correct are they? The main jist of the story is very interesting. Presumably the guy who found them will take ownership. and sell them on. I`d love to be there when they open the crates. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin Harris - Moderator Posted April 14, 2012 Share Posted April 14, 2012 That explains a lot! Sorry for doubting your interpretations of the article... I suspect there'll be a documentary made of the unearthing... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyclicscooby Posted April 14, 2012 Share Posted April 14, 2012 How brilliant is that..!! Well done Farmer.. Lets hope, if / when they return, they get to fly again, and not sit in a museum.. Luv Chrisie.. xx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Hargreaves - Moderator Posted April 14, 2012 Share Posted April 14, 2012 Yep spotted this too & was going to post it up but you beat me to it Wingman..... I suspect W F Deedes is revolving at high speed in his grave, Hogster, after your implying that the Telegraph is a tabloid...... Great find though....hope it proves to be as good as it sounds..... Interesting that the father of Aung San Suu Kyi was the man who kicked the British out of Burma after WWII..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Bott - Moderator Posted April 14, 2012 Share Posted April 14, 2012 That really is significant news. Will they really be in good condition? Let's hope so. The article mentions that they are MkII's but that doesn't really tie up with them being delivered just as jets were coming on to the scene... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Hargreaves - Moderator Posted April 14, 2012 Share Posted April 14, 2012 Chris I interpreted that to mean that it wasn't worth recovering the Spits because they had been superceded by jet fighters.......the article in the paper says they were left behind for the Karens (an ethnic group fighting Burma for independance) to dig up & use..... I've heard of burying weapons before but never a whole squadron of fighters...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Cantwell Posted April 14, 2012 Share Posted April 14, 2012 they deffo said jets, but now its changed, look at the time i was looking at it !!! the spits are MK14s, it says on another news site, yet on another, they just refer to spits, but show the picture of a hurricane!!!! got to be said though, a MK14 is worth, restored, about 1.5million, unrestored, in good nick, about 250k, now then, why would a country let them go,for nothing?? they have been abadoned on burmese property, so, for me, they are the property of the burmese crown, mind you, if cameron gets the embargo on trade lifted, then the burmese will be quids in, for the EU will start sending them OODLES of wonga, blow a few spitifres, eh? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wingman Posted April 14, 2012 Author Share Posted April 14, 2012 The only thing I would say is that they won't come with engines as they would have been crated separately - 20 merlins will bump thecost up a bit! Edited By Wingman on 14/04/2012 13:24:00 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Cantwell Posted April 14, 2012 Share Posted April 14, 2012 If they are MK14s, then they will be looking for a lot of griffons!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keiran Arnold Posted April 14, 2012 Share Posted April 14, 2012 At the risk of being a grumpy doubter (in Myron absence) I will believe there are crates of spitfires once I see them on the dockside (If I had a pound for every story of crates of spits Hurricanes Lancasters jeeps etc that had been buried I could affort to buy a Spitfire) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Etheridge 1 Posted April 14, 2012 Share Posted April 14, 2012 The Telegraph suggests they are MK2's !!! Check here MJE Edited By Steve Hargreaves - Moderator on 15/04/2012 18:01:05 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Tee Posted April 14, 2012 Share Posted April 14, 2012 The Daily Mail says Mark 11. Spitfires always seem to use Roman numerals so should they be mark elevens - Totally ignaorant of Spitfire variants I'm afraid. John Just realised eleven would be XI Edited By John Tee on 14/04/2012 16:56:55 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James40 Posted April 15, 2012 Share Posted April 15, 2012 Ah this must be David Camerons answer to the RAFs current shortage of aircraft? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barrie Dav 2 Posted April 15, 2012 Share Posted April 15, 2012 Good news - if true. Why do the press etc always call aircraft 'Fighter Jets'?? In my day we called them Jet Fighters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Kemble Posted April 16, 2012 Share Posted April 16, 2012 I worked on XVIIIs in the Middle East until 32 Squadron was re-equiped with Vampire IIIs in 1948. My memory tells me that the Spits were packed with their Griffon engines but it was a long time ago. I still love 'em. Bitches to work on but beautiful in the air. I think I'm partially deaf from adjusting carbs just 3 feet away from the port side exhausts. Good luck to the team who is set to dig 'em up. I don't follow the remark that they were buried because of Jets coming along. There were no jets in that theatre then. Could be that they were earlier marks that lacked the performance of the XIV which was the state of the art then in the Far East. Amazing nevertheless. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Hargreaves - Moderator Posted April 16, 2012 Share Posted April 16, 2012 A bit more detail from Sundays Telegraph.......quite a bit different to the article linked to in the OP.....this talks about them being MK XIV's buried because in 1945 Spitfires weren't really needed anymore so they buried them......much as you see pics of planes being pushed off carrier decks into the sea..... I suppose the truth will out eventually......there's gotta be a TV program here!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wingman Posted April 16, 2012 Author Share Posted April 16, 2012 This could be really good - lets hope politics don't get in the way Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daithi O Buitigh Posted April 16, 2012 Share Posted April 16, 2012 The PR Mk XI (only one of which was left until now) was the last of the Merlin engine variants and those are in even shorter supply than airframes. A lot depends on whether the Merlins were in the crates or crated separately Strange things do turn up from time to time so I'd believe that - an intact Sherman tank was found buried when the army was building Long Kesh internment camp (it hadn't been deliberately buried - just somebody parked it off the hard standing and didn't realise that 'kesh' in Irish means a pathway across a bog). Also, an, as yet unidentified, submarine has just been found in Lough Foyle in the past week (the surrendered U-boat fleet was in Derry before being sent out to be scuttled in deep water) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.