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Andrew Cowie / AFP - Getty Images
David Cundall, shown here at London's Imperial War Museum, is leading a team that will search for surplus British Spitfire airplanes that were boxed up and buried in Myanmar at the end of World War II.
YANGON, Myanmar — A search team led by a British aviation enthusiast arrived in Myanmar on Sunday to begin a dig they hope will unearth dozens of rare British Spitfire fighter planes said to have been buried in the Southeast Asian country at the end of World War II.
The 21-member team, led by farmer and businessman David Cundall, will start excavations soon near the airport in the main city, Yangon.
Cundall said the aircraft were buried in wooden crates as surplus, around 30 feet (10 meters) under the surface. He estimated that the project would take about four to six weeks to complete.
"We are expecting them to be in first-class condition," Cundall said shortly after arriving at the international airport in Yangon.
The Spitfire remains Britain's most famous combat aircraft. Its reputation was cemented during the Battle of Britain when the fast-moving single-seater aircraft helped beat back waves of German bombers.
Britain built a total of about 20,000 Spitfires, although the dawn of the jet age at the end of World War II meant that the propeller-driven planes quickly became obsolete.
The planes believed to be in Myanmar were buried by American engineers as the war drew to a close. Searchers hope they are in pristine condition, but Andy Brockman, a freelance archaeologist who is part of the search team, said it was possible all they might find is a mass of corroded metal and rusty aircraft parts.
Nevertheless, he said, "I'm very confident that we'll have answers to the story of what happened ... in 1945."
EPA
This archival picture from London's Imperial War Museum shows a Supermarine Spitfire LF Mark VIII, of No. 155 Squadron RAF, about to take off from Tabingaung in Myanmar (Burma) in January 1945.
The venture is being backed by the Belarusian videogame company Wargaming.net, which is best known for multiplayer titles including "World of Warplanes" and "World of Tanks."
The search team says 36 Spitfires are believed to be buried near Yangon airport, while another 18 are in Myitkyina in northern Kachin state and six more are buried in Meikthila in central Myanmar.
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Copyright 2013, The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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Bah, you think that's cool, you should see the land a prospecting friend of mine has in New Zealand. His entire yard is one big 'Mustang' dump. Aircraft, motors, wings...parts galore...
They call them hoarders.
What quite a few people fail to realize is that these planes were made primarily out of aluminum. While they might be corroded by rain and age, they are likely not piles of rust. Can you gas them up and fly them? No way, but since the only pieces of Spitfires still around are pieces from crash sites, the 24 planes might be rebuilt into half a dozen priceless pieces of history. Just a side note, while the Spitfire was a great plane, and the darling of the RAF, it was more due to it's press reports, beautiful lines and it's sound when flying low. The Hawker Hurricane shot down more German planes than the Spitfire, but nobody made a movie about it.
They could have a good chance of being sericeable IF they were packed correctly; ie fully covered in cosmoline, wrapped in visquine, then boxed, etc. This is probably how they were shipped from factory, however, if these planes were already put into service before being buried at the end of the war (most likely scenario) they heve been hurriedly stripped, boxed and buried for the purpose of keeping them out of enemy hands. In this case (again, most likelt scenario) all they are likely to find are a few huge blobs of iron oxide. BUT this is still a fascinating adventure. Can't wait to hear the results! PS....in 1970, a friend purchased a boxcar load of discovered WWII surplus US Army Jeeps....all packed in cosmoline, visquine and wooden crates; they were in perfect condition after 25 years....but then, they had never been buried 30 feet under....
The planes were 'surplus' in crates, must likely crated in England for overseas shipment. That meant protection for the machine from corrosion caused by salt & sea air. The wood would have been sturdy, even hardwood. My father was 8th AF in England, and been a cabinet makers apprentice for a year before the war. He was horrified to see some shipping containers leaving England built of Oak. He never said what was in the containers, but most likely more valuable than English Oak in wartime.
if they were undisturbed and just buried, good chance of only surface corrosion. As a pilot, a big wish too!
Buried why?
A navy friend of mine said navy ships would return to Hawaii a few miles out they would dump all the used brass shell casings over the side, and no one could salvage any of it.
Good luck, searchers!
From what I read today the Spitfires were made of a lot of tin and aluminum where structure wasn't a factor. That should last, or at least provide some good replacement parts for existing spitfires. Haven't seen it mentioned here, but wouldn't 30 feet of soggy wet clay/mud be really really heavy on the structure which has been constantly sinking further down for all these years? I would think the outer structure would have been squished when the wood crates rotted.
Almost forgot. When I was a kid in the late 70s, I used to have a part time extra job at the EAA in Oshkosh washing pots and pans for the week. Would wander around with my old kodak taking pics of mostly the warbirds because they were neat. One day an owner of a p-38 (thats the one with the twin tail right?) let me climb up in it to have my picture taken, then another owner let me... got into a bunch for pictures including an old spitfire. Was really fun. On top of that, I was walking through one of the tents one day and there was an older guy sitting at a table by himself. Somehow I got to talking to him about the airshow, and ran and got him a hamburger or hotdog and a coke I think... turned out to be Pappy Boyington. Strange thing to happen.
I hope they find them, that they are in excellent condition and that they can get them back to Great Britain, and give one to Malta to represent Faith, Hope, and Charity.
Man, too bad they're probably too phucked to get working again. Spitfires are on my list of favorites from WWII
Story is there's a hole in the PI with a dozen P-38's in it from the end of WWII. When the war ended those planes just weren't needed anymore. What to do? Junk 'em! Why spend the money to fly them back only to junk them in the US?? Read a story about some guys who bought brand new Hellcats at Goodyear AZ (pre-Davis Motham) for $800/ea. They had only enough flying time on them to get from the Calf factory to the bone yards. The rest were scraped the next day and off the smelters. I've seen pictures of old jet fighters stacked like cord wood - 4 high and hundreds of feet long. The P-38's that we landed in Greenland? Yes, they did dig one out and restore it. It was pretty well crushed. Google 'Glaser Gal', its current name. The rest are still there. Most American WWII planes were made in the 10K+ range and they're all over the place. Japanese and German planes are real scarce because we destroyed them all (literally). Vietnam era planes are just about all gone and only 1 or 2 are in civilian hands (only 1 F-4).
The Spits, if the find them, will not be rust. Aluminum doesn't rust. While they were packaged for shipment to fight salt water they weren't setup to last 60 years under ground with that weight and wet. I'll be VERY surprised if they get anything flyable out of the lot.
Rust / Oxidation, same thing. It depends on how pure the aluminum is, as to the how quickly it will oxidize.
Spike and Acosmet, it is not a well known fact nowadays but during WWII one the largest Army Air Force training bases in the U.S. was just outside the town of Douglas, AZ and was in fact named Douglas Army Air Base. At the close of WWII, there were three main sites in the country that were storage areas for surplus military aircraft and they were all in Arizona. They were Kingman, Tuscon, and Douglas. All the aircraft at Kingman and Douglas were eventually scrapped leaving Tuscon as the military's main storage facility and is now known as the "Boneyard". I have vivid memories as a child and teenager walking through row upon row of P-40's. P-38's. P-39's, P-47's and P-51's stored at Douglas long after the base was decommissioned. I also remember seeing B-17's, B-24's, and B-29's as well. Even remeber seeing some Navy Harpoon and Ventura anti submarine warfare planes. All were perfectly preserved without prservatives applied in the dry desert air of the Arizona/Mexico border. No rust or corrosion. It is sad that they are all gone now. They instilled in me a lifelong love of aircraft and flight that has not dimmed even in my late 50's!
Tally-Ho!
Even if most of the plane is gone, I hope they can salvage the engines; those Rolls Royce V12s are beasts.
Kevin, intact Rolls Royce Merlin V 12 engines are in fact worth a fortune on the warbird market today. They did not just power the Spitfire. They also powered the Hurricane, the Mosquito, the Lancaster and Halifax bombers, and the Bristol Beaufighter series of aircraft, just to name a few. The P-51B through K models of the Mustang all flew with a Packard Automotive built Merlin engine built under license in the U.S.
The U.S. scrap metal drives in WWII resulted in so much material the government had much of it buried just to conceal the fact it wasn't being used.
Glad to see the money I spend in 'World of Tanks' is going to good purposes. (BTW, I am behind you in the T-59 :P)
I want one !
Just remember, these planes were not 'just discovered'. The military kept careful records of where they buried excess hardware during and after the war, so someone has had a record of the location ever since they were put there. Aluminum is not likely to corrode totally away, but the crates may have come apart by now. Because Myanmar/Burma was under a dictatorial regime ever since the war, it was impractical to even approach them about the planes until recently. If any or all of these planes were actually intact enough to rebuild them, this will be a real find for museums that can get their hands on one. There are still tanks buried in Vietnam that have apparently not been dug up.
Probably the most beautiful propeller driven fighterplane ever. Powered by the rolls royce merlin engine which made the Mustang P-51 the best fighterplane of the war. The best example of American/British cooperation in World War Two.
I heard that early rolls engines and i'm sure other brit aviation power plants used "S.U"carburetors in their fuel systems. These were the same bell shaped carbs that give American mechanics and british car buffs fits to adjust properly for a hundred years.
I hope they find these planes in good shape.
Bob, I'm fairly certain the Rolls Royce Merlin engines had fuel injectors instead of carburetors. The Messerschmidt BF-109's had Daimler Benz DB-601 engines with carburetor systems. During the Battle of Britain the British would pull steep climbs, loops, and split S maneuvers that would the Germans could not match because their carburetor fed engines would stall out due fuel starvation. Many a British pilot owed their lives to that little detail.
Please read this petition and if you agree with it, please sign it. Thank you.
And what petition would that be? The one made with invisible ink?