Spitfires in Burma 'could be found'

[Watcher]

Both beautiful and iconic aircraft but I tend to lean towards the Hurricane. More purposeful to my eye; especially in the early war colours of earth and green.

[Jenks]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-17710598

This article is contradictory, in one place it says the planes were in crates, later on it says to restore and fly again.

Ah well, written by a journalist... :G

With the regime in Burma it might not happen right now despite the few changes that has happened recently, maybe one day

Christel..
As I read it the Spitfires were brand new and were in crates, almost certainly the crates they were shipped in. The big question is assuming they can be located and the Burmese government agree to let us have them. What condition will they be in after so many years buried in a country with a tropical cimate... Lots of rain!

As a lad I lived in married quarters at Middle Wallop. I attended a Primary school at Over Wallop that was right next to the perimeter track of Wallop airfield. There was a Squadron of Spitfires at middle wallop. As I recall it consisted two flights. distinguished by different coloured propeller noses/boses. We lads loved it. The pilots were our heroes. One day a Spit came over the School really low with his engine making the most awful noise anyway. He just made it to the airfield before nose diving into the grass just short of the 'Perri track'. We Kids were besides ourselves with excitement. The Pilot unhurt slid back the canopy climbed out and walked around his stricken aircraft. Well, all of us kids erupted with and applause. The pilot graciously acknowledged us with a wave. At the same time or shortly afterwards there were Balliol and Texan Harvard trainers at Middle Wallop.

Jenks

[Christel]

Jenks, I think you are right, I have since watched some program that I have forgotten the name of where they said the crates were 6 meters down and with the monsoon coming they had to wait to dig them up.

[Jenks]

Jenks, I think you are right, I have since watched some program that I have forgotten the name of where they said the crates were 6 meters down and with the monsoon coming they had to wait to dig them up.

Christal..

The deeper the better, hopefully they will be deep enough to have withstood the possible corrosive effect of water ingress. Plus they may be still covered in grease/preservative etc.That I'm guessing they would have been treated with prior to crating up for shipping. Fingers crossed.

Jenks

[Blu]

Slightly off topic here I know, my Dad was with the BEF in France during WWII and escaped along with most of the BEF at Dunkirk. I remember him telling me that the sound that used to make everyone's blood run cold was the siren of the Ju-87 Stuka. When they were on the beach waiting to be picked up, he said they were like sitting ducks for the Stuka's.

He said they would see them coming from a long way off and always knew they were Stuka's because of the flight formation they flew. He said there was absolutely nothing they could do until they began their dive. It was when they started their dive and if they were more or less above them, they had about 30 seconds to run and find new cover before the bomb hit.

Dad said that he saw more than a few good men go off their heads when they started the dive and the siren was screaming, they were dive bombed at least a dozen times a day as well as being machine gunned By Messerschmidt's ME -109's and bombed and machine gunned by Heinkel HE 111's. There wasn't a thing they could do about it.

Some time later during the Battle of Britain he was stationed in Kent and said that he had the pleasure of watching a flight of Stuka's being blown out of the sky by Spitfires and Hurricanes. He said that although he saw parachutes from bailing out Stuka crews, none were ever captured alive. Strange that.

Junkers JU-87 Stuka Dive Bomber.jpg

Blu

[1066]

Jenks, I think you are right, I have since watched some program that I have forgotten the name of where they said the crates were 6 meters down and with the monsoon coming they had to wait to dig them up.

Christal..

The deeper the better, hopefully they will be deep enough to have withstood the possible corrosive effect of water ingress. Plus they may be still covered in grease/preservative etc.That I'm guessing they would have been treated with prior to crating up for shipping. Fingers crossed.

Jenks

I would think a quick wipe round the distributor caps, clean the points, a squirt of cold start and some jump leads and you're ready to go.
In fact, as a Sunday pilot, I have put my name down to ferry one home :lol:

[Jenks]

Blu..

Some time later during the Battle of Britain he was stationed in Kent and said that he had the pleasure of watching a flight of Stuka's being blown out of the sky by Spitfires and Hurricanes. He said that although he saw parachutes from bailing out Stuka crews, none were ever captured alive. Strange that.

In a similar vein. From my dads jottings.

I can’t understand why the Luftwaffe pilots during the Battle of Britain didn’t shoot at our pilots who were descending by “chute”. I would think they were a legitimate target considering they would be airborne and in action the following day.

Jenks

[etprescottuk]

Congratulations on finding those 20 Spitfires the news media in the states says the UK has made a deal to bring them back, congrats.