Spitfires...

[Bibs]

This is just fantastic....

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-20957162

 

I'm not religious but am praying they're all pristine :D

[Kimbers]

Full of muddy water one suspects not! Though, fingers crossed, there are meant to be loads buried over Burma so hopefully they will find some that aren't underwater!

[73JPS]

Fingers crossed!  Nevertheless, regardless of the outcome, this is a really intriguing story.

[red vtec]

I don't think there fully built planes, from what I read it is all the parts in boxes.

[fmxa]

Amazing story

[ramjet]

The Supermarine Spitfire is one of my favourite planes. That and the F4U gull wing Corsair.

[DanR]

There were similar rumours about a cache of Spitfires buried near Tocumwal, NSW about 30 years ago. Various searching didn't find them though. That is if the rumours were true.

If I was batting for the other side I'd be partial to the Focke Wulf.

[molemot]

Don't hold your breath, folks....! This will probably turn out to be a wild goose chase. There has been much discussion of this supposed find elsewhere on the web, amongst those who have knowledge of such things...and the general opinion is not favourable. I would be delighted if squadrons of Spitfires were to rise like Phoenixes from the muddy swamps; but the reality is that, to start with, all the rivets and aluminium skins are incompatible, there will be electrolytic corrosion requiring all the rivets to be drilled out and replaced. These airframes were intended fro the sort of short life that would have been their lot in wartime, not to last for 70 odd years. No matter how good the protection was when (if?) these things were buried, in the intervening period it is unlikely that they have been spared significant deterioration. Then again, these days they can build you a new Spitfire from the maker's nameplate....if you have the money....(!)

 

As far as FW190s are concerned, there was a similar rumour that squadrons of them had been entombed under a mountain somewhere in Germany......and there's still no sign of them!  

Edited January 10, 2013 by molemot

[comem47]

I guess anything is possible if you got enough time and money. There are some true "labor of love" stories out there that make no financial sense like this one:

 

[s4simon]

There were similar rumours about a cache of Spitfires buried near Tocumwal, NSW about 30 years ago. Various searching didn't find them though. That is if the rumours were true.

Back in the 80's when I was at Wagga RAAF training I saw a photo of these 'planes' that were to be buried. From memory there were 100's of aircraft, all stacked together - as far as the eye could see. All surplus to requirements when the war ended.

[shawty_82]

It'd be a good thing too if there are only parts buried and not whole aircraft as it'll mean more surplus parts for the Spitfires left in flying condition. Might help the guy who pancaked his Spitfire at east mids airport the other day!

[red vtec]

I understand they are unassembled, i.e in sections. There are supposedly more in Australia, it's not uncommon for surplus equipment to have been buried as know one was sure what to do with it and wanted to go home. They reckon even if they find them they will take 2-3 years each to rebuild and a lot of cash. I just can't see them being in great condition after 70 years buried. The press gives the impression a tarpaulin will be pulled off to reveal a shiny box fresh plane, this is not the case. P&A Wood in Great Easton, Dunmow rebuild Merlin engines.

 

I know a P38 was resurrected from a ice tomb a while back

[molemot]

These days you don't even need an aeroplane to start with....The New Zealanders have built a brand new Mosquito from scratch, including making all the moulds for the fuselage, which is a balsa cored plywood moulding....and In the USA they have made new Me 262 jet fighters, using modern turbines. The East Mids Spitfire is owned by Rolls Royce, so will hopefully be rebuilt...again....! 

 

http://youtu.be/4RVJP8lYX4I

[Kimbers]

Stupid music! I want to hear them!!

 

like this!

 

Or even better........this!!

 

That noise brings me up in goosebumps....awesome!

How awesome would it be to do this

 

[red vtec]

Where I live we get loads of planes doing stunts as it's deemed a low population area. We had a spitfire over the house in 2011, it sounded awesome. It was the two seater flown by Carolyn Grace, the merlin engine was something to hear.

[ChrisJ]

Here's the first Mosquito video, with the proper sound.

[molemot]

Well done, Chris...I was looking for that video but couldn't find it!

[oneshot]

A colleague I work with has an original service manual for the merlin engine. He is Polish by descent although born in the UK his father came over and ended up working on the spitfires hence the manual.  

[DanR]

Fantastic. One of my favourites from WW2.

When I was a kid a mate's father, who was one of the WW2 aero mechanics in GB, related a story of a race over the runway between a Spitfire and Mosquito. They were even until the Mossy powered up the second engine...

How to Mosquito came into being is an amazing story too.

[fmxa]

My grandfather used to build parts for the Merlin engines

[ramjet]

Long ago I met an ex-Spitfire pilot in Darwin, way back in about 1982. Great to talk to him and you learnt things like the Hurricane was more manouverable but lacked the top speed of the Spitfire.

[molemot]

The Hurricane started out as a Hawker Aircraft private venture, after Camm's first attempt at the Air Ministry specification was turned down. He based the design on the Hawker Fury biplane and used many of the same jigs and fixtures. The first production batch was started without any official order, as Hawker's realised that the country was going to need these aeroplanes pretty soon and the sooner they got started the better! Without that decision, there would have been far fewer aircraft to resist the onslaught of the Luftwaffe in 1940, and the result could well have been different. It is generally considered that the Hurricane was a more stable gun platform than the Spitfire, and the structure - being largely steel tube with fabric covering - was more tolerant of battle damage, too. It was the Hurricane that won the Battle of Britain, shooting down more of the enemy than the Spitfire.

[DanR]

...It was the Hurricane that won the Battle of Britain, shooting down more of the enemy than the Spitfire.

Whilst the Hurricane did indeed become the workhorse in the B'B it was the Spitfire that captured the public's fanfare and became the darling of the battle.

As Goring was becoming more and more despondent and asked his pilots what he could get them to overcome the British, Werner Molders(?) replied a few squadrons Of Spitfires should do it. At least I think it was Molders. Only he could get away with such a rebuff to Goring.

[Vulcan Grey]

Not a Spitfire, and not as low...  This flew pretty low over us at the Lotus Gathering in Aspen CO in 2007.

 

The chap in Buddsy's video is Alain de Cadenet, and he was also at the Aspen gathering.  I actually asked him about that Spitfire flyby while at the hotel bar:)  Also talked a bunch about the "Victory By Design" series (specifically the Lotus episode) which hadn't been released on DVD yet.

[pete]

now think there are no spitfires in the sites they have been looking at in Burma

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-21074699