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20 spitfires found in crates.

I also have heard of still pickled engines and tools in cosmoline buried in Stuttgart,AR when this base was closed.
 
I sure hope that David Cundall has this properly tied up. He certainly deserves the benefit.

Across the street from the airport where I learned to fly behind a rusty old fence, some of which still exists, there were a couple of F8Fs and some brand new wings in a deteriorating crate. Someone took them away for scrap. Sad when one thinks back about it, as they could have been rebuilt and would be worth a fortune today. Then, P-51s were in TAP for $2500.
 
skywagon8a said:
I sure hope that David Cundall has this properly tied up. He certainly deserves the benefit.
Click to expand...

http://www.avweb.com/avwebflash/news/spitfire_burma_excavation_deal_cundall_markxiv_207539-1.html

British farmer and aviation enthusiast David Cundall Tuesday signed an agreement with Burma's government to unearth a cache of what he expects will be dozens of Spitfires carefully stored and buried in that country at the end of World War II. Roughly 35 Spitfires are still flown in the world, today. Mr. Cundall and his Burmese business partner Htoo Htoo Zaw estimate there may be at least 60 Spitfires, all of the rare Mark XIV model, at a location Cundall discovered in February after a 16 year search. The pair believe the aircraft were greased and wrapped prior to being buried in crates, and may be recovered in good condition. Some 20,000 Spitfires were built during the war, but the Mark XIV model represents a much smaller segment of that group.
Earlier Spits were powered by the Rolls-Royce Merlin engine and only a few dozen more than 2,000 of the aircraft were built as Mark XIV models driven by a more powerful Griffon engine coupled with a five-blade prop. Those buried in Burma may have seen very little use prior to being put in storage. The agreement to excavate the famed fighters came after a disagreement between Cundall and British businessman Steve Brooks who also claimed the right to retrieve the planes. Cundall came out on top but more work followed. In the end, an April meeting between British prime minister David Cameron and Burmese president Thein Sein led to the greement. Cundall and Zaw signed the deal with Burma's director-general of civil aviation, Tin Naing Tun, Tuesday. Excavation awaits, and if the aircraft are recovered in good condition, they bay be worth roughly $2.3 million each.
Click to expand...
 
Thanks for this update, Mike -- a fascinating story. For a while we had a Griffon powered Seafire at Anola but it was sold before it flew, too bad.
 
I really hope they get some professional film of the unearthing of the planes. This will make for an amazing show.
 
I wonder what it'll do to the values of existing now "rare" birds... It's always that pesky supply and demand thing. We'll see if their owners will try to block this excavation with some lame "don't disturb sacred burial grounds" excuse, or quickly sell their investments before their value might drop. God, it's great to be poor and not have such headaches!
 
Not sure they have the right spot and they are in a tough country to put a shovel in the ground without three hands stuck out looking for a fee. I did some business in this theatre and the politics and regulators kill every deal. I think the dig needs the freedom to explore and move and that is the last thing they will get in a place like this.

Oh well my investment in Spitfire futures is safe.....at least that's what my broker said when I called him (kidding).
 
An update:
Archaeologists have called off a huntfor World War II Spitfires in Burma.
Originally it was thought as many as124 Spitfires were buried by the RAF at the end of the war but they have nowconcluded it was a myth.
A dig at the international airportnear the city of Rangoon, which used to be RAF Mingaladon, has drawn a blank.
The project was financed by WargamingLtd, who have said they believe the story about Spitfires being delivered incrates and then buried was not true.
Wargaming Ltd said they now believeno Spitfires were delivered in crates and buried at RAF Mingaladon during 1945and 1946.

 
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