Back in April I wrote here about twenty British Spitfire fighter planes that had been
discovered buried in Burma at an old Royal Air Force air strip at the end of World war Two. Well the deal was formally inked this week in Myanmar, and aviation enthusiast/treasure hunter David Cundall has been
cleared by that government to begin excavating and exporting as many as sixty Mk XIV Spitfires that are believed to be buried at that site.
Sixty.
All new aircraft, still in factory crates, packed in grease. Zero-time engines. Flyable with assembly and a bit of work.
Sixty.
Just...Damn.
And they're the hot-rod versions with the 2,050 horsepower Rolls Royce Griffon engines and the a five-blade Dowty-Rotol propeller, too.
I SO need one of these in my hangar!
That is good, I am happy that a part of the glorious past is returning home. I am hopeful maybe this will remind the Brits of the greatness of their country and get some of their spine back.
ReplyDeleteNow that is great news! I can't wait to see this great adventure unfold.
ReplyDeleteThanks.
I know it's a fantasy, but that would be AWESOME. The first model airplane I built as a grade-schooler was a Spitfire, and I've been in love them for 50 years now.
ReplyDeleteOh man, that is going to be SWEET!
ReplyDeleteAAAAAAAAAAAAWESOME!!! Guess what just got moved to the top of my Christmas list?!
ReplyDeleteOh, I so hope the engines were pickled really well!
ReplyDeleteVery cool. Let me know when you get the keys to yours.
ReplyDeleteVery, very cool!
ReplyDeleteSweet
ReplyDeleteSqueeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
ReplyDeleteAhem. I mean, that's awesome.
Dear God. That is as close to an aviation nut wet dream that does not involve "Glacier Girl" as I can imagine. And even then she would have had to bring a B-17 or two with her to beat this.
ReplyDeleteNow if the 50 relic ME-262s in Cussler's books existed......
...because I got my hopes up, I had to research this as my memory flashed a headline that it was not the happy ending many had hoped (article from Sep-2015):
ReplyDeletehttp://uk.businessinsider.com/man-who-tried-to-dig-up-140-spitfires-in-burma-2015-9