View Full Version : Lost Spitfires - Amazing Find!
News like this ALWAYS is a pleasure to read:
Squadron of Lost Spitfires to be Exhumed (http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2012/04/19/buried-treasure-in-burma-squadron-lost-wwii-spitfires-to-be-exhumed/?intcmp=features)
Sweet baby Jesus! What an amazing find. Hopefully they'll restore all of them. That would be amazing to see a squadron of Spitties flying together.
That is a great story. Nice to hear some good news every once in awhile. I'm a big aviation & WW2 buff and will be looking forward to what happens with this. Thanks for the heads up!
-Jax
Indeed.. The iconic image of WWII aviation.. Ron
Saw this story yesterday, how VERY cool. From what I read they shouldn't need much restoration to be air worthy. Won't that be sight!
Buried in Burma and still perfectly preserved?
Wow...somebody did their job right.
Always one of my favorites right up there with the Corsair.
CarlosDJackal
04-19-12, 13:56
Now if someone could find some P-38 Lightnings or P-61 Black Widows it would be cake. Those two are my favorite WWII aircraft and I would really love to see some flying samples before I die.
If they were still in the ocean going shipping condition they may have survived mostly intact. It's hard to say. They didn't have weapons installed, so that's a nada. If they were operational and just buried by ground crew before bug out, there won't be anything left but a stain. JMO.. Ron
Now if someone could find some P-38 Lightnings or P-61 Black Widows it would be cake. Those two are my favorite WWII aircraft and I would really love to see some flying samples before I die.
I was privileged to see the Glacier Girl frequently during her restoration and to see her do a fly-by.. I've seen and fondled a bunch of warbirds, but no P-61's or ME-262's. I'm not holding out any hope either.. Ron
Saw this story yesterday, how VERY cool. From what I read they shouldn't need much restoration to be air worthy. Won't that be a sight!
and sound! How can you top the aural sweetness of a 2050 horsepower 60 degree fuel injected V12? (If you could arm the Castrol GTX funny car with 8 Browning M3's we might have a race)
Now if someone could find some P-38 Lightnings or P-61 Black Widows it would be cake. Those two are my favorite WWII aircraft and I would really love to see some flying samples before I die.
http://p38assn.org/glacier-girl.htm
Now if someone could find some P-38 Lightnings or P-61 Black Widows it would be cake. Those two are my favorite WWII aircraft and I would really love to see some flying samples before I die.
The P-61 is just one evil looking bird.
-Jax
http://p38assn.org/glacier-girl.htm
Cumberland Gap state park has always been a favorite and when they completed the new tunnel I started going more often. The Glacier Girl's hanger is just a 1/2 mile into Kentucky, so I'd go over to check her progress. She was squashed flat, very flat.. like a pancake. It's amazing they were able to restore her. Drawings for some parts didn't even exist and they had to go by old photos.. Making the engineering drawings from scratch and then cutting the parts. Ron
Moose-Knuckle
04-19-12, 14:58
Awesome, I hope they build them all up!
I have heard stories of Patton and some other Allied commanders that buried (weather proof of course) Harley's, Shermans, halftracks, etc. in CA and the UK just in case the war was lost and a resistance emerged.
I hope they film a documentary about it!
militarymoron
04-19-12, 16:19
that's awesome. i'm looking forward to photos when they exhume them.
when i was growing up in england, the spitfire was naturally my fave WWII plane, as there was usually one at the airshows my dad took me to. the spitfire was hard to beat, when it came to elegance in a fighter (IMHO).
GeorgiaBoy
04-19-12, 16:37
Amazing. I only hope they aren't just heaps of rusty scrap metal.
Amazing. I only hope they aren't just heaps of rusty scrap metal.
"as many as 20 World War II-era Spitfire planes are perfectly preserved."
GeorgiaBoy
04-20-12, 09:37
"as many as 20 World War II-era Spitfire planes are perfectly preserved."
They are judging that by the crate condition. They don't know yet what they really look like...
They are judging that by the crate condition. They don't know yet what they really look like...
I read in one of the stories that they put a scope into one of the crates and visually inspected some. Can't remember where I saw it now though?
Either way, I hope they are well preserved.
Cincinnatus
04-20-12, 09:48
A friend of mine recommends the book, Reach for the Sky by Paul Brickhill, about a Spitfire pilot who became a combat pilot despite having lost part of his legs. His lack of legs allowed him to retain more blood in the upper part of his body and keep from blacking out like his fellows in some aerial manuevers.
A friend of mine recommends the book, Reach for the Sky by Paul Brickhill, about a Spitfire pilot who became a combat pilot despite having lost part of his legs. His lack of legs allowed him to retain more blood in the upper part of his body and keep from blacking out like his fellows in some aerial manuevers.
I'm guessing he's thinking of Douglas Bader, who actually lost both legs in an accident in the 1930s, retired, then came back to active duty to fly and fight in WWII. Amazing story.
I had a book when I was in grade school that I read dozens of times chronicling the exploits of guys like Bader, Godfrey, Gentile and Gabreski.
Cincinnatus
04-20-12, 11:36
I'm guessing he's thinking of Douglas Bader, who actually lost both legs in an accident in the 1930s, retired, then came back to active duty to fly and fight in WWII. Amazing story.
Yes. That book is about Bader.
GeorgiaBoy
04-20-12, 16:41
I read in one of the stories that they put a scope into one of the crates and visually inspected some. Can't remember where I saw it now though?
Either way, I hope they are well preserved.
According to another article, it's also expected that some planes will have to be used as part sources for the others.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNEmGaAplgI&feature=related
Truly awesome find, can't wait to see them. Can't think of any pristine or untouched operational aircraft from that era, most have been rebuilt or modified in some way.
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