Dozens of rare Spitfire fighter planes buried in Burma during World War II are to be dug up under an agreement between the Burmese government and a British aviation enthusiast.

The iconic single-seat aircraft are believed to have been hidden unassembled in crates by the former colonial power to prevent them falling into Japanese hands almost seven decades ago.

Local businessman Htoo Htoo Zaw, who is involved with the project, says the excavation is expected to take about two years.

“We expect to dig up about 60 fighters,” he said.

Based on a survey of hundreds of witnesses, the team plans to dig in three locations in Rangoon, northern Kachin state and central Mandalay.

If successfully excavated, some of the Spitfires are expected to be returned to Britain, which ruled Burma until independence in 1948 but was temporarily forced out of much of the country in 1942 by invading Japanese forces.

“We want to strengthen relations between Britain and our country and benefit millions of people in the world who want to see Spitfires,” Mr Zaw said.

The dig is the result of a more than a decade-long search of former air force bases in Burma by British farmer and aviation aficionado David Cundall using radar technology.

“It took me more than 15 years, but I finally found them,” Mr Cundall told British newspaper The Daily Telegraph earlier this year.

“I’m only a small farmer, I’m not a multi-millionaire, and it has been a struggle.

“Spitfires are beautiful aeroplanes and should not be rotting away in a foreign land. They saved our neck in the Battle of Britain and they should be preserved.

“They were just buried there in transport crates. They were waxed, wrapped in greased paper and their joints tarred. They will be in near-perfect condition.”

About 20,000 Spitfires were built by Britain from 1938 to 1948.

It will be good if this is true, but stories of mint spitfires, wileys jeeps and Harleys etc all still in packing paper are common and usually an investor ripoff/scam.

And the downfall to such stories is usually the care taken in hiding them, if you want to step the enemy getting them far easier and no one would care in the circumstances to pour petrol over them and set light to the lot.

Sounds to good to be true, but I look forward to watching the doco on TV about it.

the hole needed would be a give-away and as skunk says far easier to burn them.

Old news.

http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2012/04/19/buried-treasure-in-burma-squadron-lost-wwii-spitfires-to-be-exhumed/

And some guy steps in and takes the glory…

http://news.discovery.com/history/world-war-spitfire-britian-found-burma-plane-120502.html

just thinking about it

if they are making spitfire replicas (albeit smaller)

i’m surprised they aren’t thinking of making lancaster replicas (full size)

now then, instead of wasting all that carbon tax money on education dept potplants and military projects doomed from the outset you could harness it to set up a small factory to make and sell the lancaster bomber. the buyers market would be small but demand would be enough to see it deliver to various museums across the world – in working order.

hell – the airforce over here could buy a few a finally get something that works without throwing anymore money and time at it

what use are Lancaster bombers?

wookiemeister said:

just thinking about it

Oh oh…

party_pants said:

what use are Lancaster bombers?

what use is a seasprite?

same deal

at least one will be flying after a billion dollars and the other will still be in a warehouse

thinking about it more

australia could resurrect concorde just throw a few billion dollars at getting concorde in production and flying again

the research has alreayd been done and proven

instead of wasting a few billion dollars on doomed schemes you could at leats get something tangible after wasting the money

sydney to cairns would be maybe half an hour?

sydney to perth?

wookiemeister said:

party_pants said:

what use are Lancaster bombers?

what use is a seasprite?

same deal

at least one will be flying after a billion dollars and the other will still be in a warehouse

They’ll both be in the warehouse.

unlikely

the lancaster is proven technology

they would have been better off just putting the lancaster into production that spending a billion dollars on seasprite

wookiemeister said:

thinking about it more

australia could resurrect concorde just throw a few billion dollars at getting concorde in production and flying again

the research has alreayd been done and proven

instead of wasting a few billion dollars on doomed schemes you could at leats get something tangible after wasting the money

sydney to cairns would be maybe half an hour?

sydney to perth?

As is, the people of Sydney have been known to stone politicians to death over the vexed issue of aircraft noise. Concordes are bloody noisy, no-body would dare take one within co-ee of Sydney.

wookiemeister said:

unlikely

the lancaster is proven technology

they would have been better off just putting the lancaster into production that spending a billion dollars on seasprite

It would violate noise restrictions and be grounded.

its obvious.. use them as firefighting planes.

party_pants said:

wookiemeister said:

thinking about it more

australia could resurrect concorde just throw a few billion dollars at getting concorde in production and flying again

the research has alreayd been done and proven

instead of wasting a few billion dollars on doomed schemes you could at leats get something tangible after wasting the money

sydney to cairns would be maybe half an hour?

sydney to perth?

As is, the people of Sydney have been known to stone politicians to death over the vexed issue of aircraft noise. Concordes are bloody noisy, no-body would dare take one within co-ee of Sydney.

oh oh, cue wookie world solutions to Concorde noise problem.

wookiemeister said:

unlikely

the lancaster is proven technology

they would have been better off just putting the lancaster into production that spending a billion dollars on seasprite

Anything, no matter how outlandish, is possible in WookieWorld.

party_pants said:

wookiemeister said:

thinking about it more

australia could resurrect concorde just throw a few billion dollars at getting concorde in production and flying again

the research has alreayd been done and proven

instead of wasting a few billion dollars on doomed schemes you could at leats get something tangible after wasting the money

sydney to cairns would be maybe half an hour?

sydney to perth?

As is, the people of Sydney have been known to stone politicians to death over the vexed issue of aircraft noise. Concordes are bloody noisy, no-body would dare take one within co-ee of Sydney.

they shouldn’t have allowed residential property to be built under the flight path

concorde landing isn’t too noisy

concorde taking off is a little noisy but nothing too troublesome for anyone with a pair of balls

Witty Rejoinder said:

wookiemeister said:

unlikely

the lancaster is proven technology

they would have been better off just putting the lancaster into production that spending a billion dollars on seasprite

Anything, no matter how outlandish, is possible in WookieWorld.

i just understand the money is going to get wasted, i’m just coming up with solutions to at least do something with it

Skunkworks said:

oh oh, cue wookie world solutions to Concorde noise problem.

We’ll just stick a newer, more modern engine in it, zero time and improve the airframes, maybe add a glass cockpit and more comfy seat for the pilot….

… ooops – wasn’t that what happened to the Seasprite – an old “proven” design upgraded and modernised?

you could always build sydney airport further into botany bay and take advantage of the space that would diminish the sound

just think from a tourism perspective it makes sense people could get here quicker and see more

you could have a service to ayers rock

party_pants said:

Skunkworks said:

oh oh, cue wookie world solutions to Concorde noise problem.

We’ll just stick a newer, more modern engine in it, zero time and improve the airframes, maybe add a glass cockpit and more comfy seat for the pilot….

… ooops – wasn’t that what happened to the Seasprite – an old “proven” design upgraded and modernised?

i say you do very little to it

party_pants said:

Skunkworks said:

oh oh, cue wookie world solutions to Concorde noise problem.

We’ll just stick a newer, more modern engine in it, zero time and improve the airframes, maybe add a glass cockpit and more comfy seat for the pilot….

… ooops – wasn’t that what happened to the Seasprite – an old “proven” design upgraded and modernised?

Not nearly complicated or expensive enough. I was thinking of an underground airport. Planes could intersect a glidepath that takes them under the city, takeoffs would be straight forward and no cross winds to worry about.

Skunkworks said:

party_pants said:

Skunkworks said:

oh oh, cue wookie world solutions to Concorde noise problem.

We’ll just stick a newer, more modern engine in it, zero time and improve the airframes, maybe add a glass cockpit and more comfy seat for the pilot….

… ooops – wasn’t that what happened to the Seasprite – an old “proven” design upgraded and modernised?

Not nearly complicated or expensive enough. I was thinking of an underground airport. Planes could intersect a glidepath that takes them under the city, takeoffs would be straight forward and no cross winds to worry about.

i like this outlandish idea

sign me up for a 10 billion stake in it

wookiemeister said:

i say you do very little to it

But then they’ll be shit and of little use to anyone, except dropping lots of unguided bombs on populated areas, and we must face facts that such activities are a bit un-PC these days. For every other task there is already an existing modern design that will do the job better.

party_pants said:

wookiemeister said:

i say you do very little to it

But then they’ll be shit and of little use to anyone, except dropping lots of unguided bombs on populated areas, and we must face facts that such activities are a bit un-PC these days. For every other task there is already an existing modern design that will do the job better.

it wouldn’t be worth weaponising concorde

wookiemeister said:

party_pants said:

wookiemeister said:

i say you do very little to it

But then they’ll be shit and of little use to anyone, except dropping lots of unguided bombs on populated areas, and we must face facts that such activities are a bit un-PC these days. For every other task there is already an existing modern design that will do the job better.

it wouldn’t be worth weaponising concorde

unless you fitted it with lasers

wookiemeister said:

party_pants said:

wookiemeister said:

i say you do very little to it

But then they’ll be shit and of little use to anyone, except dropping lots of unguided bombs on populated areas, and we must face facts that such activities are a bit un-PC these days. For every other task there is already an existing modern design that will do the job better.

it wouldn’t be worth weaponising concorde

Keep up – I was back to Lancasters for that post.

I haven’t got around to thinking about Concorde yet, I got a huge mental block at the noise issue. Better to revive the old Russian version of it perhaps, would be cheaper, you could probably get the plans for a case of cheap vodka.

wookiemeister said:

wookiemeister said:

party_pants said:

But then they’ll be shit and of little use to anyone, except dropping lots of unguided bombs on populated areas, and we must face facts that such activities are a bit un-PC these days. For every other task there is already an existing modern design that will do the job better.

it wouldn’t be worth weaponising concorde

unless you fitted it with lasers

It would make a whopper kamikaze

lets say you could fit concorde with one big laser

you could shoot down aircraft instea dof using missiles

if a missile was shot at you from a great distance you could just shoot the missile with the laser.

the entire space inside concorde could be fitted out to hold a giant laser

now you have a mach 2 battle station ready to take down ICBMs and enemy bombers

ground targets such as powerstations, water treatment plants, substations could be targetted over enemy territory

such missions would be carried out under the cloak of darkness, striking fear into the populace as the power grid would be knocked down and no aircraft would dare to take to the skies lest it fall to this predator

party_pants said:

wookiemeister said:

party_pants said:

But then they’ll be shit and of little use to anyone, except dropping lots of unguided bombs on populated areas, and we must face facts that such activities are a bit un-PC these days. For every other task there is already an existing modern design that will do the job better.

it wouldn’t be worth weaponising concorde

Keep up – I was back to Lancasters for that post.

I haven’t got around to thinking about Concorde yet, I got a huge mental block at the noise issue. Better to revive the old Russian version of it perhaps, would be cheaper, you could probably get the plans for a case of cheap vodka.

concordski was crap

it was unreliable and kept crashing i think

the russians would have done better to have come up with something original than a cheap knock off without understanding the basics of flight

Wookie is particularly kooky tonight. Must have been licking some toads or somethin’.

wookiemeister said:

concordski was crap

it was unreliable and kept crashing i think

the russians would have done better to have come up with something original than a cheap knock off without understanding the basics of flight

Should only be an afternoon’s work for a clever chap like yourself to redesign some basics into it to make it sound.

Witty Rejoinder said:

Wookie is particularly kooky tonight. Must have been licking some toads or somethin’.

Careful Witty, I’m trying to aim a great big unmanoeuvrable supersonic airliner at your arse, just stop moving so I can line up the laser…

tonight was the night

a squadron of brilliant white moonlit eagles glode high above the archipeligo, above the clouds the darkeness of space above them

far below missiles were launched in a futile attempt to clip their wings but with this massed battle fleet of the sky they were shot down as a distant and dim glow in the night sky.

the target was the power grid and an entire nation would be brought to its knees, all televisions and washing machines fallen silent and in the night air the rumble of this fearsome beast.

party_pants said:

Witty Rejoinder said:

Wookie is particularly kooky tonight. Must have been licking some toads or somethin’.

Careful Witty, I’m trying to aim a great big unmanoeuvrable supersonic airliner at your arse, just stop moving so I can line up the laser…

And you only get one shot because the entire plane filled up with batteries is only enough to warm a small burritto at this distance!

Angus Prune said:

party_pants said:

Witty Rejoinder said:

Wookie is particularly kooky tonight. Must have been licking some toads or somethin’.

Careful Witty, I’m trying to aim a great big unmanoeuvrable supersonic airliner at your arse, just stop moving so I can line up the laser…

And you only get one shot because the entire plane filled up with batteries is only enough to warm a small burritto at this distance!

concorde is designed to carry 100 passengers PLUS cargo

i would say it is more than capable to carry a state of the art laser system

been watching some aerobatic clips. i don’t think planes should fly like that.

The tourists transport of the future is back to the future in airships.
From small boutique commutes like say Brisbane International Airport to the Gold Coast to long haul routes only doing it in a week instead of 24 hrs like Sydney to London in comfort with no jet lag, enjoying the diversity of scenery from a low altitude.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-12110386

wookiemeister said:

concorde is designed to carry 100 passengers PLUS cargo

i would say it is more than capable to carry a state of the art laser system

What-choo-talkin-about Willis?

How you gunna aim dat sucka?

Peak Warming Man said:

The tourists transport of the future is back to the future in airships.
From small boutique commutes like say Brisbane International Airport to the Gold Coast to long haul routes only doing it in a week instead of 24 hrs like Sydney to London in comfort with no jet lag, enjoying the diversity of scenery from a low altitude.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-12110386

all fine unless it gets windy

wookiemeister said:

Angus Prune said:

party_pants said:

Careful Witty, I’m trying to aim a great big unmanoeuvrable supersonic airliner at your arse, just stop moving so I can line up the laser…

And you only get one shot because the entire plane filled up with batteries is only enough to warm a small burritto at this distance!

concorde is designed to carry 100 passengers PLUS cargo

i would say it is more than capable to carry a state of the art laser system

747 carries up to 660 passengers. They’ve stuck a bigarse laser in one of them, filled it up with batteries, and it’s still barely enough to take out a single missile if nothing goes wrong…

Hidden Burmese Spitfires, crouching dragon.

Angus Prune said:

wookiemeister said:

Angus Prune said:

And you only get one shot because the entire plane filled up with batteries is only enough to warm a small burritto at this distance!

concorde is designed to carry 100 passengers PLUS cargo

i would say it is more than capable to carry a state of the art laser system

747 carries up to 660 passengers. They’ve stuck a bigarse laser in one of them, filled it up with batteries, and it’s still barely enough to take out a single missile if nothing goes wrong…

you don’t use batteries

wookiemeister said:

Angus Prune said:

wookiemeister said:

concorde is designed to carry 100 passengers PLUS cargo

i would say it is more than capable to carry a state of the art laser system

747 carries up to 660 passengers. They’ve stuck a bigarse laser in one of them, filled it up with batteries, and it’s still barely enough to take out a single missile if nothing goes wrong…

you don’t use batteries

Any kind of laser.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_YAL-1#Recent_developments

wookiemeister said:

you don’t use batteries

On-board diesel generators, made out of some super lightweight space-age plastic to save weight?

the laser could be mounted to shoot from the rear

concorde has that long rear projection, you use that unused space to house the laser

and a smaller one up front for personal protection

>>all fine unless it gets windy

You harness the four winds with retractable sails gaining Carbon Credits from the EU and Australia, the tax payers of the EU and Australia would probably pay for most of you fare, FMD wookie, you know four fifths of five eights of fuck all about marketing, business plans and glossy prospectus brochures.

party_pants said:

wookiemeister said:

you don’t use batteries

On-board diesel generators, made out of some super lightweight space-age plastic to save weight?

i’m thinking nuclear power

the power unit would ideally be stand alone. heat exchange could be done via concordes normal air con?

wookiemeister said:

the laser could be mounted to shoot from the rear

concorde has that long rear projection, you use that unused space to house the laser

and a smaller one up front for personal protection

So you waste time to doing a big U-turn and expose your maximum IR signature to the enemy before you fire a shot?

Peak Warming Man said:

>>all fine unless it gets windy

You harness the four winds with retractable sails gaining Carbon Credits from the EU and Australia, the tax payers of the EU and Australia would probably pay for most of you fare, FMD wookie, you know four fifths of five eights of fuck all about marketing, business plans and glossy prospectus brochures.

well i was going to suggest fitting the airship with windturbines

party_pants said:

wookiemeister said:

the laser could be mounted to shoot from the rear

concorde has that long rear projection, you use that unused space to house the laser

and a smaller one up front for personal protection

So you waste time to doing a big U-turn and expose your maximum IR signature to the enemy before you fire a shot?

yeah and what are they going to do about it, send a missile up or aircraft only for it to get blasted by staring down the barrel of the thing?

wookiemeister said:

party_pants said:

wookiemeister said:

the laser could be mounted to shoot from the rear

concorde has that long rear projection, you use that unused space to house the laser

and a smaller one up front for personal protection

So you waste time to doing a big U-turn and expose your maximum IR signature to the enemy before you fire a shot?

yeah and what are they going to do about it, send a missile up or aircraft only for it to get blasted by staring down the barrel of the thing?

Down the barrel? It’s staring down its unprotected nose, than at its unprotected belly. The barrel is still pointed away from the target…

party_pants said:

wookiemeister said:

the laser could be mounted to shoot from the rear

concorde has that long rear projection, you use that unused space to house the laser

and a smaller one up front for personal protection

So you waste time to doing a big U-turn and expose your maximum IR signature to the enemy before you fire a shot?

you could probably put the laser almost anywhere along the body with a port to allow shooting above and below incase someones sneaky enough to have some high altitude aircraft that can fly higher than you

heat from the arrangement could be dumped in the normal way with some heat exchangers on steroids.

Angus Prune said:

wookiemeister said:

party_pants said:

So you waste time to doing a big U-turn and expose your maximum IR signature to the enemy before you fire a shot?

yeah and what are they going to do about it, send a missile up or aircraft only for it to get blasted by staring down the barrel of the thing?

Down the barrel? It’s staring down its unprotected nose, than at its unprotected belly. The barrel is still pointed away from the target…

the main laser could be positioned anywhere it would be able to look up or down

a personal protection laser/s could be mounted looking from where a window might be

incoming tie fighters would be annihilated

wookiemeister said:

yeah and what are they going to do about it, send a missile up or aircraft only for it to get blasted by staring down the barrel of the thing?

Suits me, as long as they don’t get dead behind it, there’s no way to aim the sucker apart from manoeuvring the aeroplane. I imagine a large aeroplane with a blinding IR signature would be a sitting duck, having a big fixed laser pointing straight out the back is no problem to keep clear of.

a plane like that would be so cool it wouldn’t have an IR sig.

party_pants said:

wookiemeister said:

yeah and what are they going to do about it, send a missile up or aircraft only for it to get blasted by staring down the barrel of the thing?

Suits me, as long as they don’t get dead behind it, there’s no way to aim the sucker apart from manoeuvring the aeroplane. I imagine a large aeroplane with a blinding IR signature would be a sitting duck, having a big fixed laser pointing straight out the back is no problem to keep clear of.

as i said its one way to mount it

you could have the main laser just mounted midships with a small port topside and below deck to allow manoeuvering

a nuclear powersource would power the laser and allow multiple shots

no missile would be able to come near it

no fighter could come near it as it would never know when it was in the sights, it would have to weave violently towards the target but then again concorde is already going at mach 2 so its no couch potato

i wonder what would happen if the otherside had something like that though.

you

a small squadron could concentrate fire power on a small fighter

two concordes might miss but the others won’t

then you move onto the others

maybe , maybe you could fire flares from that rear point on concorde?

An airborne nuclear reactor light enough (or go without shielding and bugger the crew) to carry around in a commercial airliner.
A super-powerful laser that can be aimed and pointed without the use of a turret, just pointed out the window.

… damn – I’m no good at the Wookieworld game.

party_pants said:

An airborne nuclear reactor light enough (or go without shielding and bugger the crew) to carry around in a commercial airliner.
A super-powerful laser that can be aimed and pointed without the use of a turret, just pointed out the window.

… damn – I’m no good at the Wookieworld game.

drink some coke and have a few chocolates that should bring you up to speed

wookiemeister said:

drink some coke and have a few chocolates that should bring you up to speed

I having a Guinness, because I deserve one.

You get a piece of proven technology like say a Sopwith Camel right, put a sophisticated modern engine in it, say a Triton engine, then put a nuclear reactor just behind the pilot close to the centre of gravity with some wires going to a laser beam that shoots through the propeller and I recon it could bring down a concord even if it was emitting flares.

Peak Warming Man said:

You get a piece of proven technology like say a Sopwith Camel right, put a sophisticated modern engine in it, say a Triton engine, then put a nuclear reactor just behind the pilot close to the centre of gravity with some wires going to a laser beam that shoots through the propeller and I recon it could bring down a concord even if it was emitting flares.

well the pilot would be like a robot or something that most likely looked like a human or at least an aibo

you might be able to mount a laser pointer on the camel

You want proven technology? Here’s a rock. Now you run up to that concorde and pound it with the rock as hard as you can until it explodes.

party_pants said:

wookiemeister said:

you don’t use batteries

On-board diesel generators, made out of some super lightweight space-age plastic to save weight?

ever heard of an APU?