Search for spitfires continues

[fly_tornado]

The Pauline Hanson of lost Spitfires is back

 

Spitfires ‘on brink of being found’ in Myanmar, claims British farmer

 

 

[Guernsey]

The story is true.....I have it on extremely reliable information direct from Merlin himself.

 

Alan.

 

 

[pmccarthy]

Merlin or Queen Mab? As far as I know there is no such thing as x-ray satellite mapping.

 

 

[Kiwi303]

Maybe they mean Ground Penetrating Radar?

 

But those are meant to find cold war missile silos, not boxes of obsolete aircraft parts.

 

 

[spacesailor]

I read about a yacht y who found an island with lots of war supplies inside the hollowed hillside,

 

they stripped tons of copper wire to sell when they got home, possibly aircraft parts there as well,

 

spacesailor

 

 

[bexrbetter]

There's plenty in the drink off Nth Qld known to a few who go out and get various equipment off them occasionally, such as Browning machine guns.

 

Having had a hand in re-building a couple of the guns is how I know.

 

 

[Birdseye]

Some of the chronology doesn't seem to fit the story. According to what I've read, the MkXIV hadn't arrived in the Far East before June 1945 and the Japanese had effectively been defeated in Burma around May 1945. If those dates are corrrect, then why would somebody be burying aircraft in mid-45 to prevent Japanese capture?

 

 

[Deskpilot]

Oh boy, won't there be some red faces if he finds them.

 

 

[fly_tornado]

Send your cheques to me and I will forward them onto relevant specialist, please make them payable to

 

Conservation Association Spitfire Help or CASH

 

 

[spacesailor]

Well! there's two planes in Melbourne harbour, can't recall the make of them, but in the fifty's the HMS aircraft carrier did a flyover & two aircraft collided,

 

only a few years ago they found one with the pilot still in it & a placard was put in place

 

 

[onetrack]

I read about a yachty who found an island with lots of war supplies inside the hollowed hillside

I remember that story - the bloke made a film about it, he was an Alby Mangels-type of buccaneer, roaming the Pacific with a bunch of blokes and girls, having one big continuous party on this old schooner he'd bought.

I seem to recall he was pretty much a full-time drunk, and he plied all the girls on board with lots of booze to make them more compliant.

 

There were questions asked about the age of some of the girls (some were reputed to be under 16), so the bloke did a disappearing trick, and took off back to where he came from, which I think was Europe.

 

I can recall they found an abandoned U.S Army 6 x 6 truck and cranked it up, so they could haul all their scavenged stuff back to the boat.

 

The island was littered with concrete bunkers and there were hundreds of drums of fuel still inside the bunkers, along with all the other paraphernalia of war.

 

I can also recall there was an outcry from the people in the region about the U.S. Forces leaving their islands filled with WW2 junk - so the Australian Army sent in a team in the early 1990's, to blow up the bunkers, collect all the items still lying around, and take it all out to sea and dump it. They left the island clean, to the satisfaction of the locals, so there won't be anything left on that island, at least. For the life of me, I can't remember the islands name, I'm sure it was in Micronesia.

 

Cundall must be smoking some good stuff - it must make LSD look tame, for hallucogenic properties. How else could this dimwit keep prattling on with this rubbish?

 

What is even more amazing is the idiots he continues to find, to supply funding for his search. The bloke would be able to sell fridges, and air-conditioners, to Eskimos, I reckon.

 

Talk about the gift of persuasion - if he was selling religion, he'd probably already have 500 million followers.

 

 

[Riley]

Ah, the venerable Burmese ghost Spitfire story surfaces yet again. I first heard it almost 40 years ago while 'on station' in Singapore. Cundall might rightfully be accused of 'smoking something' but despite the odds, oddball discoveries do sometimes happen. During a recent 30 day, 7500km gyrocopter group trundle thru the guts of WA and NT central deserts, while fossicking the surrounds of a long-abandoned airstrip, I happened on the incomplete remains of what appears to be vintage Sopwith components. Tho little remains of the hull, the flyers tentatively identified it as a Sopwith Camel by the distinctive frontal area (this stands to be confirmed). Having just completed the rebuild of a 7/10 scaled Stearman and being keen as mustard on anything that may have bi-plane connotations, with the help of the crew enough gyro gear was shifted around on the fuel truck to make room for what we salvaged for the trip back to Perth. I'm presently sympathetically attending to the effects of lord knows how many years exposure to the elements but soon hope to have enough pieced together to put up some photos and request the combined wisdom of fellow forumites to confirm/correct the initial identification. Subject to finance and the blessing of respective better halves, a longer sortie later in the year to thoroughly scour the wider area for more bits and pieces seems an absolute necessity.

 

 

[bexrbetter]

The bloke would be able to sell fridges, and air-conditioners, to Eskimos, I reckon.

Fridges stop stuff from freezing and the air-cons keep the air dry and stop damp.

 

 

[AussieB1rd]

while fossicking the surrounds of a long-abandoned airstrip

Sorry if slightly off topic.

 

Riley, recently read an article about a chap looking for bits from a Avro Avian, he is a restorer of old aircraft, I am amazed at what clever people can do with a pile of rust, here are some pics of his discovery. full story here.

 

Warbird Information Exchange • View topic - Avro Avian

 

 

PS: Be respectful of any remains of crashed aircraft as they may be graves

 

 

[Birdseye]

Tho little remains of the hull, the flyers tentatively identified it as a Sopwith Camel by the distinctive frontal area (this stands to be confirmed).

Apart from the motor and mounting there wouldn't be much left once the termites had finished.

 

 

[onetrack]

I can understand people finding wrecks lying on top of the ground - the crashed Kittyhawk found in the Sahara in Egypt is a classic example of desert preservation.

 

However - burying stuff and recovering it intact is another totally different scenario altogether. In a previous life, I was an agricultural earthmoving contractor and a mining earthmoving contractor.

 

I've both buried lots of stuff, and dug up lots of stuff. I can tell you this much, once an item has been buried in the soil - even if steps have been taken to preserve it, it is still totally knackered with corrosion from moisture and chemicals in the soil - even after a few short years.

 

Gold is transported through the ground via chemical reaction and the movement of water through the soil.

 

If gold can be dissolved and transported through the soil, deep in the ground, there is little chance of relatively delicate aircraft and airframes being preserved under the soil - particularly after 71 years of tropical rainfall and regular floods.

 

I'm reminded of the brand new '57 Plymouth Belvedere buried in a concrete bunker in Tulsa, in 1957, as a 50 year time capsule, to be raised in perfect condition in 2007.

 

This car was covered in cosmoline and plastic wrapping, buried in a "sealed" concrete bunker, and it was expected it would be raised as a pristine, brand new 50 yr old car in 2007.

 

As any of us who followed the raising of "Miss Belvedere" with interest, know - it rapidly became obvious that Miss Belvedere's vault was not properly sealed, it had 4 feet (1.2M) of water in it, and "Miss Belvedere" was nothing more than a sad, rusty wreck, completely unrestoreable. Any aircraft buried in the soil of Burma, even if buried in preservation materials, would now be little more than streaks of rusty stains.

 

 

[fly_tornado]

Charles Revson once described the secret to business "you sell hope".

 

 

[geoffreywh]

But still things are found. Whilst playing deep in Epping Forest as a young bloke, My mate and I came across an obviously hidden airaid shelter in a bramble thicket. We got in and found boxes of what I now know to be Brens, Stens ammo and grenades, All wrapped in Brown greasy paper stuff. The grenades were smooth ones not pineapples. We ran away in fright, I wonder if it's still there? I could pin point it exactly...

 

 

[Jaba-who]

Bit off topic but is about aircraft buried under stuff.

 

I went to a lecture at Oshkosh put on by one of the team who extracted a P38 "Glacier Girl" from a glacier in Greenland. She had been landed on the ice near the end of WW 2 along with a number of others when they ran out of fuel. The airframes were intact and basically undamaged on landing and they gradually just melted their way into the ice.

 

The team expected that since the airframes were undisturbed during their entombment they would extract one completely undamaged. Sadly the movement of ice over the years had ground the parts to bits. They found one part that was completely undamaged. Every other part had suffered compression, grinding or bending damage.

 

But they still restored it at huge cost.

 

 

[OzBirdy]

Conditions and material quality determine how long it will survive.

 

Few years ago i was camped at an old bore hole here in the desert and noticed a bit of 3/4" mild steal ungalvinised pipe stickn out of the sand. Wen i tryed to pick it up i realised it was part of a full sling of pipe, black wire tyes still holdn it in sling, in perfect condition.

 

Figured the old man left it there 40 odd years before.

 

They dont make mild steal like that now.

 

This new 'duragal' crap they sell now is rusted through in one year sitn on top of the ground.

 

Found jam tins with 1946 dates, baccy tins and a kero lamp of same vintage buryed in clay/sand at an old fencn contracters camp on our desert boundery. Lamp would still work with a new wick and lens.

 

Im sure if there wasa dead AC out there, all itd need would be fuel, if it hadnt been burned in the fires.

 

 

[Yenn]

A Liberator which crashed near here during the war and found about 20 years ago has the pistons sticking out of the cylinders and they still revolve freely on the little ends, other engine parts are in similar condition. It has seen 70 years of wet seasons. The big thing is that it was above ground.

 

 

[Riley]

Ah, the venerable Burmese ghost Spitfire story surfaces yet again. I first heard it almost 40 years ago while 'on station' in Singapore. Cundall might rightfully be accused of 'smoking something' but despite the odds, oddball discoveries do sometimes happen. During a recent 30 day, 7500km gyrocopter group trundle thru the guts of WA and NT central deserts, while fossicking the surrounds of a long-abandoned airstrip, I happened on the incomplete remains of what appears to be vintage Sopwith components. Tho little remains of the hull, the flyers tentatively identified it as a Sopwith Camel by the distinctive frontal area (this stands to be confirmed). Having just completed the rebuild of a 7/10 scaled Stearman and being keen as mustard on anything that may have bi-plane connotations, with the help of the crew enough gyro gear was shifted around on the fuel truck to make room for what we salvaged for the trip back to Perth. I'm presently sympathetically attending to the effects of lord knows how many years exposure to the elements but soon hope to have enough pieced together to put up some photos and request the combined wisdom of fellow forumites to confirm/correct the initial identification. Subject to finance and the blessing of respective better halves, a longer sortie later in the year to thoroughly scour the wider area for more bits and pieces seems an absolute necessity.[/quote

 

 

 

 

Folks

 

Illustrated in the pics below is the assembly resultss of how far we got with what we have. Can anyoneconfirm this to be the bones of a genuine Sopwith?

 

=

 

=

 

=

 

=

 

=

 

=

 

=

 

=

 

 

(with apologies) Riley

 

 

[AussieB1rd]

Can anyone confirm this to be the bones of a genuine Sopwith?

That Sir is a fake, everyone knows that's not the colour of the British roundels of that period, 1916-1920 here are the real bones of a Sopwith Camel

 

 

 

[ozbear]

The island was Palmyra Attol controlled by the US

 

I remember that story - the bloke made a film about it, he was an Alby Mangels-type of buccaneer, roaming the Pacific with a bunch of blokes and girls, having one big continuous party on this old schooner he'd bought.I seem to recall he was pretty much a full-time drunk, and he plied all the girls on board with lots of booze to make them more compliant.

 

There were questions asked about the age of some of the girls (some were reputed to be under 16), so the bloke did a disappearing trick, and took off back to where he came from, which I think was Europe.

 

I can recall they found an abandoned U.S Army 6 x 6 truck and cranked it up, so they could haul all their scavenged stuff back to the boat.

 

The island was littered with concrete bunkers and there were hundreds of drums of fuel still inside the bunkers, along with all the other paraphernalia of war.

 

I can also recall there was an outcry from the people in the region about the U.S. Forces leaving their islands filled with WW2 junk - so the Australian Army sent in a team in the early 1990's, to blow up the bunkers, collect all the items still lying around, and take it all out to sea and dump it. They left the island clean, to the satisfaction of the locals, so there won't be anything left on that island, at least. For the life of me, I can't remember the islands name, I'm sure it was in Micronesia.

 

Cundall must be smoking some good stuff - it must make LSD look tame, for hallucogenic properties. How else could this dimwit keep prattling on with this rubbish?

 

What is even more amazing is the idiots he continues to find, to supply funding for his search. The bloke would be able to sell fridges, and air-conditioners, to Eskimos, I reckon.

 

Talk about the gift of persuasion - if he was selling religion, he'd probably already have 500 million followers.

from

 

 

[Riley]

That Sir is a fake, everyone knows that's not the colour of the British roundels of that period, 1916-1920 here are the real bones of a Sopwith Camel[ATTACH]43812[/ATTACH]

Well, our hopes are dashed. Appreciate your guidance A/Bird. I knew I could depend on Rec Flying advocates to clarify our indecision. Guess we won't be going back out to scour for whatever else may lay out there (tho I did see the partial remains of a Pup). Perhaps it may have been a dingo? cheers all.