It looks like they were draped in plastic before being buried. I would guess that Saddam wanted to hide them from eyes above and dig them out later. But satellites would’ve certainly seen them burying 40 airplanes. Very strange.

Whatever the Iraqis were planning to do, it makes no tactical sense in the short term. If they had left the aircraft in view, they would have been blown to pieces in the opening seconds of the war, but then they might aswell have been, as they'd get little use out of buried planes. No bunkers and no runways suggest that they were not planning to use them in the near future.

This story does however, shed light on Saddam's plans for a resistance movement. The only way the Ba'athists could have used these planes to regain power is if they had waited quite a long time for the Americans to start to pull out, or leave altogether. The plastic wrapping suggests they planned to leave them there for a long time aswell. Of course, Saddam's minions didn't make a very good job of hiding their planes.

By finding this stash, I think the Americans have dealt a major blow to the Ba'athist resistance movement, but there is still a long way to go. They're fighting an unseen enemy remember...

[Edited on 13-8-2003 by CiderGood_HeadacheBad]

If Iraq indeed had WMD:s even in 2002-2003.. they mihgt be buried in same fassion as the aircraft.. just in some more remote and secure location..

In US there is this VERY LARGE desert site in witch over 4000 aircraft (planes and choppers..) are stored.. in dry dersert air they "remain" in very good condition for long periods of time.. but i doubt that BURIED IN SAND has same effect.. i would imagene that the BURNING HOT DESERT SAND destroys / damages sensitive aircraft electronic very quickly?

Originally posted by Uninen
.. i would imagene that the BURNING HOT DESERT SAND destroys / damages sensitive aircraft electronic very quickly?

Beneath the surface of the sand, it's not so hot at all. Ever tried burying your feet into the sand on a beach to keep them cool? Or maybe a canned drink? It does work. The plastic wrap on those aircraft would also go towards protecting them from the long term effects of being buried in the sand.

Very interesting. It seems like the Iraqies did not really know what they were doing.

groingrinder.. i know the facts about the US "burial ground for planes" the planes are speacially treated and so on.. (some equipment is removed and they are covered by this layer of white material glassfibre or plastic..) and the location of this site was selected cause the air is allmost perfectly dry there.. no moisture.. so the planes arent corruptet either..

But please remember.. I am from Finland.. all this info of all the matters i know about, is in Finnish in my head.. and complicated things are sometimes HARD to explain.. in ENGLISH.. As i dont like to use dictionary all the time..

Btw there is also modern aircraft stored there, for examble all the embargoed Pakitani F-16s are held there..

[Edited on 13-8-2003 by Uninen]

Very Wierd! If they were going to use them again they would have needed a complete overhaul before flight, and satalites definatly would have picked out aircraft being burried. either that or saddams pilots never got around to the chapter on "Landing an aircraft safely"

It looks like they were draped in plastic before being buried. I would guess that Saddam wanted to hide them from eyes above and dig them out later. But satellites would’ve certainly seen them burying 40 airplanes. Very strange.

That's probably why we found them...(satellites)

We'll be turning up things hidden in the sands, for some time to come I think... Rather primitive tactic, but for every find we make, how many more caches go unfound???

Originally posted by Uninen
If Iraq indeed had WMD:s even in 2002-2003.. they mihgt be buried in same fassion as the aircraft.. just in some more remote and secure location..

In US there is this VERY LARGE desert site in witch over 4000 aircraft (planes and choppers..) are stored.. in dry dersert air they "remain" in very good condition for long periods of time.. but i doubt that BURIED IN SAND has same effect.. i would imagene that the BURNING HOT DESERT SAND destroys / damages sensitive aircraft electronic very quickly?

thats right, we dont know what else they have buried out there but SOME people just KNOW saddam couldnt have buried anything....since they have staunchly defended the "he doesnt have anything to begin with" stance they have had since day one.

of course being able to find small portable containers buried in the sand in an area the size of texas is not an easy task so those who were expecting hard evidence a week after the war started have been and will continue to be unrealistic and as a result near impossible to actually converse with about this.

this is yet ANOTHER example of erring on the side of caution and assuming he did have these things rather than not. (i dont believe in assuming but in this case, better to be safe than sorry)

he has lied to the world many times before so who would believe him when he said he didnt have any AFTER openly declaring all he had 12 years ago? more importantly WHY would anyone believe him? maybe some people's hatred for a certain poltician and his political party has clouded their judgement.

i have a feeling we'll be pulling all kinds of things from the sand for a long time to come. this situation cant be taken care of in a few short weeks or even months. having to scour all over an entire country looking for these things is going to take a lot of time.

of course i keep saying that if we had simply done away with him 12 years ago we wouldnt be having this problem right now but hey, hindsight is always 20/20 isnt it?

but i'm sure bush bvashers will just say "well the military planted them there" and then stomp off in an indignant manner feeling smug they KNOW the answers when the truth is none of us know with ANY certainty whats in that country still, whats under the sand or whats been moved to others countries when noone was looking.

those WMD he openly declared 12 years ago didnt disappear on their own. they had to go somewhere and they didnt vanish into thin air or evaporate.

Originally posted by Uninen
If Iraq indeed had WMD:s even in 2002-2003.. they mihgt be buried in same fassion as the aircraft.. just in some more remote and secure location..

In US there is this VERY LARGE desert site in witch over 4000 aircraft (planes and choppers..) are stored.. in dry dersert air they "remain" in very good condition for long periods of time.. but i doubt that BURIED IN SAND has same effect.. i would imagene that the BURNING HOT DESERT SAND destroys / damages sensitive aircraft electronic very quickly?

thats right, we dont know what else they have buried out there but SOME people just KNOW saddam couldnt have buried anything....since they have staunchly defended the "he doesnt have anything to begin with" stance they have had since day one.

of course being able to find small portable containers buried in the sand in an area the size of texas is not an easy task so those who were expecting hard evidence a week after the war started have been and will continue to be unrealistic and as a result near impossible to actually converse with about this.

this is yet ANOTHER example of erring on the side of caution and assuming he did have these things rather than not. (i dont believe in assuming but in this case, better to be safe than sorry)

he has lied to the world many times before so who would believe him when he said he didnt have any AFTER openly declaring all he had 12 years ago? more importantly WHY would anyone believe him? maybe some people's hatred for a certain poltician and his political party has clouded their judgement.

i have a feeling we'll be pulling all kinds of things from the sand for a long time to come. this situation cant be taken care of in a few short weeks or even months. having to scour all over an entire country looking for these things is going to take a lot of time.

of course i keep saying that if we had simply done away with him 12 years ago we wouldnt be having this problem right now but hey, hindsight is always 20/20 isnt it?

but i'm sure bush bvashers will just say "well the military planted them there" and then stomp off in an indignant manner feeling smug they KNOW the answers when the truth is none of us know with ANY certainty whats in that country still, whats under the sand or whats been moved to others countries when noone was looking.

those WMD he openly declared 12 years ago didnt disappear on their own. they had to go somewhere and they didnt vanish into thin air or evaporate.

Nice.. you double posted.. But personally, i think that WMDs will never be found as the werent any.. and i think that whole "IRAQI FREEDOM" is the most sinister war crime since 1945..

But enough of this..

Here i want more pics of those buried planes.. and if possible some explonation for reasons they were buried..

I guess it's a moot point now, but the Iraqis honestly thought they had a chance to fight back, in the beginning. So, I think that their logic was that if they hid their planes, the US would be lulled into a sense of security, then they would dig 'em up and bomb the crap out of the tanks and infantry.

If the Americans didnt find any plannes carrying WMD you can bet your top dollar that they will fit WMD to the planes and claim they were equipped with them.

Originally posted by Loki
I guess it's a moot point now, but the Iraqis honestly thought they had a chance to fight back, in the beginning. So, I think that their logic was that if they hid their planes, the US would be lulled into a sense of security, then they would dig 'em up and bomb the crap out of the tanks and infantry.

That would actually make some sense.. And that would also mean that Iraqis did not anticipate the losing control of these bases.. and that the planes were intended to be buried for some weeks.. moths tops and not years..