36 Mint WW2 spitfires to be unearthed...

Packed in grease, then in crates, then buried. We wants one, precious...



"If they are buried there, it will have been a very well- kept secret because none of the RAF lads we knew ever said a word about it." Mr Cundall believes 36 aircraft may lie under the airfield and is "confident" of finding them.



www.telegraph.co.uk...

reply to post by canucks555


I give you one, if you give me one. Nothing like the music of round motors.....

Des

reply to post by Destinyone


Here have this one with the shark teeth (classic paint job)

reply to post by canucks555


Ahhh...paint job made famous by Flying Tigers...P40. I'll take it!

Des

Originally posted by Destinyone
reply to post by canucks555

 

I give you one, if you give me one. Nothing like the music of round motors.....

Des

The spit didn't have a round engine. The original model had a Rolls Royce Merlin, a liquid cooled V-12. Later models upgraded to the RR Griffon, also a V-12. A different British fighter, the Hawker Sea Fury, did have a round engine, the bristol Centaurus 18 cylander twin-row radial.

unfortunately, if water is in the crates you might just find rust after all these years...

Originally posted by HomerinNC
unfortunately, if water is in the crates you might just find rust after all these years...

Water is not good, BUT if everything was coated in grease correctly, much in the same way one would bury guns, greased inside and out/all parts, might be ok.

Here's a little bit of what we want to see:



Spitfires have a very special place in every Brit's heart!

Originally posted by Destinyone
reply to post by canucks555

 

Ahhh...paint job made famous by Flying Tigers...P40. I'll take it!

Des

The shark's mouth design was adopted by several RAF units (especially those using lend-lease P-40s) as a tribute to the Flying Tigers.....They and the Eagle Squadrons were the only Yanks in the fight at the time.

reply to post by squarehead666


lol! I think he pooped a little there..

Sound of a Merlin.....Makes all the hairs on my arms stand up!

Griffon Spits may be gruntier, but to a Brit, the crackle of a Merlin is the sound of freedom.

PS - +S&F! (Nice to read something hopeful on here.)

One of the greatest fighter aircraft of all time, in fact simply one of the greatest aircraft of all time.

It would be a great day if they found these, especially if they can be assembled and made airworthy, will definitely be keeping an eye on this.

Thanks for the story OP.

BTW, the video posted a couple of posts up, that made me chuckle........the presenter seemed rather...erm....trouser filled! lmao.

In my opinion it's the greatest.....The mighty Mustang would have remained an underperformer were it not for the availability of license built Packard Merlins that were originally intended for Spitfires and Lancasters.

Weren't those the days, though? Those bad guys never had a chance against the might, and right, of our side.

What a wonderful piece of nostalgia. Thanks for this treasure.

I believe they are thought to be a combination of Griffon powered Mk.XIV's and Mk.XVIII's possibly with a few Merlin 64 Mk.VIII's.

Unfortunately the first crate is full of water, doesn't bode well with all of our hopes of digging a full fighter wing of brand new Spits out of the mud.

Time Capsule Unveiling Reveals Rusty 1957 Plymouth

A concrete vault encasing a 1957 Plymouth Belvedere buried a half-century ago may have been built to withstand a nuclear attack but it couldn't beat back the natural onslaught of moisture.

At a Friday ceremony complete with a couple of drum rolls, crews removed a multilayered protective wrapping caked with red mud, revealing a vintage vehicle that was covered in rust and wouldn't crank.

There were a few bright spots, literally: shiny chrome was still visible around the doors and front fender, and workers were able to put air in the tires.

But the unveiling in front of thousands of people at the Tulsa Convention Center confirmed fears that the past 50 years had not been the kindest to Miss Belvedere.

reply to post by Drunkenparrot


There was never any hope of a large number of them being flyable. They thought that of the 36, they MIGHT be able to piece together 10 and make them flyable, but no more than that in all likelihood. There are a lot more buried there though, so they might be able to make 15-20 flyable, but I'd say they'd be lucky to get that many up and flying.

Holy #e Batman!
I love Spitfires!
having carved hundreds of spits and mustangs out of our native yellow cedar as a lad.......i would pay to see a Squadron of these flying past....maybe an arm or leg even!
Thanks!

Originally posted by Zaphod58
reply to post by Drunkenparrot

 

There was never any hope of a large number of them being flyable. They thought that of the 36, they MIGHT be able to piece together 10 and make them flyable, but no more than that in all likelihood. There are a lot more buried there though, so they might be able to make 15-20 flyable, but I'd say they'd be lucky to get that many up and flying.

edit on 1/16/2013 by Zaphod58 because: (no reason given)

The data plates alone are worth a fortune. As you probably know, entire restorations are built around little more than ownership of the registration.

EDIT- Vid Removed

Aiiee.....That was CGI!

This ain't though.....And there's sixteen of 'em!



I need a cold shower after watching that!

reply to post by squarehead666


is that from a movie?

reply to post by Drunkenparrot


Oh I know, the question is how much damage they suffered. We won't know for several weeks on the first one, as it will take that long to pump the water out of the crate. And then they'll have to find more and get a good sample of damage, so we'll be looking at several months to get an idea of how many they can salvage.