36 Mint WW2 spitfires to be unearthed...

I hope they plan on re-preserving however many survived minus 1, so that people in the far future can see these magnificent machines.

people appear to vastly over estimate the " protection " that transport crates will offer to these airframes

reply to post by Destinyone


Spitfires did not use radial engines. They used a V-12 Rolls Royce Merlin engine, which made a music all it's own. It was very similar to the Allison V-12s used in the P-38 Lightning. There's a tractor-pull drag tractor called the "Canadian Flyer" that I've seen that has 2 of those Allisons and man did that thing sing under full throttle. The headers glowed bright orange after only 30 seconds of that.

Rolls Royce Merlin

I already have a maintenance manual. I just need to clean out the garage.

reply to post by canucks555


Wow..that will be a real good treasure to find.

If you just think about what treasure and how many treasure lies underneath the earth burried by people ...

Anyways...I want one too, and I promise to take good care of the plane..

What would such a pristine, unspoiled, untainted, untouched, maidenly Spitfire do on the openmarket...like E-bay?

reply to post by alfa1


Hey thanks alfa, lots of good up-to-date stuff there..

reply to post by squarehead666



what a fabulous sound. quite a stirring sight.

Back in the days of WWII the stuff to store parts in was called "Cosmoline". They still find perfectly preserved parts (like new) that have been carefully treated and wrapped in a funky paper to "breathe". Rifle parts and replacement parts for vehicles and guns or other military hardware needed to survive jungle or cold weather environments for who knows how long. That stuff works.

If the brits knew they would be storing these indefinitely they may have used it and have a gold mine on their hands. Not maybe for the aluminum or bi metal applications, for iron and steel it can't be beat.

Try cosmoline. I have guns that were stored in cosmoline since before WW2 and are like new. If the military uses it, it's probably because it's cheap and it works. It can make a hell of a mess and might take a rinse in kerosene or gasoline to remove it, but damn does it work well.

en.wikipedia.org...
www.advrider.com...

There was an episode of Top Gear that had a spitfire engined kit car - the thing was absolutely insane. Here's the article about it by the Telegraph

Had a look but can't find the vid on youtube, but here's the German car 'Brutus' which was on the same episode and is just as crazy.

reply to post by intrptr
it's strange you link to ADV Rider as I own an old BMW R100RS Cafe Racer (hence my name Boxer Twin - which is in reference to my favourite engine layout!). Re. Cosmoline, I believe it's a horrendous carcinogen so has been banned (obviously wouldn't have bothered people back in the day of the spitfire, when it was common place to give babies gin and coat kids toys with lead paint)

Originally posted by ignorant_ape
people appear to vastly over estimate the " protection " that transport crates will offer to these airframes

In my experience, if there is standing water in the crates it is a foregone conclusion that anything inside has been compromised as well no matter how thoroughly prepared.

Water always finds a way.

This quote from the Daily Mail sounds like the search team are still optimistic and seem to have some knowledge of the actual waterproofing that was done when the aircraft were packed...

Critics have said it's possible all they might find is a mass of corroded metal and rusty aircraft parts.

But the search team say the Spitfires are believed to be in good condition because they were waxed, wrapped in greased paper and had their joints tarred by RAF crews.

Hunters of the lost Spitfires: Inside the dig at Burmese airport for planes believed to have been buried in giant crates in 1945

There are pictures of the excavation site at the link, extra credit for anyone who can identify the Mark and type of Spitfire in the Daily Mail info-graphic ... ?

Originally posted by zatara
reply to post by canucks555

 

Wow..that will be a real good treasure to find.

If you just think about what treasure and how many treasure lies underneath the earth burried by people ...

Anyways...I want one too, and I promise to take good care of the plane..

What would such a pristine, unspoiled, untainted, untouched, maidenly Spitfire do on the openmarket...like E-bay?

No Spits have hit the market in quite a while but I would expect in to be in the same range as a good condition P-51 model , which for a D model will set you back $2 Million plus.

reply to post by Drunkenparrot


Mark XVI.

Originally posted by F4guy
reply to post by Drunkenparrot

 

Mark XVI.

Nope, here is a Mk.XVIE for comparison (which is nearly identical to the Mk.XIV's that are thought to make up the bulk of the Burmese Spitfires)...




Second guess? ( a good hint can be found by looking at the shape of the engine exhaust manifold stacks )

reply to post by Drunkenparrot


That's probably supposed to represent either a Mk.Ib or Mk.IIb. The spinner is quite blunt and so it's probably based on the one fitted to the DeHavilland propellor that many Mk.IIs were equipped with. The "a" or "b" or whatever letter comes after the mark number refers to the wing armament; "a" wings had eight machine guns, "b" wings had four machine guns and two 20mm cannon,the "c" wing was a universal wing that could take "a" or "b" armamemnt, or a heavier configuration of 4x20mm cannon. There was no "d" wing, but there was the "e" wing which could take any of the "c" wing armament types or a pair of 20mm cannon and 2x.50 machine guns.

The Mk.XVI, incidentally, was a lash-up based on a Mk.IX airframe and a Packard built Merlin 266. Only later Mk.XVIs had the cut down rear fuselage. Visually a Mk.XVI can be identified by a slightly bulged engine cover.

reply to post by boxertwin

You forgot making war. Making war is deadly lethal, carcinogens be damned. I didn't get the "its strange" comment. In what regard again?

Originally posted by roguedesigner
reply to post by Drunkenparrot

 

That's probably supposed to represent either a Mk.Ib or Mk.IIb. The spinner is quite blunt and so it's probably based on the one fitted to the DeHavilland propellor that many Mk.IIs were equipped with. The "a" or "b" or whatever letter comes after the mark number refers to the wing armament; "a" wings had eight machine guns, "b" wings had four machine guns and two 20mm cannon,the "c" wing was a universal wing that could take "a" or "b" armamemnt, or a heavier configuration of 4x20mm cannon. There was no "d" wing, but there was the "e" wing which could take any of the "c" wing armament types or a pair of 20mm cannon and 2x.50 machine guns.

The Mk.XVI, incidentally, was a lash-up based on a Mk.IX airframe and a Packard built Merlin 266. Only later Mk.XVIs had the cut down rear fuselage. Visually a Mk.XVI can be identified by a slightly bulged engine cover.

edit on 17-1-2013 by roguedesigner because: typo

edit on 17-1-2013 by roguedesigner because: double typo

Early Mk.Ib with the fixed De Havilland prop was my guess.

Thank you for the correction concerning the Mk.XVI. After a quick fact check, I seem to be confusing the Mk.XVI with the Mk.XVIII. ( The 4 blade prop in the photo I posted of RW386 above should have been a clue )

Excellent post

reply to post by intrptr



Indeed , every single russian mosin nagant rifle that was stored was stored in Cosmoline and they were caked in that stuff ! Gunky thick and smells fowl

Originally posted by Drunkenparrot

Originally posted by F4guy
reply to post by Drunkenparrot

 

Mark XVI.

Nope, here is a Mk.XVIE for comparison (which is nearly identical to the Mk.XIV's that are thought to make up the bulk of the Burmese Spitfires)...

Second guess? ( a good hint can be found by looking at the shape of the engine exhaust manifold stacks

)

edit on 17-1-2013 by Drunkenparrot because: (no reason given)

An early Mk Vb would be my guess,as they were,initially fitted with the same spinner covering the de havilland constant speed governing gear used by the Mk ia's and mk 2's,although some mk 1a spits were fitted out with 2 x 20mm cannon and 4 x 303's during the battle of Britain,but not liked by the pilots as the Hispano cannon were prone to jamming.

Sorry folks, looks like there are no planes to be found, according to latest BBC news this morning.

Although the guy who started all this is still confident, 3 sites have been looked at with no results.

The Russian sponsors were to have given an announcement today but pulled out, saying nothing to report.

www.bbc.co.uk...

I presume that there are some planes missing from the production lists, so they are somewhere, cue further speculation!