Spitfires Found!
- Thread starter GavC
- Start date
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Exactly. One of the team responsible for that survey was careful to point out on the BBC news that those red areas indicate the presence of metal,any metal,not necessarily Spitfires.
That doesn't mean that there aren't Spitfires there,but it doesn't mean that there are either.
Cheers
Steve
That doesn't mean that there aren't Spitfires there,but it doesn't mean that there are either.
Cheers
Steve
A lot of words like, "it is thought" and "may be" are in that article.
Where do they get their numbers from since the article seems to indicate they've never found any paper trail that these aircraft was ever sent to Burma ?
Surely 60-140 aircraft didn't get shipped somewhere without there being a multitude of paperwork. All of it can't be lost.
Where do they get their numbers from since the article seems to indicate they've never found any paper trail that these aircraft was ever sent to Burma ?
Surely 60-140 aircraft didn't get shipped somewhere without there being a multitude of paperwork. All of it can't be lost.
I think the number is down to 30 but your point is still valid.
I am very sceptical but would be delighted to be proved wrong.
Cheers
Steve
Readie
Chief Master Sergeant
Er, yes it could.
Who knows what is really buried there.
My bet is an ammunition dump.
Cheers
John
I doubt the paperwork is lost,though anything is possible.
I suspect that it either never existed,which means neither do the Spitfires,or it has been misplaced or misfiled. As an occasional visitor to some of our archives I can assure you that that is a distinct possibility!
Cheers
Steve
I suspect that it either never existed,which means neither do the Spitfires,or it has been misplaced or misfiled. As an occasional visitor to some of our archives I can assure you that that is a distinct possibility!
Cheers
Steve
bobbysocks
Chief Master Sergeant
that will make for a very exciting moment or 2 if they go prodding around with a backhoe!!! you dont want to piss off old ordnance...it tends to get very cranky when wakened.
I can see paperwork on the receiving end getting lost, the war was over, going home was uppermost on most peoples minds. We've all heard of aircraft and vehicles just being shoved off ships after the war, and i'm sure there were a lot of bonfires from the records in far flung offices and headquarters.
But a paper trail from when they were manufactored, prepared for shipment, shipped, etc. etc. . All gone ??
But a paper trail from when they were manufactored, prepared for shipment, shipped, etc. etc. . All gone ??
prem895
Staff Sergeant
I guess we will have to wait and see.
FLYBOYJ
"THE GREAT GAZOO"
I'll believe this when I see it. In the mean time it stacks up with Bigfoot, the Lochness Monster and UFOs. 
bobbysocks
Chief Master Sergeant
we ought to merge this with the other thread...
vikingBerserker
Lieutenant General
Hmm an old ammo dump. Why do I picture a backhoe in orbit?
Edgar Brooks
Senior Airman
What we don't know is if the Squadrons were just told to get rid of them, with no method specified. Years ago a pilot told me how, here in the U.K., pilots were paid to fly out over the sea (North, Irish or Atlantic I've no idea,) then take to their parachutes (near a standby boat, presumably,) and let the aircraft go.
A former erk told me how, coming back in a carrier, after the war ended, they were pushing aircraft off the round-down, as they travelled up the Med.
If the Spitfires had never been assembled, disposing of them together with their crates, in one go, makes some sort of sense, and they would just have been "Struck Off Charge," in a report back to the Air Ministry.
I really find that first one hard to believe. Parachutes to this day have a failure rate, + parachuting out of a pilotless aircraft , + nobody likes to parachute into the water ( except maybe Navy Seals) and then into any seas around the UK, brrrr.
You'd have to pay me real well to try that, and people call me thrill junky.
You'd have to pay me real well to try that, and people call me thrill junky.
Airframes
Benevolens Magister
I can believe it. Not that many years ago, the Royal Navy's Historic Flight had an undercarriage malfunction with their Sea Fury. The pilot was instructed to fly out over the sea, and abandon the aircraft. This he did, taking to his parachute, landing in the sea, and was recovered. The aircraft, of course was lost.
I agree, parachutes, of any type, can have a malfunction, but it's relatively rare with a service-issue round canopy. I've done a total of 502 descents, including freefall, and never been killed yet! (also done a water jump into the sea, and it wasn't cold - it was F*****G cold !!)
EDIT: Geo, the 'I' and the 'T' are only part of the picture. The missing left hand side has the 'SP' and the missing right hand side has the FIRE ........
I agree, parachutes, of any type, can have a malfunction, but it's relatively rare with a service-issue round canopy. I've done a total of 502 descents, including freefall, and never been killed yet! (also done a water jump into the sea, and it wasn't cold - it was F*****G cold !!)
EDIT: Geo, the 'I' and the 'T' are only part of the picture. The missing left hand side has the 'SP' and the missing right hand side has the FIRE ........
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Airframes
Benevolens Magister
I agree, otherwise we might end up with around 1,200 Spitfires ......
My older brother was airborne for his entire 20 years in the Army. I stayed with his family one summer at Ft. Bragg ,in 1962.
They had 2 mass jumps that summer, both times someone died, seems to me in one jump, 2 . I'm talking jumps of about and over 100 men each.
I have no idea how many jumps he made in his career, but never any broken bones. Though he lost a tooth when he landed in a tree. He was one tough, lucky, man.
Parachuting was not as safe in the 40's as it is today.
They had 2 mass jumps that summer, both times someone died, seems to me in one jump, 2 . I'm talking jumps of about and over 100 men each.
I have no idea how many jumps he made in his career, but never any broken bones. Though he lost a tooth when he landed in a tree. He was one tough, lucky, man.
Parachuting was not as safe in the 40's as it is today.
