Spitfires Found!

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The BBC 6 O'clock News on Wednesday 28th Nov has just ran a story about theses Spitfires.
They showed some ground radar pictures which seemed to show some large metallic finds grouped together in rectangular pits / trenches.
They said that work was supposed to begin in January to find out if it is crated Spitfires or scrap metal.
It seems we may be fairly close to finding out one way or the other!
 
Edgar Brooks said:
and they would just have been "Struck Off Charge," in a report back to the Air Ministry.
Click to expand...

Indeed Edgar,so where are those reports. These aircraft must have a history. They must have been part of an order and they must have been assigned serials.In the absence of teleporters they must have been shipped to the Far East. Is none of this known? The researcher seems keen to publish a lot of conjecture,maybe its my scientifically trained mind but there is a distinct lack of empirical evidence.Some people are talking about dozens of aircraft here,I find it difficult to believe that there is no paper trail at all.

Red Tape,invented by the British Civil Service and passed on to the rest of the Empire

Cheers
Steve
 
One problem is knowing where to look; the Air Historical Branch have all of the remaining Movement Cards (I say "remaining" since some were stolen while they were held in the P.R.O. (now National Archives) in Kew. The A.H.B. have a poor reputation, when it comes to the ordinary public gaining access to do research; it's possible they have the reports, I've never seen mention of any in Kew.
The writers of "Spitfire the History" did have access to the cards (or the microfilm copies in the RAF Museum,) and, on those that I've looked at in Hendon, the information can be singularly succinct. In the book, it's common, in the Mark XIV lists, to read just ACSEA (Air Command South East Asia,) followed by a date, then "SOC," followed by another date. As an example, for TZ157, there's ACSEA 30-5-46 SOC 24-4-47, with nothing in between.
I'd like to strike a note of caution, in this; it's just been revealed that quotes, attributed to Mr. Cundall in the Daily Telegraph, are a complete fabrication, so there could well be a(nother) case of journalists not letting the truth get in the way of a good story.
 
I see your point Edgar,it just seems odd to me that someone claiming to have discovered the whereabouts of 30,60,100+ Spitfires,depending who you believe,would make no attempt to reconcile them with the extant records.
It's not the only odd thing in all this either.
As for your last point about journalists....why am I not surprised

Cheers

Steve
 
I would still recommend caution, and waiting until whatever is down there is brought out and opened up. The only certain piece of information will be any serial found on the rear fuselage; some years ago, I was reading through "Spitfire the History" (it beats counting sheep, when you can't sleep,) and, in the listings of Mark XVI serials, saw one that I recognised, since it had been on 41 Squadron's strength, and photographed in 1945. The only problem was that it had been built as a low-back XIV; I'm not saying that these will be the same, but, from what I've seen, anything can (and did) happen.
 
According to the latest info I have read on the buried Spitfires, there are "suppose" to be around 60 buried. Most are in crates, and some of them are buried under what is now a housing development. According to their Facebook page ...
http://www.facebook.com/groups/295437683870842/
they are going to start digging in January, and expect to know something five days later. If, and that's a big IF, they find any, they say they could be in flyable condition in three years.

BTW, I merged this thread with the 140 Spit found thread.


Charles
 
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They haven't even seen the things yet, and already someone is estimating how long it would take to get one in flying condition ???
One thing these people are experts at, creating doubts that they know what they're talking about.
 
tyrodtom said:
They haven't even seen the things yet, and already someone is estimating how long it would take to get one in flying condition ???
One thing these people are experts at, creating doubts that they know what they're talking about.
Click to expand...

Tom: The people who are doing this dig are under the impression the aircraft are in almost pristine condition, and suitably crated to reduce deterioration. They were given all this info by the people who originally buried the Spitfires.

Charles
 
What they may have considered as suitable protection for a few years may not hold up so well for what's ended up being 67-68 years.
Have the actually talked to the people who buried these aircraft ? Or talked to people, who knew of, etc. ?
 
They've talked to "eye witnesses". That is presumably people who saw them buried not those that did the burying but it's all conjecture.
Steve
 
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