WWII Spit Fire Engines, buried in oil filled crates

OK, so my grandfather before he passed used to tell me many WWII stories and there is one that stuck with me more so than others.

This is what he told me, after the war he was tasked to clean-up a lot of surplus military equipment, they burnt loads and buried tonnes, he said that he and his mates were tasked to clear a site full of old vehicles, engines and parts. There were a number of brand new spitfire engines in oil filled crates, they knew there worth so rather than just roughly dump them in a massive hole with everythin else they dug a long trench beside a hanger and carefully placed these crates in a line then carefully back filled it with the intention of one day possibly going back to get them.
When I asked how many they buried he told me I did not remember the exact number but it was about a dozen.

I know the name of the UK base, I don't know which hanger. I am unsure if the entire base is still military owned as I have seen farmers working the fields around the hangers.

If anyone thinks they have the resources / contacts to seek these then PM me.

They may already be gone, they may be split open and lost the oil by now but it would be very interesting to find out. Imagine finding just one single crate still intact, an original WWII brand new spit fire engine.

This is not BS, I believe what he said to be 100% true.

This thread belongs in Quotes and Jokes

Nigerian Spitfire engines ofcourse.

Are they near the mint-in-box Spitfire XIVs?

MiTasol said:

This thread belongs in Quotes and Jokes

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I suspected such a response hence why I never disclosed this before. My grandfather was a very educated and serious man, not one to joke or lie about such things, this is what he told me and I have no reason to disbelieve it. I have no idea what the engine models are.

I worked as an engineer for various companies over the years such as Airbus, Martin Baker, Lockheed and Martin, GE to name but a few and I have worked on many well-known projects. . Two years ago when everything went out the window with COVID I changed my career, my clearance has expired and many contacts no longer work in the industry (a lot of subcontractors got let go), the ones that remain would not be able to help with this as they are mostly service engineers, shop-floor electrical testers, assembly line engineers etc.

Anyway back to the point at hand, any advice on how to go about this?

I attach some never seen before images from my grandfather's WWII album, I have about a hundred of these taken around this time mostly in India, Japan and Egypt, and he too worked in aviation during the war. The fuel truck image has my grandfater holding the cup, he told me they would rota refueling the planes when they returned and that was one of the tankers they used, he said no one wanted the job hence why they had a rota for it.

In my mind, it's a question of establishing ownership before you search. I have no idea what British law says about this but you'll want to go in with prior written agreement as to who will own the artifacts once/if excavated. Then, find someone who can provide ground-penetrating radar services and start searching. I suspect you could dump a lot of money into this venture in legal and investigation fees before even breaking ground.

Oh, and it's "Spitfire" not "Spit Fire".

Crimea_River said:

In my mind, it's a question of establishing ownership before you search. I have no idea what British law says about this but you'll want to go in with prior written agreement as to who will own the artifacts once/if excavated. Then, find someone who can provide ground-penetrating radar services and start searching. I suspect you could dump a lot of money into this venture in legal and investigation fees before even breaking ground.

Oh, and it's "Spitfire" not "Spit Fire".

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Thank you, helpfull feed back.

"I suspect you could dump a lot of money into this venture in legal and investigation fees before even breaking ground."

Yes, I can well imagine and I dont have such resources hence why I am posting on a public forum.

OK, I found the site owners, it is now private so I am done with the thread. If in the future you hear of such a discovery then you know you heard it here first.