140 Mint Spitfires Discovered in Burma

[stevejh]

What an incredible story.

http://www.businessinsider.com/one-british-farmer-...

140 (ish) WWII Spitfires were buried in their crates in Burma by the Yanks for collection by the RAF later in the war but they were never collected and have lain there ever since.

[jjones]

spitfires you say??

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=120...
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=113...
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=114...

[stevejh]

I did a search, I really did.

[hidetheelephants]

I wish they'd hurry up and dig them out already; that's 600 crated spits discovered in Burma now, at this rate they'll be worthless by next week and everyone will have one as a garden ornament.

[GadgeS3C]

I don't mind being common and owning one

Happy to be a pleb with a Spitfire!

[mickrick]

I doubt they will be "Mint".

[mrloudly]

What's the restoration cost going to be on a basket case Spit?

Reckon all of these, if recovered, won't cover the diesel costs to un-earth them...

[Simpo Two]

Airframes regardless, there's 140 Merlin engnes though...

[Eric Mc]

Some are Griffons, aren't they.

The restoration cost of a Spitfire or similar airframe will depend on the extent of restoration or rebuild required. Some restorations have been relatively "easy" whilst some have been almost completely new aircraft with old parts serving as patterns. I think you are looking at between £500,000 to £1 million for such a project.

A completed WW2 fighter can sell from around £1 million. Obviously, if a glut of restorable Spitfire airframes suddenly appears on the market, then that could actually depress the selling prices of finished Spitfire projects, which could, oddly, result in the number of restoration projects dropping.

[mrloudly]

http://www.damncoolpictures.com/2007/06/buried-car...

[Eric Mc]

That didn't fare that well. However, cars are mostly steel. Spitfires were mostly aliminium.

[Simpo Two]

Rather silly of them to allow the car enclosure to fill with water.

In making comparisons there are also other factors to take into account, eg pH and oxygen content of the ground.

[mrloudly]

And that fact that they're buried in the extreme tropics of Burma in wooden boxes.

[Simpo Two]

Temperature too, yes. The warmer it is, the faster chemical reactions happen.

[LotusOmega375D]

Who remembers this big reported newspaper "Find" from a few years ago? They crop up everywhere!