# Buried in Burma: 140 Mint-Condition Spitfire Planes **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 21, 2012, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buried-in-burma-140-mint-condition-spitfire-planes/638376 "2012-10-21T01:39:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2013, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buried-in-burma-140-mint-condition-spitfire-planes/638376/21 "2013-01-09T14:26:11Z")
This box and it’s contents have been underwater for some seventy years? ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2013, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buried-in-burma-140-mint-condition-spitfire-planes/638376/22 "2013-01-09T14:27:31Z")
It’s probably just the humidity. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2013, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buried-in-burma-140-mint-condition-spitfire-planes/638376/23 "2013-01-09T14:33:54Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > It’s probably just the humidity. Ah. ---
**Author:** ![Nunzio\_Tavulari](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Nunzio\_Tavulari](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nunzio_Tavulari)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2013, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buried-in-burma-140-mint-condition-spitfire-planes/638376/24 "2013-01-09T16:49:19Z")
The quality of journalism today is poor. The editor of the Bangkok Post should have replied “You’ve been mouthing off about these damn planes for years now. Wet boxes are not news. Call us when you’ve found a Spitfire” ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2013, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buried-in-burma-140-mint-condition-spitfire-planes/638376/25 "2013-01-09T19:19:39Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > Update: [Crate find lifts hopes of Spitfire hunters](http://www.bangkokpost.com/breakingnews/330001/crate-find-lifts-hopes-of-myanmar-spitfire-hunters) > > Basically they’ve found _a_ – that is, one (1) – box of something buried in a remote area of the country. Maybe a bit too soon to start popping the champagne corks. Ah, well, it would be news if it was news. They claimed months and months ago that they had found a crate, sent a small camera down a bore hole to examine it, and it appeared in good condition from the outside. See my post just above the latest update. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2013, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buried-in-burma-140-mint-condition-spitfire-planes/638376/26 "2013-01-10T02:58:45Z")
What manner of voodoo is preventing all these researchers from digging up the damn box and opening it, I wonder. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2013, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buried-in-burma-140-mint-condition-spitfire-planes/638376/27 "2013-01-10T03:04:12Z")
Scientists _observe_; a shovel doesn’t generate data, only sweat. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2013, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buried-in-burma-140-mint-condition-spitfire-planes/638376/28 "2013-01-10T04:25:21Z")
BBC has an [eyewitness to the burials](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-20957162), 91-year-old Stanley Coombe. (Apologies if he’s in other links and I missed it or just plain forgot.) Hope he’s not just being dotty. BBC TV just reported on Wednesday’s press conference in Rangoon. Showed Coombe too. Looks like they’re going to start digging today (Thursday). They also had an “aviation archaeologist” (never knew there was such a thing) saying he doubted any of the planes would be found in mint condition. ---
**Author:** ![Doggo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/87869e/32.png) [@Doggo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doggo)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2013, 9:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buried-in-burma-140-mint-condition-spitfire-planes/638376/29 "2013-01-10T09:49:50Z")
IMO, nothing proves the stupidity of the officer class military mind more than the desire to destroy things like the iconic symbol of British spirit in the Battle of Britain. If they did exist, they could have been shipped to the different countries that flew for the British and put on display for future generations to see. In New Zealand, dozens of perfectly good Valentine tanks that were left over from WW2 were used as target practice by the tankies. Yet, in the 1980s the NZ army spent many hours and a great deal of money trying to restore a single Valentine tank to put on display outside their new museum. Sad but true. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2013, 10:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buried-in-burma-140-mint-condition-spitfire-planes/638376/30 "2013-01-10T10:13:40Z")
Errr, in 1945 Spitfires were worthless, you could not give them away. And in 1945, Spitfires were less a symbol of British determination and more a memory of some very lousy times. ---
**Author:** ![Accidental\_Martyr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ce7236/32.png) [@Accidental\_Martyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Accidental_Martyr)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2013, 9:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buried-in-burma-140-mint-condition-spitfire-planes/638376/31 "2013-01-12T09:55:18Z")
Maybe they can dig up the ones in Australia, too. 😉 [http://theaustralian.com.au/business/aviation/fact-or-fable-hunt-is-on-for-buried-spitfires/story-e6frg95x-1225995654752](http://theaustralian.com.au/business/aviation/fact-or-fable-hunt-is-on-for-buried-spitfires/story-e6frg95x-1225995654752) ---
**Author:** ![Mk\_VII](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2013, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buried-in-burma-140-mint-condition-spitfire-planes/638376/32 "2013-01-12T15:02:50Z")
Huge quantities of materiel were scrapped or burned at the end of the war. If it was enemy stuff nobody wanted it anyway. Most people had had quite enough of the war and wanted only to put it behind them and move on with their lives. An number of foreign nations operated Spitfires for a few years, before they moved on to newer designs. Piston-engined fighters had clearly had their day and jet propulsion was the future. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2013, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buried-in-burma-140-mint-condition-spitfire-planes/638376/33 "2013-01-12T19:10:11Z")
Whatever they find, regardless of how much grease and wax paper they used the notion that those planes are going to be in good or great condition after being buried underground for 70 years in wooden boxes in the tropics is highly amusing. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2013, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buried-in-burma-140-mint-condition-spitfire-planes/638376/34 "2013-01-12T19:16:13Z")
I’ll wait until something is pulled up before cheering. [Here’s the most recent AP report](http://world.time.com/2013/01/09/burma-spitfire-hunt-leads-to-water-filled-crate/) via Time. If all the crates are filled with water, I can’t see how anything would be left that’s even usable as parts. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2013, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buried-in-burma-140-mint-condition-spitfire-planes/638376/35 "2013-01-18T16:26:52Z")
Sadly, but hardly surprisingly, [archaeologists now believe no Spitfires are buried in Burma](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-21074699). They still don’t seem to know what’s in that crate they found though. Odd. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2013, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buried-in-burma-140-mint-condition-spitfire-planes/638376/36 "2013-01-18T17:15:43Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > Sadly, but hardly surprisingly, [archaeologists now believe no Spitfires are buried in Burma](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-21074699). > > They still don’t seem to know what’s in that crate they found though. Odd. Since it seems they’ve reached this conclusion without even digging up the single crate they’ve found, I can only conclude that they’ve looked at the paper evidence and decided it was fraudulent. ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2013, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buried-in-burma-140-mint-condition-spitfire-planes/638376/37 "2013-01-19T11:35:49Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > Errr, in 1945 Spitfires were worthless, you could not give them away. And in 1945, Spitfires were less a symbol of British determination and more a memory of some very lousy times. I think that is a bit of a stretch. The fledgling Israeli Air Force (not formed until 1948) was desperate for planes and flew both Spitfires and BF 109’s. There were underground cadres of air units prior to that date who would happily have accepted Spitfires (not that the British were really particularly fond of them 🙂 ) ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2013, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buried-in-burma-140-mint-condition-spitfire-planes/638376/38 "2013-01-19T12:12:39Z")
Well yes. But, Israel per usual is a bit of a special case and IIRC they had Bf109 and the Egyptians the Spits ( from leftover planes of the DesertnAirforce) Still the point stands, anyone which was not a recently illegal militant group coukd easily get it’s hands on equipment much better than the Spitfires, 1945 had several shortages, fighter planes was not one of them. ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2013, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buried-in-burma-140-mint-condition-spitfire-planes/638376/39 "2013-01-19T12:24:16Z")
I know we are drifting off topic, but the Spitfire was still a very effective fighter in 1945 (although I understand these were not the latest models). In 1948 the Israeli airforce operated both Spitfires and a version of the BF109 and I understand that the Egyptian air force also had Spitfires. I am not an aviator, but from what I understand it was far easier to operate a piston engined aircraft than a jet which required a lot of specialist equipment at the time. Anyway, back to the main topic. In another thread I said I doubted there were any Spitfires to be ound and I think that is still going to be the case (at least in any worthwhile condition). ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2013, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buried-in-burma-140-mint-condition-spitfire-planes/638376/40 "2013-01-19T12:34:39Z")
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