Spitfires buried in Burma to be returned,

[Tom-ADC]

May be one of the best looking WW II aircraft.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/defence/9203822/Spitfires-buried-in-Burma-during-war-to-be-returned-to-UK.html

[waksupi]

Scroll down the topics a ways! ;o)

[gnoahhh]

Ye gods and little fishes, what a chest thumping thrill that would be to have a squadron of Spitfires do a low-level pass!

[MtGun44]

Initially, I imagined them pushed into holes and buried, and couldn't think they would be
very salvagable. Severe corrosion, massive structural overload from soil, etc seemed to
make them likely to be rotted wrecks.

It might still be true, but the fact that they were in factory shipping crates, not assembled
and are reported to be shallowly buried may have them in relatively dry soil and not
crushed.

I hope for the best. The Spit was a beautiful ballerina of a fighter, although the ultra short
range meant it was forever a point defense fighter and was nearly useless as a strike
or escort fighter.

Bill

[Janoosh]

If they were transported by sea (most likely), they were covered in preservative. This would have been removed on assembly. But...... They are still in the shipping crate! Perhaps still in preservative. I believe the article stated a wax of some sort. If the area has adequate drainage...... Ahhh..... The stuff of dreams.

[hardy]

Ye gods and little fishes, what a chest thumping thrill that would be to have a squadron of Spitfires do a low-level pass!

I had the pleasure of being at Knebworth in 1975(UK)Pink Floyd concert.Early morning low level pass by "the Queen,s Flight"consisting of a Hurricane,a Lancaster and a Spitter.Stirs tha cockles of my old heart just remembering. Mike

[Crash_Corrigan]

The USAF put on quite a do every Fall at Nellis AFB here in Vegas. I went in 2010 and they had some really neat WWII fighter planes.

Hellcats and Corsairs with correct Navy markings. I have always like the big Corsair with the Gull Wing design....it is a large plane..... I believe they also had a P 40 Warhawk but with my memory......

The B17 was really nice. I had seen it fly into the base a few days before along with most of the other planes when they arrived in Vegas and flew over my residence on the West side of town. They saved the best for last....a quartet of P 51's and mixed Spitfires and Hurricaines flying about and roaring over the crowd. The Spit and the Mustang sounded the same to me......maybe cuz they have the same engine Duh!

The newer figher/attack planes were just awesome.. They did things in the air that defied everything I have ever learned about airplanes. They can truly turn on a dime and go scary fast.....although we never saw scary fast cuz it's against the rules etc.....

Anyway it was great to see where some of my tax money is being spent.....

[bowfin]

although the ultra short range meant it was forever a point defense fighter and was nearly useless as a strike or escort fighter.

Yep, the Spitfire was a war winner, as long as the war was over its own airfield. I have often wondered if the Germans had a version of the Japanese Zero instead of the Bf-109 (also notoriously short legged) for the Battle of Britain if it could have changed the outcome.

[Tom-ADC]

Always a fan of the F4U Corsair but have often wondered if the F2G built by Goodyear had been ready in time how it would have done.

http://www.museumofflight.org/aircraft/goodyear-f2g-1-super-corsair

[bowfin]

I think the F2G was intended for chasing down kamikazes, hence the monstrous engine. It's strong point would be getting from Point A to Point B at sea level in the quickest time possible.

I know the regular F4U soldiered on in Korea, while the F2G never really replaced it. By that time, jets had taken on any task involving speedy interception.

[JIMinPHX]

The Spit and the Mustang sounded the same to me......maybe cuz they have the same engine Duh!

The Spit & the Stang both used Merlins for a while. The Stang had a different engine in the early days. I don't know what else the Spits may have also used.

[Don Purcell]

Late war Spits used the big Griffon engine starting with the Mark 12 in 1943. Two hours north in Urbana Illinois Rudy Frasca has a restored MK19 with the Griffon engine. A beautiful bird.

[10 ga]

Live in tidewater area of VA. My son in law is a fighter airplane buff but works on submarines=$. Been to the air show at Langley 1X time and to the air show at Oceana 2X in last few years. Langley nice, but Oceana show is AWSOME!! Best all, 10 ga

[Kraschenbirn]

Late war Spits used the big Griffon engine starting with the Mark 12 in 1943. Two hours north in Urbana Illinois Rudy Frasca has a restored MK19 with the Griffon engine. A beautiful bird.

Slight correction: Rudy's Spit is a MK XVIII but does have the Griffon engine and the 5-blade Rotol prop. Aircraft was (literally) dug out of a junkyard in India and restoration took almost ten years...even with the collaboration/assistance of the shops of Imperial War Museum in Duxford, England.

Quite a few years back, Rudy Frasca was one of my alumi advisors at University of Illinois and I live within a quarter-mile of his flight simulator plant which is located on the airport (Frasca Field), where Rudy's aircraft collection is also kept. Actually, the Spitfire just came out of its annual inspection and was test flown this afternoon. Unfortunately, I was driving past as it taxied out to the runway and didn't have a camera with me.

Bill

[220swiftfn]

The Spit & the Stang both used Merlins for a while. The Stang had a different engine in the early days. I don't know what else the Spits may have also used.

The Allison P-51's (and A-36's) ........ I saw a P-51-a MANY years ago, and was well aware of how lucky I was to see it.......


Dan

[missionary5155]

Good morning
Down in Danville, ILL "Sparky" still has a current F4U. It is wonderful music to hear that double wasp crank up.
Mike in Peru

[10x]

The Spit & the Stang both used Merlins for a while. The Stang had a different engine in the early days. I don't know what else the Spits may have also used.

There is nothing else like the sound of Rolls Royce Merlin engine loafing at the bottom of a shallow dive or a slow fly by...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Et9EtogGJfM&feature=related

[Tom-ADC]

http://www.stelzriede.com/ms/mus/spitfire.wav


http://www.stelzriede.com/ms/mus/p38glgrl.wmv

[dragonrider]

I do hope they film the removal and restoration of these craft, will make a good NatGeo special.

[bowfin]

I saw the P-51 "Gunfighter" in a hangar here in Columbus, Nebraska last weeekend.

The Smithsonian Magazine picked the P-51 Mustang as best piece of "art" in the 20th century. The guy who chose it said that a great piece of art "does something" and that the form has to follow the function. Based on that, he said that it wins.

[Harter66]

I saw so many of those birds in Reno at the air races for so many yrs. Mrs America,Precious Metal,and so many more "unmodified" P51s I don't remember the names of . I often drooled on the Corsairs Blue Max was an F4U-7 I think its been soooo long. The Super Corsair,later dubed Bud Light Special,was an F2G ,they actually won the unlimited Gold as the S/C by out.living Rare Bear an F8F,Strega it was a P51,and several others 7 maydays 11 aircraft on the race course.

I don't remeber where I was going w/all that. Maybe just the feel of history and touching it,hearing it roar by at 400 plus mph. Oh yes that was it its a shame I haven't found the video of Rare Bear coming down the front straight at 460 plus working every inch of the 4350 Pratt & Whitney w/the 2 stage blower and the massive 3 bladed prop from a P-3 Orien. There's a sound you never ever forget.

The Hawker Sea Furies are impressive too."the Baby Gorilla" is dressed in Australian Naval colors w/Dreadnaught and Furiousdressed in British colours. I walked several B25s ,a B26,P38 or 2, even a Yak 11(?) Which looks a little lika 51 scoop and tail section on a P40.

Boring stories of glory days......

[Tom-ADC]

I think Rare Bear had a R3350 and not the R4360, but a fine aircraft for sure.
The F8F Bearcat held the climb record from zero to 10,000 ft for years and if memory serves me right the F4D Skyray we called it Ford was the first jet to beat it.

[MtGun44]

Rare Bear has a Wright 3350. The early version of the "Mustang" was called the Avenger
A-36 and used an Allison engine - it was a US Army Air Corp dive bomber. Only when the Brits
shoehorned a Merlin into the airframe did it become a really great fighter. The Allison had
a single stage, single speed supercharger and completely ran out of HP at altitude. Only
the P-38 Allisons had turbochargers and still put out full power at high altitude. The RR
Merlin had a two stage, intercooled, two speed supercharger and put out lots of power
at altitude.

The earliest Spitfires started out with early Merlins. Amazingly, they used two bladed fixed
pitch wooden props and the early Merlins produced only about 950 hp. Late Merlin Spits
had around 1600 hp and 3 bladed (wooded) variable pitch props. The final Spits had the
might RR Griffon, basically a massively upgraded Merlin, around 2000 HP. Look at the underwing
radiators if you want to know which Spits you are looking at. Early ones have one small, shallow
radiator housing, later ones (more HP) had two small shallow radiator housings, and
the Griffon Spits had two HUGE barn door radiator housings, must with 5 prop blades. The final
Griffon engined Spits had dual counter-rotating props and about 2400 HP.

Bill