From my Facebook Friend Paul from across the pond.
Short piece with some good links.
Dozens of hidden British Spitfires to be excavated in Burma
Filed under Uncategorized
From my Facebook Friend Paul from across the pond.
Short piece with some good links.
Filed under Uncategorized
It is amazing what time will do to the perceived value of these WW2 warbirds. Then again, look at Vietnam where I remember the US Navy pushing off UH-1 helicopters from the carrier decks – brought by fleeing South Vietnamese pilots. They would have occupied space that was very valuable.
Then – with the P38 Glacier Girl a group spent millions going to a remote area of Greenland to dig 200′ down into the ice – retrieve a group of P38s forced t crash land – and build one out of all the parts.
Burma should be a piece of cake once permission had been had from the reclusive government.
On the value of these old war birds – though some of you would like this story. Some years ago I had to stop at the Bomber Restaurant – up in Portland OR. Since this had a big old B17 hung over the fuel pumps I am sure a lot of you would have stopped too!
Ended up talking with the owner – who said he bought the plane right after WW2.
Well, actually it was the 2nd B17 he took but bought only 1.
Seems the base commander had a “B17 sale ” and he offered nearly new B17s for $600.
Art bought it, started the takeoff roll and something happened – ground looped it? Whatever the plane was now unflyable.
So the base commander told him to just pick another one. Those were the days – $600 bombers and buried-never-used Spitfires.
http://thebomber.wix.com/bomb
Over at http://www.fark.com, the link to this article was headlined as follows:
60 Spitfires
Crated and hid
70 years later
Dug up and bid
Burma Planes
I’m wondering just how many of us will get that.
Mike
I remember seeing those through the 50s
Unfortunately all too many of we geezers/fossils from the era of 2-lane US hwys.,.NOT funny…scary is what it is, Mike…lol
PS: Are you sure you weren’t an ad exec in a former life?
My Dad once dragged me into our back garden and showed me a flight of what must have been 12 or more Spitfires flying overhead, for what he said would be the last time. This find is truly a wondrous thing.