BeechTalk - BT

Username Protected · **Posted:** 15 Apr 2012, 21:01

Didn't think the whole buried Spitfire thing would pan out but apparently it has.

http://www.avweb.com/avwebflash/news/Lo ... 526-1.html

Username Protected · **Posted:** 15 Apr 2012, 21:40

Unbelievably cool.

Username Protected · **Posted:** 15 Apr 2012, 21:57

Wow! If they sold tickets to the opening of one of those crates i'd be the first to buy. Simply amazing.

Username Protected · **Posted:** 15 Apr 2012, 22:05

I sincerely hope it turns out better than that 1957 Plymouth in Tulsa, buried in the "Time Capsule"...

Username Protected · **Posted:** 15 Apr 2012, 22:41

This is exciting news, but I would be more excited if they found some pickled P-51 Mustangs! :drool:

Username Protected · **Posted:** 16 Apr 2012, 11:04

Totally awesome. We heard the stories and all wondered, now something is turning up.

Username Protected · **Posted:** 16 Apr 2012, 12:11

40 ft underground for over 65 years ? mmm

If water got in there its a pile of scrap metal... :eek:

Exciting anyway !

Username Protected · **Posted:** 16 Apr 2012, 13:59

I thought the planes were sealed in a mountain mine.

Username Protected · **Posted:** 16 Apr 2012, 14:00

Username Protected wrote:

I thought the planes were sealed in a mountain mine.

They must be in some kind of cave or mine or something, because they sent a camera down there and could tell that the crates were in "good" shape.

Username Protected · **Posted:** 16 Apr 2012, 14:12

I hope they are all in great shape!!. :cross:

They were crated and had preservatives so maybe it is a "mother load" find.

That said, I remember the exitement generated when they located the P38's and B-17s under the ice in Greenland a few years ago. Personally looked at "Glacier girl" in the tent at Oshkosh fresh out of the ice. My thoughts then were... "this will never fly again". :sad:

Well if you got a dataplate and enough $$$... it can fly. :scratch:

But no one has gone back for any of the other ice bound airplanes.

Leldon

Username Protected · **Posted:** 16 Apr 2012, 14:19

One news report says they did a bore hole to one crate and that it [the crate] "appears" to be in good condition, whatever "good means" in those circumstances.

If memory serves correctly, a gentleman who was long ago rebuilding a Spit told me the wing skins are magnesium. If so, even if well preserved, one does wonder how well the mag components fared in relation to the entire find.

Hadn't heard anything about being buried in a mine, but an Aussie news story indicated the crates were buried with TEAK timbers placed above the crates to prevent the earth from crushing them. :shrug:

Whatever the case, it's certainly an exciting find!

:cheers:

Username Protected · **Posted:** 16 Apr 2012, 14:46

Some rich guy needs to ship one to Oshkosh, crate and all.

Username Protected · **Posted:** 16 Apr 2012, 14:57

Being a Brit with stellar aviation credentials, I think Richard Branson would be particularly well qualified for that!
:cheers:

Username Protected · **Posted:** 16 Apr 2012, 17:33

Username Protected wrote:

If memory serves correctly, a gentleman who was long ago rebuilding a Spit told me the wing skins are magnesium. If so, even if well preserved, one does wonder how well the mag components fared in relation to the entire find.

To correct my foggy memory, I just received an email from famed restorer Ian Ward in the UK who says "all the rivets were magnesium but the skins on a MK XIV were duralumin so i would expect the structure to survive, the main problem would be corrosion between dissimilar metals so the aircraft may be significantly corroded.

Thought that bit of expertise worth sharing.
:cheers:

Username Protected · **Posted:** 16 Apr 2012, 18:20

Burmese treasure: 'We've done some pretty silly things but the silliest was burying the Spitfires'

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/world/burmese-tre ... z1sFDMhOiN

[I disagree with the headline. The alternatives were pushing them into the sea, or scrapping them. Burying them seems wise by comparison.]

Buried Spitfires FOUND