Spitfires in Burma

[C_roundy]

Re: Spitfires in Burma

OK, while we're talking fantasy stuff... If there's to be a racing class made up of crate-fresh, 0-time Spitfires, may we please have Bob Hoover in the pace plane?

Why yes, yes you may! -And- the RUAF (Royal Unobtanium Air Force) has arranged to present our dear Mr. Hoover with the FW-190 he stole from the Germans and flew to Holland to make good his escape from being a P.O.W. in 1945, to fly as the pace plane for our 67 yr old, brand new Spitfires!

I for one, most certainly cannot think of a more perfect way to get a bunch of Spitfires to line up behind an American Hero pace pilot!

[Unlimited Fan]

Re: Spitfires in Burma

Or that entombed '57 Plymouth they "exhumed" after half a century only to find that invading moisture had over time fully submerged it in water for years, turning it into a wasted rust-bucket.



We can only hope the air forces packing techniques stand the test of time better.

...........Actual photo of a Spitfire being crated ...........





Another report said the main worry would be water damage if any seeped into the crates.

Otherwise these quoted statements present much hope:

"Mr Cundall said: “We sent a borehole down and used a camera to look at the crates. They seemed to be in good condition." "





"Ground radar images showed that inside the crates were (Griffen-powered!) Spitfires with their wings packed alongside the fuselages. "





"...But if the crates didn’t get waterlogged, the Spitfires might be in pretty amazing condition. It’s also encouraging that they put teak beams over the crates so they wouldn’t be crushed by the earth when they were buried."






And there may be even more findings..cross your fingers:

"Mr Cundall also raised the tantalising prospect that there may be more buried Spitfires out there.

“It’s possible there are other Spitfires buried around different sites in Burma. I have heard about 36 in one burial; 18 in another; 6 in another. And when they were buried, they would have been brand new, never taken out of the box.”

Mr Brooks, however, cautioned: “People have spent decades scouring the earth for Spitfires. If other aeroplanes are there, they may be very difficult to find.” "



Full text of the other article these quotes came from can be read at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/de...-in-Burma.html


.

Yeah, the '57 Plymouth in Tulsa wasn't good for anything. Let's hope the Spits' crates were sealed better.

[Coyote Chris]

Re: Spitfires in Burma

well, we can dream....we are about due for some good things to happen.
I am hoping with all this global warming, the lost squadron of P-38s will emerge form the ice all by itself and we can see more of them, too.
One year, it was so warm in Europe a few decades ago, my uncle's B-17 came out of a glacier in Austria.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixqSmZsOxH0

[AirDOGGe]

Re: Spitfires in Burma

well, we can dream....we are about due for some good things to happen.
I am hoping with all this global warming, the lost squadron of P-38s will emerge form the ice all by itself and we can see more of them, too.
One year, it was so warm in Europe a few decades ago, my uncle's B-17 came out of a glacier in Austria.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixqSmZsOxH0

That was fascinating. Thanks for sharing it. Any links to a story or more details?

ok, now I really want to see a BBC special on unearthing and unpacking these things.....
"Snakes....why did there have to be snakes......."

"Raiders Of The Lost Supermarines" Somebody call Spielberg, quick!



.

[Coyote Chris]

Re: Spitfires in Burma

That was fascinating. Thanks for sharing it. Any links to a story or more details?





"Raiders Of The Lost Supermarines" Somebody call Spielberg, quick!



.

Uncle Howard was flying for the 15th Airforce out of Italy...on this mission, he had battle damage and worn out engines and couldnt hold altitude. He tried to make Switzerland but the plane slowly sank into the undercast in the Austrian Alps...not a good thing...everyone bailed out and survived the war in POW camps. Uncle Howard went on to win the Airforce Cross in Vietnam getting supplys (35,000 lbs of ammo in a burning plane is no fun) to the Marines at Khe Sanh in Vietnam, but his B-17 decided to reappear in the 1990s, I think. He grabbed one of his sons and with the help of a rich industrialist in Austria who contacted him about his plane, he went and flew over the glacier and looked at the crash sight. I think many of the smaller plane parts are now in a museum in the industrialist's office. Then he took his son to Czechoslovakia where , during the war, he would fly in to on secret OSS missions to supply the partzans and take out airmen. The CZ has many crash sites of B-17s, IIRC. Oddly, his C-130, Patches, 62-1817, from Vietnam, lived along time and may have been operational as late as 2005 at Pope Air force base.

[GeoffS]

Re: Spitfires in Burma

... Oddly, his C-130, Patches, 62-1817, from Vietnam, lived along time and may have been operational as late as 2005 at Pope Air force base.

- but interesting...
"Ptches" was still active in 2008:

http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123094252

... and maybe even 2010:

http://www.milaviation.nl/artikelload.php?ID=94

[Coyote Chris]

Re: Spitfires in Burma

- but interesting...
"Ptches" was still active in 2008:

http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123094252

... and maybe even 2010:
http://www.milaviation.nl/artikelload.php?ID=94

Thanks! Hope she is enjoying here retirement in sunny Arizona!
She has earned it.
I think the Marines should save her and make her a gate guard.

Airlift to Khe Sanh
It definitely was not a day like any other for Howard Dallman and his crew.
Khe Sanh will go down in history as a great victory for the isolated, surrounded, and outnumbered Marines who, from late January to early April 1968, defended an outpost some 10 miles from the DMZ in western South Vietnam. It was a victory made possible by air resupply. Of the more than 1,100 missions to Khe Sanh flown by tactical airlift, one of the most remarkable was that of Lt. Col. Howard Dallman and his C-130E crew.
In his monumental 1983 study of tactical airlift in Southeast Asia, Col. Ray Bowers wrote: "Lt. Col. Howard M. Dallman was an experienced pilot who was admired for his personal qualities by the younger officers serving under him." In World War II, Dallman had flown 45 missions as a bomber pilot in Italy before he was shot down on Oct. 23, 1944.
The morning of Feb. 5, 1968, Dallman's C-130, assigned to the 345th Tactical Airlift Squadron, left its temporary base at Tuy Hoa for Da Nang, where a load of ammunition and a medical evacuation team awaited. The weather at Khe Sanh, Dallman's destination about thirty minutes' flight time to the northwest, was forecast to be at minimums, which made landing at the mountain-girded strip a challenge. The first of several unpleasant surprises came as copilot Capt. Roland Behnke checked in with Khe Sanh control. The GCA was out for an indefinite period.
Navigator Maj. Gerald Johnson was confident he could find the runway with an airborne radar approach, though none of the crew had landed there before. Dallman and Behnke started their letdown. At a sweaty 300 feet they broke out of the overcast, the strip directly ahead. Then as the C-130 ground and bucked to a stop, the big bird was hit by a shell that ignited ammunition boxes in the cargo compartment. Johnson and loadmaster SSgt. Wade Green immediately began fighting the fire, assisted by Behnke, who had called the tower for a fire truck, and flight engineer SSgt. Charles Brault.
Seventeen tons of ammunition could explode at any moment, closing the runway and flattening the built-up area of Khe Sanh, with many casualties. Dallman began backing the Hercules to a safer area at the far end of the runway, where the five-man crew, with help from the fire truck, finally extinguished the fire and helped offload stillsmoking ammo boxes.
All was not yet over. As the last pallet of ammunition was unloaded, one of the tires was blown by a sniper's bullet, and a mortar attack bracketed the C-130. Dallman told the crew to leave the plane, which was drawing most of the fire, but every man remained with the aircraft as it was towed for a short distance, then taxied to a maintenance area. There Brault repaired an aircraft jack and managed to change the damaged wheel, all the time under fire from mortars, rockets, artillery, and heavy machine guns.
While the wheel was being changed, Dallman agreed to fly a Marine corporal and his out-of-commission bulldozer back to Da Nang. The 'dozer was loaded and the aircraft positioned for takeoff when one engine, which had ingested debris from an exploding mortar round, quit. The 20,000-pound bulldozer and a disappointed corporal were unloaded and Dallman left the bird to get permission for a three-engine takeoff. In the 10 minutes it took to get clearance from Airlift Control Center, Behnke and Brault got the fourth engine started. Dallman sprinted back to the C-130 as Behnke, a qualified aircraft commander, opened the throttles for takeoff. The Herk was hit again as it took off, but without serious damage. Dallman and his crew had saved a valuable transport plane, delivered a load of ammunition to the surrounded Marines, and prevented major damage to a battered outpost.
For dealing heroically with a series of crises that day, Dallman was awarded the Air Force Cross, the first tactical airlift crewman to be so honored. "I was well aware," he said...... that an equal part of the award belonged" to the other four crew members, all of whom received the Silver Star.
The tactical airliners lost 122 aircraft and 230 crewmen while supporting US and allied forces in Southeast Asia. Without them, there would have been few successful campaigns in that long, bitter war. Dallman and his crew set an example of teamwork and valor by their determination to complete a mission under circumstances that would have justified abandoning their aircraft and its perilous but desperately needed cargo.
As the Marines at Khe Sanh would have put it, "Semper fi!"
Published July 1989. For presentation on this web site, some Valor articles have been amended for accuracy.

Copyright © Air Force Association

[Coyote Chris]

Re: Spitfires in Burma

Acording to this, Patches still sits in the Arizona sun.

http://www.joebaugher.com/usaf_serials/1962.html

[boom3]

Re: Spitfires in Burma

Anyone hear any recent news on the Spitfires? I haven't heard anything about them in quite awhile.

[51fixer]

Re: Spitfires in Burma

Anyone hear any recent news on the Spitfires? I haven't heard anything about them in quite awhile.

Its under wraps but they are gonna be a new Unlimited Class next year so Rolls Royce still has a presence at Reno.

[Bob]

Re: Spitfires in Burma

Its under wraps but they are gonna be a new Unlimited Class next year so Rolls Royce still has a presence at Reno.

Was talking to a gentleman who owns a few spitfires, he plans on bringing a Mk 12 to Reno next year to race. Possibly 2014 at the latest, but he is committed to bringing one.

[RAD2LTR]

Re: Spitfires in Burma

Was talking to a gentleman who owns a few spitfires, he plans on bringing a Mk 12 to Reno next year to race. Possibly 2014 at the latest, but he is committed to bringing one.

Now that would be REALLY cool. It might be surprisingly fast as well, front runner in the Silver race perhaps. It would be another Griffon in the lineup to go with PM. A MK12 is pretty rare since they only built 100 of them.

Will

[51fixer]

Re: Spitfires in Burma

Was talking to a gentleman who owns a few spitfires, he plans on bringing a Mk 12 to Reno next year to race. Possibly 2014 at the latest, but he is committed to bringing one.

It doesn't seem to be currently registered in the states.
I'll assume it is under restoration.
Good luck to them.

[cdtpf60]

Re: Spitfires in Burma

i'd doubt a mk12 would be risked at reno....there is after all only one restoration project no other survivor

[Bob]

Re: Spitfires in Burma

It doesn't seem to be currently registered in the states.
I'll assume it is under restoration.
Good luck to them.

Its coming out of england and the owner of the plane is the source.