British Spitfire search team arrives in Myanmar

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http://centurylink.net/news/read.ph...org>&news_id=19239584&src=most_popular_viewed

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — A search team led by a British aviation enthusiast arrived in Myanmar on Sunday to begin a dig they hope will unearth dozens of rare British Spitfire fighter planes said to have been buried in the Southeast Asian country at the end of World War II.

The 21-member team led by farmer and businessman David Cundall will start excavations soon near the airport in the main city, Yangon.

Cundall said the aircraft were buried in wooden crates around 30 feet under the ground and the project would take about four to six weeks to complete.

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Burma Spitfire search finds water-filled crate that may contain plane

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wor...ater-filled-crate-that-may-contain-plane.html

It was not immediately clear how much damage the water may have caused, and searchers could not definitively say what was inside the crate.

But British aviation enthusiast David J. Cundall, who is driving the hunt for the rare Spitfires, called the results "very encouraging." ...............

As many as 140 Spitfires – three to four times the number of airworthy models known to exist – are believed to have been buried in near-pristine condition in Burma by American engineers as the war drew to a close. .............

Mr Cundall said the practice of burying aircraft, tanks and jeeps was common after the war. .............

Stanley Coombe, a 91-year-old war veteran from Britain who says he witnessed the aircraft's burial, travelled to Burma to observe the search.

It is "very exciting for me because I never thought I would be allowed to come back and see where Spitfires have been buried," Coombe said. "It's been a long time since anybody believed what I said until David Cundall came along."

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