Burmese Spitfires back in the news...

[N3Njeff]

It's on the clewiston side. If I remember right, had a engine fire and it was headed to the tanks, two low to bail so they ditched. It's shallow enough that when the lake level is low, the vertical is a hazard for boats.

[Russ Matthews]

Maybe it's time for a dedicated "Lake Okeechobee B-17 wreck" discussion thread?

[wingman1]

Maybe it's time for a dedicated "Lake Okeechobee B-17 wreck" discussion thread?

yes it is. please post a link so i can subcribe.

[cooper9411]

Maybe it's time for a dedicated "Lake Okeechobee B-17 wreck" discussion thread?

yes it is. please post a link so i can subcribe.

Ask and ye shall receive, just started it!

[43-2195]

I agree with HawkerTempestMKII. It all depends which metal acts as the sacrificial anode. I have aluminium, steal and brass components that came out of salt water and they are in excellent condition. But that is uncommon, as most aluminium ends up as white powder, and I even have high grade stainless steal(.128) that has large holes rusted in it, where the bolts were. There is a Japanese machine gun in a PNG Museum that was removed from an underwater A6m. It is in mint condition and even has the fine manufacturers stamps along the side of the breach, but the wing structure was so corroded, the divers were able to pull the gun out of the wing by hand(all aluminium mount fittings having been corroded away). So corrossion can be arbitrary depending on a great many variables.

Beer, Guns and a B-17, WOW....Only in America.

[Stephan Wilkinson]

Latest word from the UK (at 0330 NY time): there are no Spitfires.

http://www.itv.com/news/2013-01-18/ther ... sh-planes/

[Dan Jones]

Here's this morning's Canadian spin on what's up:

http://www.ctvnews.ca/sci-tech/search-f ... -1.1119547

That link from the UK sounds a little too "shot from the hip" to me.

Dan

[jmkendall]

I agree with Dan, that first article is so vastly different from the second as to be verging on the sensational..."armed troops in blacked out vehicles.."

The second article reads more like journalism and sounds much more reasonable.

[b29flteng]

The first Spitfire has been uncovered in Burma!

[seabee1526]

The first Spitfire has been uncovered in Burma!

I'd believe it if it were empty, but come on, I've had beers with Royal Marines down at Camp Lejeune and the Brits I know would never leave full beers behind.

[cooper9411]

The first Spitfire has been uncovered in Burma!

[gary1954]

I sincerely hope some of the crates have stayed dry.

doubtful but lets wait again and see, over there I think they maybe they operate on slow time, which I thought was restricted to Alabama due to its time zone...(thats what they called alabama time when I was living there...OH WAIT!!. maybe they were referring........ to me)

[jmkendall]

Hey Gary,

The only slow time I remember in Alabama was the phase at Mother Rucker where we had to work on the mast in MOPP gear........in August!

[DB2]

Not looking too good:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-21074699

[Mike Halbrook]

Most of the press reporting on the subject of Burmese Spitfires has been very poor ranging to ridiculous. The current reports "there are none at all" are equally premature and overly broad. They have only been in country for two or three weeks, and can't possibly have checked all the locations that have been mentioned as possible sites. There are plenty of pictures of aircraft being buried after WWII, most them involve bulldozers and pits where aircraft are shoved in willy-nilly and then covered over by they same bulldozers that pushed them in. By today's standards, many of those aircraft are "restorable". It does make you wonder a bit about some of the other stuff that gets presented as "news".