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Re: Burmese Spitfires back in the news...

Sun Jan 20, 2013 12:15 pm

While researching something else, I came across this post about this subject on the Hyperscale model aircraft forum. For what it is worth.
http://www.network54.com/Forum/149674/message/1358690335/A+real+account+of+the+Burmese+Spitfires%2C+without+the+media+hogwash

Randy

Re: Burmese Spitfires back in the news...

Mon Jan 21, 2013 4:16 pm

no offense to anyone who has posted on this thread or the wix board as an entity, but the buried spitfires topic has gone totally bust with to much confutable information & conjecture. if any group should be thumped on the head for spewing baseless & irresponsible info it is the news media. i'm like everybody else here!! i'm chomping at the bit for credible details in regard to the spits in the pits, not culling through the sh!ts. i'm just venting till i see something i can sink my teeth into with more than a grain of salt.

Re: Burmese Spitfires back in the news...

Mon Jan 21, 2013 4:42 pm

I can't get over the sheer duality of the recent "no Spitfires found" stories. There is simultaneously agreement there are no Spitfires and at the same time there are still unfinished excavations going on. For example:
The BBC wrote:The archaeologists have concluded that evidence does not support the original claim that as many as 124 Spitfires were buried at the end of the war, the BBC's Fergal Keane reports.

Wargaming.net, the firm financing the dig, has also said there are no planes.

Got it? No Spitfires. But...
The BBC wrote:Earlier this month, a crate was discovered in the Kachin state capital Myitkyina, but muddy water stopped an immediate identification of its contents.

The central city of Meiktila was another site identified as a possible burial ground for the Spitfires.

...there is an unopened crate and an unexplored location, so there is a good chance the planes might be there.

To summarize the article: "There are absolutely no Spitfires...unless you consider the unopened crate and unexplored sites." I am confused as to how you can start an article with one assumption, and then end it with the complete opposite. :?

And in the Independent's article:
The Independent wrote:There is no lost squadron of Spitfires buried in Burma, it appears, after the hunt for the missing World War Two planes ended in disappointment.

The Independent wrote:The search however continues, with central city of Meiktila another site identified as a possible burial ground for the Spitfires.

So, there are no Spitfires - yet they are also continuing to search.

Good lord, even the title and subtitle for the article differ:
Title:
The Independent wrote:No 'lost Spitfires' buried in Burma

Subtitle:
The Independent wrote:Dig near Rangoon International Airport proves fruitless but Lincolnshire farmer insists search will continue elsewhere in the country

So, the title informs us that there are no Spitfires anywhere in Burma, and the the subtitle states that they have only searched one site.


And here's the worst part - we may never know:
War History Online wrote:The project was then dramatically halted on Wednesday afternoon when government officials suddenly arrived at the site in blacked out cars accompanied by armed soldiers. Senior government figures had reacted to rumours in the local media that the team had been tunnelling under the main runway, the only international standard runway in the country.

The archeologists have been allowed back on the site today but are limited to using shovels only, officials have banned them from using the two mechanical diggers during the day.

Good luck digging by hand. :roll:

Re: Burmese Spitfires back in the news...

Mon Jan 21, 2013 5:26 pm

thank you noha307. you posted some prime examples of what i'm steamed about!!

Re: Burmese Spitfires back in the news...

Mon Jan 21, 2013 5:26 pm

You need to follow Mark 12s posts on Key and bypass all the media 'dross.' He has first hand knowledge (by being there)

Dave

Re: Burmese Spitfires back in the news...

Mon Jan 21, 2013 5:30 pm

I get the sense that they are reporting none will be found so that if they find one or two it will be a great triumph, not a disappointment from the 100+thats being reported

Re: Burmese Spitfires back in the news...

Mon Jan 21, 2013 7:28 pm

heres my prediction: Mr Cundall gets the bums rush from the government of Myanmar and shortly after some one with rediculess amounts of money quietly comes in and harvests all of Mr Cundalls hard work!!!!

Re: Burmese Spitfires back in the news...

Mon Jan 21, 2013 8:36 pm

andyman64 wrote:heres my prediction: Mr Cundall gets the bums rush from the government of Myanmar and shortly after some one with rediculess amounts of money quietly comes in and harvests all of Mr Cundalls hard work!!!!


Thats a logical prediction...

Re: Burmese Spitfires back in the news...

Tue Jan 22, 2013 11:20 am

Saw Cundall on You tube last night. He says he is waiting for the right equipment to find out where the utility lines are. Once he knows he is going to present it to Burmese officials. Says this will take 9 more days from today. He says he is hoping they will allow the dig w/ equipment after that. Says he will dig by hand if not. If nothing is found, he says he will go up north to dig at the other locations.

Clearly, the news media has attempted to hijack the situation with speculation and overall idiocy.

Re: Burmese Spitfires back in the news...

Tue Jan 22, 2013 11:33 am

HawkerTempestMKII wrote:Saw Cundall on You tube last night. He says he is waiting for the right equipment to find out where the utility lines are. Once he knows he is going to present it to Burmese officials. Says this will take 9 more days from today. He says he is hoping they will allow the dig w/ equipment after that. Says he will dig by hand if not. If nothing is found, he says he will go up north to dig at the other locations.

Clearly, the news media has attempted to hijack the situation with speculation and overall idiocy.





amen on your opinion of the media in this mess they made. the coverage has been so haphazard & unreliable up to now.

Re: Burmese Spitfires back in the news...

Tue Jan 22, 2013 1:11 pm

DaveM2 wrote:You need to follow Mark 12s posts on Key and bypass all the media 'dross.' He has first hand knowledge (by being there)

Would you mind posting some sort of link, I'm not exactly sure how to get there.

HawkerTempestMKII wrote:Saw Cundall on You tube last night. He says he is waiting for the right equipment to find out where the utility lines are. Once he knows he is going to present it to Burmese officials. Says this will take 9 more days from today. He says he is hoping they will allow the dig w/ equipment after that. Says he will dig by hand if not. If nothing is found, he says he will go up north to dig at the other locations.

Any chance we can have a link to the video?

There's this video supplying a bit more details, but I don't think it's the same as the one mentioned above: Project Spitfire - David Cundall, Stanley Coomb & Fly Past Magazine

Oh, and the news reporting is becoming worse (in quality, not in outlook). Check out the title of this article from the Daily Mail: Spitfire search descends into farce: British dig team divided as they draw a blank in quest for lost fighters in Burma

Uh-oh. No Spitfires found after less than a month. The short attention span of the media is running out of interest - better drum up some sort of story before they forget completely. :roll:

My 2 cents: From the sound of the article - if we can trust the journalism - the Wargaming.net part of the team has been pushing very hard for results. They've probably been told that they need something to show for the money that's been expended. I'm basically expanding on what Mr.Tempest said earlier in the thread:
HawkerTempestMKII wrote:Then you've got the Russian who apparently threw Cundall under the bus. Then you've got the high profile nature of the venture. It's a fiasco.

I'm not going to go that far just yet, I'd be willing bet that there's a possibility the difficulties stem from good-natured differences in goals before claiming that there is malice involved. Guess I'm just a bit idealistically naive.

Re: Burmese Spitfires back in the news...

Tue Jan 22, 2013 2:13 pm

Sit back and relax. This story still has a long way to run.

Give it two weeks to settle down.

PeterA

Image

Re: Burmese Spitfires back in the news...

Tue Jan 22, 2013 2:17 pm

pop2

Re: Burmese Spitfires back in the news...

Tue Jan 22, 2013 2:21 pm

pop1 :spit :drink3: :spit2

Re: Burmese Spitfires back in the news...

Tue Jan 22, 2013 2:44 pm

Noha307 wrote:
DaveM2 wrote:You need to follow Mark 12s posts on Key and bypass all the media 'dross.' He has first hand knowledge (by being there)

Would you mind posting some sort of link, I'm not exactly sure how to get there.


http://forum.keypublishing.com/showthread.php?t=116104
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