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Hunt for WWII Spitfires in Burma called off

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Mi Amigo
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Hunt for WWII Spitfires in Burma called off

Post by Mi Amigo » Sun, 17 Feb 2013 6:52 pm

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... d-off.html

... but some members of the team are going to ahead with the digging.
Be careful what you wish for

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Post by Brah » Tue, 19 Mar 2013 9:46 pm

yeah saw that, bummer

that it was called off that is, not they they're going ahead anyway

BTW I just found this subforum, didn't know about it before.

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Post by Mi Amigo » Tue, 19 Mar 2013 10:09 pm

Yeah, I wonder if the planes ever were really buried; if not they must have been destroyed, which would be sad.

I know it was a weapon of war, but even so the Spitfire to me was also a thing of beauty - visually and audibly. Turn up your speakers for this clip:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5rGyP6SSYM
Be careful what you wish for

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Post by Brah » Tue, 19 Mar 2013 10:34 pm

Nice clip

It was my favorite plane as a kid

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sundaymorningstaple
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Post by sundaymorningstaple » Tue, 19 Mar 2013 10:54 pm

I had a toss up of three planes. The Spitfire, The F4U Corsair and the P-38 Lightning, First was always a toss up between the Spitfire & the Lightning followed by the Corsiar.
SOME PEOPLE TRY TO TURN BACK THEIR ODOMETERS. NOT ME. I WANT PEOPLE TO KNOW WHY I LOOK THIS WAY. I'VE TRAVELED A LONG WAY, AND SOME OF THE ROADS WEREN'T PAVED. ~ Will Rogers

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Post by JR8 » Wed, 20 Mar 2013 1:36 am

Mi Amigo wrote:Yeah, I wonder if the planes ever were really buried; if not they must have been destroyed, which would be sad.

I know it was a weapon of war, but even so the Spitfire to me was also a thing of beauty - visually and audibly. Turn up your speakers for this clip:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5rGyP6SSYM
It reminds me rather of the stories of shipwrecks. So much money involved. So much rumour and counter-rumour.

Those Merlin engines really are something (but a flypast by 16 Spitfires, OMTG!). I've seen a few flypasts. Once down the Mall in London (Lancaster, escorted by a Spitfire and Hurricane) flying at maybe 800 metres. Then something similar over St. Paul's Cathedral. Oh and then another time I was walking up a tall but narrow street and a Spitfire went over low.... you can't mistake that sound.

Been to some military shows in the US/UK and witnessed one in Egypt from a dive boat. Anything like that up close is dramatic, M1 Abrams tank going throttle-up? A Mig (or similar) doing a 0-degree vertical climb to completely stationary a mile up, then, stalling and 'falling/tumbling' and repeating it...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67gURVCs4DQ
'Spitfire Scares the [heck] Out of Guy'.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLXhPoxytsM&feature=fvwp
'Craziest Low Pass Ever ! MUST SEE !! [French Mirage F1]'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wKfpPrRVIo
Top Gear : Tank vs Rangie challenge pt 2 - Top Gear - BBC
[Not the M1, but you get the idea]

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Post by Brah » Wed, 20 Mar 2013 8:04 am

A lot of us post a lot of YT clips, I've seen a lot of aviation clips on LL (among other things probably NSFW to post here).

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Post by Mi Amigo » Wed, 20 Mar 2013 11:11 am

JR8 wrote:Those Merlin engines really are something (but a flypast by 16 Spitfires, OMTG!).
I know what you mean; that YT clip gave me goosebumps - especially the 16-pack bit.
JR8 wrote:I've seen a few flypasts. Once down the Mall in London (Lancaster, escorted by a Spitfire and Hurricane) flying at maybe 800 metres.
My wife and I saw a similar thing there (maybe the same one); IIRC our first child was born the next day or the day after. Obviously a good omen.

Talking of Top Gear, this is taken from one of my favourite shows:

Top Gear - Arriving in style

(With apologies to any Germans reading / viewing this :mrgreen: ).
Be careful what you wish for

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Post by JR8 » Wed, 20 Mar 2013 6:24 pm

^ Thanks enjoyed that! For unknown reasons I've never seen it before.

p.s. As I recall the Burmese Junta were demanding something like 20% of any Spitfires found, plus 50%+ of the value of the rest.

I think the explorers just threw in the towel at that point.

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