Spitfires found

Maybe the rumor was based on this article?

http://www.indianexpress.com/columnists/shek/20010623.html

I promise you it will be a real sight even if the maharaja never actually moved his most remarkable possessions, crated WWII airplanes, and another 20-odd antique cars, from Faridkot to the hills.

Thanks for the info guys…..If they are real and I win the lottery wouldn’t mind one and then paint it in a really garish scheme 😀

Although chances of a lottery win are slim to nothing!!

Will have to sell everything and lay a bet in Vegas:D

MYRIA

UB441 was at Rochester.

Ownership or custodianship as I prefer, current location and plans, all fall outside my personal remit in this case.

Mark

UB441(i think) is/was at Rochester in the back of the hangar a couple of years ago. Who owns it and what are the plans for it?

Re: Spitfires found

Originally posted by A225HVY
Somebody was telling me the other day of a cache of Spitires found in India in crates that were due to be shipped back to the UK…..anyone confirm this?? Not heard anything in the usual rags or forums..

Or was he just pulling it??

MYRIA

Unless Rip van Winkel is the source of this suggestion and he has just woken from 27 years sleep, India is unlikely to yield Spitfires in crates. That said stranger things have happened.

This sounds more like the 1998 Burma/Myanmar rumoured cache of a dozen Griffon Spitfires buried in crates at Mingladon in 1945/6. That is now Yangon International. Two parties, one British the other Israeli were awarded year on licenses to survey and investigate under tightly controlled security conditions. Despite the expenditure of substantial amounts of money, multiple trips of personnel and equipment, neither, to my knowledge has uncovered said mk XIVs. Both parties have not given up hope as there was clearly very persuasive memories that something of this order had occured. I personally am open minded.

Seperate to this, in 1995 the Burmese Air Force gathered four Spitfires and two Seafires back to Mingaladon maintenance base along with other museum worthy aircraft for overhaul and final selection for the new Defence Services Museum in downtown Rangoon/Yangon.

Attached is a shot of all six taken 16 January 1995 after re-work and prior to museum installation. Current disposition of these six is a follows:-

Spitfires
UB421 – Rangoon Museum
UB424 painted as “UB425” – New Zealand
UB425 painted as “UB424” – In line at HFL Duxford, UK.
UB441 – UK

Seafires
UB409 – Rangoon Museum
UB414 painted as “UB415” – Missouri US.

Mark

There was an article back in 1996 (I think) by Peter Arnold about these Spits and Seafires – ithink the authorities kept one of each and sold the other four?

There were a cache of aircraft recovered from Myanmar at some point – a mixture of Spitfires, Seafires and Piston Provosts I believe – but I think these would have been a couple of years before that report. UB441 was one of the Spits in that earlier recovery I seem to recall, but these were all out of a museum or hangar somewhere, and not dug up.