60 buried Spitfires to be brought back to UK

A LOST squadron of Spitfires that has been buried in the Burmese jungle since the end of the Second World War is to be dug up and brought back to Britain.

Aircraft enthusiast David Cundall spent 15 years and £130,000 of his own money tracking down the aircraft.

Up to 60 planes were buried in transport crates at a secret location 40ft below ground at the end of the war to ensure they didn’t fall into enemy hands.

The Spitfires are believed to be in good condition because they were waxed, wrapped in greased paper and had their joints tarred by RAF crews.

The excavation is due to start at the end of the month after an agreement was signed with the military regime in Rangoon.

Mr Cundall, 62, a farmer from Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, started his treasure hunt in 1996 after hearing a throwaway remark from a group of US veterans who said they once buried Spitfires in Burma.

The fighters planes – of which there are only around 35 left flying in the world – were shipped to Burma and transported by rail to a British RAF base in August 1945.

But they were deemed surplus to requirements and unsuited to the ‘island-hopping’ missions to clear the Japanese of their remaining strongholds in the Pacific.

Mr Cundall tracked down an eyewitness who led him to the area where the aircraft were buried.

He eventually located the buried planes using ground-penetrating radar equipment.

His team dug a borehole and sent down a camera to look at the crates, which were said to be in ‘really good condition’.

Images showed the Spitfires inside the containers with their wings packed alongside them.

The planes will now be dug up and brought back to the UK to be reassembled. A Downing Street spokesman said: ‘We hope that many of them will soon be gracing the skies of Britain.’