Originally Posted by BritinAfrica

One of the things I miss about the RAF is the smell of burnt aviation fuel. I visited Southend airport many years ago to collect packages from their cargo sheds, immediately I could smell that wonderful odour of burnt fuel and in my mind I travelled back to the wonderful time of English Electric Lightning's taking off on reheat.

After watching the flight of those 16 Spitfires in the video, imagine what it would be like if those 20 Spitfires dug up in Burma were made airworthy. Absolute heaven!

Especially as those twenty from Burma are all the same marque/model. Hell, even just seeing eight of all the same model flying in formation would be fantastic.

Originally Posted by KevinTheCynic

Especially as those twenty from Burma are all the same marque/model. Hell, even just seeing eight of all the same model flying in formation would be fantastic.

Very much agreed.

I'd love be on a balmly windy day with a grey overcast and watching 8 Spitfires roaring over a green pasture...

I'd take day off for that any day.

What also get's me wondering is what ELSE is out there in the Pacific theatre as well?

Maybe an abandoned Ki 43 or two in a jungle canopy somewhere?

Hell who knows what's still in Europe, you don't have to be in a isolated jungle to pull these amazing machines out of their time caspules in the muck.

Check this out!

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAj0iBV3BfE&feature=player_detailpage"]Bf 109 Recovered from a Russian Lake! - YouTube[/ame]

Who knows what still maybe buried out there.

This thread goes to certainly show that.

Just like the P 38 that was found frozen in the Artic, and the B 29 submerged in Lake Meade.

Very very interesting stuff.

There was a Wellington dragged out of a Loch in Scotland many years ago, she was a bit of a mess, when a battery was hooked up, the navigation lights came on. People present were those who worked at Vickers who built her. Sadly she will only be restored to static display only.

I remember a Bristol Blenheim restored to flying condition at Duxford a few years ago. After 11 years of blood sweat and tears she took to the air, only to do a wheels up landing on a golf course and written off due to pilot error! I bet he was cursed up hill and down dale. If memory serves me correctly, they managed to get enough money to buy another Blenheim and had her airworthy inside 18 months.

Originally Posted by Yossarian

Very much agreed.

I'd love be on a balmly windy day with a grey overcast and watching 8 Spitfires roaring over a green pasture...

I'd take day off for that any day.

What also get's me wondering is what ELSE is out there in the Pacific theatre as well?

Maybe an abandoned Ki 43 or two in a jungle canopy somewhere?

Hell who knows what's still in Europe, you don't have to be in a isolated jungle to pull these amazing machines out of their time caspules in the muck.

Interesting question here are a couple of video's of armoured recovery..

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvveoQRVBxY&feature=relmfu"]STuG III pulled from a Bog - YouTube[/ame]

and

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bti62X4rRAw&feature=relmfu"]Baltic Sea - German Tank Recovery - YouTube[/ame]

Got to admire German ballbearing manufacturers of the 1940 as both tanks running gear still turned as soon as they were cleaned up.

Originally Posted by MontyB

Interesting question here are a couple of video's of armoured recovery..

STuG III pulled from a Bog - YouTube

and

Baltic Sea - German Tank Recovery - YouTube

Got to admire German ballbearing manufacturers of the 1940 as both tanks running gear still turned as soon as they were cleaned up.

It terms of extraction I figure better late than never. lol.

Now the mystery is how they got there. Also I wonder if the same could be done for Japanese vehicles at the bottom of Truk Lagoon?

Although all images there show them heavily encrusted with marine life, these tanks seemed preserved by the fact they were mostly burried by sand and where in a tidal zone in the Black Sea. Not the warm Pacific, but who knows?

Now what I would love to see, is someone ponying up the doe to pull this monster out.

Hey Yossarian,you'll have to give me some more info because for the life of me I can't figure out what that pic is? The only thing recognizable to me is the diver!

Originally Posted by KevinTheCynic

Hey Yossarian,you'll have to give me some more info because for the life of me I can't figure out what that pic is? The only thing recognizable to me is the diver!

Cockpit of the Famous "Lake Mead Bomber". This aircraft crashed landed into the lake created by Hoover dam during a training flight in 1948.

What's interesting about this plane, is because it crashed in Fresh water it's remarkably well preserved. And is almost like a time caspule back to the begining of the Cold War.

Man I'd love to be that diver in the photo!

Originally Posted by KevinTheCynic

Hey Yossarian,you'll have to give me some more info because for the life of me I can't figure out what that pic is? The only thing recognizable to me is the diver!

Here is a bit more information...
http://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/maritime...tions/b29.html

Thanks both of you for the info

British WWII fighter found in Egyptian desert