[Rob P]

If you recall the saga of David Cundall and his imaginary buried Spitfires, this may well bring a smile to your face.

Credit goes to a Facebook modeller called David Taylor - patently a top bloke.



Rob P

[Highland Park]

That brings back so many memories on the Key Forum! That and the saga of the Liverpool hotel…

Ian

[Rob P]

@Highland Park
If you are still a member Ian you could always post it over there. I'm afraid there's not a lot going on these days.

Rob P

[Sooty25]

There's allegedly 4 in crates buried in a field in Norfolk.

Very credible source, but he won't reveal location. Something to do with landowner not wanting his field dug up!

[Rob P]

There are countless stories all across the UK. It is always attractive items, jeeps, Harleys, Merlins, Lancasters, and of course, Spitfires.

Nobody ever explains why they went to the trouble of burying items that scrappers would have taken away at a time when the country was short of money to buy raw materials.

There's always an "eye witness" who saw them buried, who told somebody, which is lucky as the eye witness is never around any more.

There's always a good reason why they haven't or can't be recovered.

And despite all the urban legends, nothing is ever recovered.

Burma / Cundall was just the same tradition writ large.

Rob P

[Smaragd]

There are countless stories all across the UK. It is always attractive items, jeeps, Harleys, Merlins, Lancasters, and of course, Spitfires.
....
And despite all the urban legends, nothing is ever recovered.

Rob P

Back in the early '60s I did bring the attention of the aircraft restoration world to 6 Bristol Fighter fuselages in Weston-on-the-Green!

[Rob P]

If I'm remembering correctly these were stored in / built into a barn rather than buried? A great find nevertheless.

Rob P

[Cessna571]

There's allegedly 4 in crates buried in a field in Norfolk.

Very credible source, but he won't reveal location. Something to do with landowner not wanting his field dug up!

That’s not allegedly.

I know where they are, but I’m afraid there aren’t 4 of them, there are only 2, and even then one of them was scavenged pretty badly before it was buried.

This is the problem, there’s probably 1 and a half in reality, but of course, that becomes “4”, and then people are expecting 4 Spitfires to appear.

Better to leave it buried. Won’t be much left of it now anyway.

It’s like those Lancaster turrets buried on that farm in North Yorkshire, they’ve grown into a whole Lancaster.

[Rob P]

It’s like those Lancaster turrets buried on that farm in North Yorkshire, they’ve grown into a whole Lancaster.

There were several at the last count, if it is the same 'Lancaster' story. There are many.

But it always comes back to the same basic stumbling block. There is no earthly reason to bury airframes, Jeeps, Harleys etc when at the end of the war there was a thriving market for the scrap, everything that could be salvaged was salvaged. It was a major industry.

Rob P

[eltonioni]

While the stories inevitably turn out to be rubbish there have always been people who are anticipating Armageddon and hiding stores and kit to ensure their survival in the wasteland. Preppers are with still us, laser pointer on the keyring, bugout bag by the door, rambo knife strapped to the leg, AR15 in the raised F150, fully kitted thermonuclear shelter in the backyard. It doesn't take an especially fetid imagination to imagine that there is buried scrap from a long ago war.

By the way, the model in the OP is fabulous, very inspired.

[Smaragd]

If I'm remembering correctly these were stored in / built into a barn rather than buried? A great find nevertheless.

Rob P

You are correct; they formed the roof trusses of the barn. They were well-known to the local gliding club, of which I was a member. The knowledge hadn't reached the restoration community.

[Sooty25]

There's allegedly 4 in crates buried in a field in Norfolk.

Very credible source, but he won't reveal location. Something to do with landowner not wanting his field dug up!

That’s not allegedly.

I know where they are, but I’m afraid there aren’t 4 of them, there are only 2, and even then one of them was scavenged pretty badly before it was buried.

This is the problem, there’s probably 1 and a half in reality, but of course, that becomes “4”, and then people are expecting 4 Spitfires to appear.

Better to leave it buried. Won’t be much left of it now anyway.

It’s like those Lancaster turrets buried on that farm in North Yorkshire, they’ve grown into a whole Lancaster.

It was only the credibility of the source that made me comment, and lets face it, you only need the data plate and a few scraps to rebuild and fly a Spitfire!

[Rob P]

By the way, the model in the OP is fabulous, very inspired.

Very much so. It is Cundall's dream brought to life.

If you haven't read the story of his fantasy and the heavily Wargaming-funded dig where his detachment from reality was exposed, it's well worth grabbing a copy. (Yes, OK, I will fess up, I do get a mention for those who know )

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B085VRBTJB/ ... TF8&btkr=1

Rob P

[Sooty25]

It’s like those Lancaster turrets buried on that farm in North Yorkshire, they’ve grown into a whole Lancaster.

There were several at the last count, if it is the same 'Lancaster' story. There are many.

But it always comes back to the same basic stumbling block. There is no earthly reason to bury airframes, Jeeps, Harleys etc when at the end of the war there was a thriving market for the scrap, everything that could be salvaged was salvaged. It was a major industry.

Rob P

Very possibly, but I can also see the potential of stuff getting bulldozed into a bomb hole, where the hassle of transport and the want to tidy up, overruled logic! We will probably never know the truth.

[Rob P]

Very possibly, but I can also see the potential of stuff getting bulldozed into a bomb hole, where the hassle of transport and the want to tidy up, overruled logic!

This almost certainly happened, no doubt about it. But it was loads of old tat, domestic refuse, not pristine aircraft (Harleys, jeeps, firearms) crated and carefully wrapped in corrosion resistant paper as the 'credible eye witnesses' always report

The closest I have seen to the fantasy being realised is the Mark IV tank, Deborah, buried shortly after the end of WW1 in a crater, and now resplendent in its own museum near Cambrai



Rob P