John Hudson wrote
>
> Same story appeared in the Canadian press several days ago. The piece
> mentioned that the order to bury the aircraft came from British Admiral
> Mountbattan no less. Perhaps he was not aware that Japan was on its last
> legs or had no legs left at all !
>
> jh
The source reporter works for the Times, London. I tracked down the
original story, and The Press used it verbatim as far as I could see..
Apparently the Spitfires had arrived only just before the Japanese
surrendered. Shipping them back to the UK was ruled out due to expense.
They were/are still in crates, and were wrapped in tar-paper, greased etc to
keep them safe from water and other sub-soil damage.
The reasoning for burial in Myanmar was that the SE Asia region was too
unstable to risk leaving them around to be used by whoever chose to, and
they were reluctant to destroy such fine new planes.
The story sounds credible to me. But maybe I'm gullible.
Brian Swale
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