Survivors
There are approximately 47 Spitfires and a few Seafires in airworthy condition worldwide, although many air museums have examples on static display, for example, Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry has paired a static Spitfire with a static Ju 87 R-2/Trop. Stuka dive bomber.
What may be the most originally restored Spitfire in the world is maintained in airworthy condition at Fantasy of Flight in Polk City, Florida. Over a six-year period in the 1990s, this aircraft was slowly restored by Personal Plane Services in England using almost 90% of its original aircraft skins. Owner Kermit Weeks insisted that the aircraft be restored to as original condition as possible. Machine guns, cannon, gun sight and original working radios are all installed.
In 2012 a great deal of media attention was gained by rumours that the RAF had buried a number of Mk.XIV Spitfires in Burma, still unassembled in their crates, during August 1945. However, there is no documentary or other evidence that the RAF ever buried the Spitfires, and some dismissed the whole story as implausible, including military archaeologist Andy Brockman
In April 2012 the UK government announced they were working with the post-junta Burmese government to locate and potentially return a total of 20 aircraft to flying condition, and on 16 October the Burmese government signed an agreement with David Cundall, the British farmer and aviation enthusiast leading the search and Htoo Htoo Zaw, his Burmese business partner, allowing them to begin excavations.
Leeds University experts and an academic from Rangoon using sophisticated radar techniques claimed to have discovered one site of the buried aircraft at what is now Rangoon International airport. In addition to the 20 aircraft thought to be at this site, other sites with buried Spitfires were claimed, one with as many as 36 Spitfires.
In January 2013, following investigations at one site at Yangon International Airport and another at Myitkyina, archaeologists led by Brockman concluded that there were no aircraft buried at the sites. Despite this, David Cundall continued his search. However, on 16 February of the same year, it was reported that Cundall had admitted defeat with his sponsors, Wargaming Ltd, saying they no longer believed any Spitfires were ever buried and that any aircraft in the area had been re-exported in 1946. The search was called off. On February 19, despite the withdrawal of the major sponsor, David Cundall said that he remains confident and the search will continue.
Read more about this topic: Spitfire
Famous quotes containing the word survivors:
“I want to celebrate these elms which have been spared by the plague, these survivors of a once flourishing tribe commemorated by all the Elm Streets in America. But to celebrate them is to be silent about the people who sit and sleep underneath them, the homeless poor who are hauled away by the city like trash, except it has no place to dump them. To speak of one thing is to suppress another.”
—Lisel Mueller (b. 1924)
“I believe that all the survivors are mad. One time or another their madness will explode. You cannot absorb that much madness and not be influenced by it. That is why the children of survivors are so tragic. I see them in school. They don’t know how to handle their parents. They see that their parents are traumatized: they scream and don’t react normally.”
—Elie Wiesel (b. 1928)