I wouldn't hold your breath on the outcome of this one. Like Mr Cundall's statement that 'the Spitfire saved our neck during the Battle of Britain', much of what he has said should be viewed with caution. The Hurricane was the most numerous fighter with the RAF during this period - but no matter which fighter aircraft were involved, it was the incredibly brave pilots of many nationalities who volunteered to join the RAF that turned the tide. This, and the fact that the well trained and equipped Luftwaffe was led by an egotistical idiot who would not argue against Hitler's stupid new order to start saturation bombing of London, were the reasons why this Island Nation survived to continue the fight.
Those of us who have an interest in WW11, and are of an age to remember that the information only came from reading the vast amounts of printed matter on the subject, not by pressing the Google key and receiving very subjective/dubious - read inaccurate - information on the subject, will already know that there are many other pitfalls that may/will derail this project.
For instance -
Why should Burma release what are potentially valuable items, that were abandoned by their owners, completely gratis. This has been the stumbling block on a number of other aircraft recoveries from poor nation states, who by delaying exportation of the recovered items, allowed the aircraft to decay and be vandalised beyond economic restoration.
The transit crate and waterproofing applied to the airframes were designed to protect the aircraft when they were carried as deck cargo out to the Far East, the aspect of long term preservation did not enter the equation.
However the biggest pitfall is probably due to the fact that it was the Americans that did the burials. Now we all know the term 'over here, well equipped and over sexed!', so this lot were not just a few 'erks' with a shovel each, they had enough mechanised equipment with them to equip at least two British Armies. The standard method of burial of material used by our American allies was to bulldoze out a deep trench, push the crates in, back fill and compact by running the dozer up and down the trench! So sitting there all shiny and new begins to look doubtful.
Given the fact that if I had enough money I can actually buy a brand new Spitfire airframe from specialised firms located in the UK, New Zealand and the US, the most valuable items in the burial cache will be the brass data plates. With a set of these, my multi £ million new build Spitfire suddenly becomes a priceless fully restored WW11 fighter. But then again why line Mr Cundall's pocket - there are still undiscovered Spitfire losses to discover on/off the South Coast, so I could go and discover my own bit of history whilst the airframe is being built.
Unfortunately I think this whole project is being driven by the perceived enormous value of the recovered aircraft. If twenty restorable airframes are released onto the market, the value of projects already underway could be seriously devalued, thus halting progress and eventually leading to less aircraft in the sky, not more.
