Hundreds “or potentially thousands” of bombers, fighters and trainee aircraft are still scattered across Britain and intact engines could be recovered by enthusiasts, according to Peter Elliott, the head of archives at London’s RAF Museum. His comments come after 36 Spitfires were discovered in Burma by David Cundall, an aviation enthusiast, 67 years after they were “lost”.
And a pensioner claimed a whole squadron of the planes could be found immaculately preserved under houses in Birmingham. Matt Queenan, 83, said he helped bury the planes in 1950 under instructions from the War Office, greasing them up and encasing them in boxes. But Mr Elliott said there would be “far more” crashed aircraft to uncover than the number deliberately buried, and raised hopes that many of their parts could still be intact.
“There are hundreds if not thousands,” he said. “What comes up is wreckage but sometimes they are substantial parts of the aircraft structure. “The main thing is the engine – big chunks of metal, and it is much stronger than the aluminium the aircraft is probably made of. If the aircraft goes in with any force, the engines are probably several feet down.” He said anyone interested in digging could obtain licenses from the Ministry of Defence, adding that they would probably have most luck in the south of England.