Spitfire search in Burma draws a blank

Archaeologists cancel news conference after failing to find British fighter planes believed to be buried in BurmaIt's the confession that no excavation team ever wants to make – that its search has come up empty. But for Spitfire hunters in Burma, who have been on the prowl since early January for dozens of second-world-war-era British fighter planes, that seeming admission came on Friday, when archaeologists were forced to cancel a news conference after their search turned up not planes but cables and pipes instead.The British-led archaeology team, headed by the Lincolnshire farmer and Spitfire enthusiast David Cundall, has been on the hunt for as many as 140 fighter planes believed to be buried in three sites around the country, with 36 of them supposedly buried close to the runway at Rangoon airport. Armed with mechanical diggers and quite a lot of hope, the 21 archaeologists have spent the past fortnight digging up various holes around the airport looking for the giant crates reportedly housing the planes.But all the team has found so far is bundles of electric cables and water pipes, a retired Burmese geology professor who has been involved in the Spitfires search told the Associated Press. "We haven't stopped [searching] and we cannot stop," said Soe Thein. "It is just a delay in our work."No map exists with details of where exactly the planes might be.Archaeologists working on the dig as well as a spokesman for Wargaming.net – a video-games firm backing the search ...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - Category: Science Authors: Tags: World news Archaeology guardian.co.uk Second world war Burma South and Central Asia Science Source Type: news