Hunt for British World War II Spitfires in Myanmar called off

UK archaeologists have called off a hunt for dozens of iconic World War II Supermarine Spitfires thought to have been buried in a jungle in Myanmar. It was thought that as many as 124 Spitfires were buried by the UK's Royal Air Force (RAF) at the end of the war but they have now concluded it was a myth. A dig at the international airport near the city of erstwhile Rangoon, which used to be RAF Mingaladon, has drawn a blank, the 'BBC News' reported. The project was financed by Wargaming Ltd, who have said they believe the story about Spitfires being delivered in crates and then buried was not true. "No-one would have been more delighted than our team had we found Spitfires," Tracy Spaight, Wargaming's director of special projects, said. "We knew the risks going in, as our team had spent many weeks in the archives and had not found any evidence to support the claim of buried Spitfires. "Wargaming Ltd said they now believe no Spitfires were delivered in crates and buried at RAF Mingaladon during 1945 and 1946," said Spaight. According to the company, archival records showed that the RAF unit that handled shipments through Rangoon (now Yangon) docks only received 37 aircraft in total from three transport ships between 1945 and 1946. Most of the Spitfires that were in Burma (now Myanmar) at the time appear to have been re-exported in the autumn of 1946, they said. Last month, project leader David Cundall, of North Lincolnshire, said he believed they would find the Spitfires but were just digging in the wrong place and said he would apologise if he was proved wrong. Cundall has spent the last 17 years trying to discover the truth of claims that unused, unassembled Spitfires were packed into crates and buried by the RAF at sites in Burma on the orders of Lord Mountbatten at the end of the war in 1945. The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft that was used by the Royal Air Force and many other Allied countries throughout the World War II.