David Cameron reaches deal on Spitfires buried in Burma

Up to 20 RAF planes were buried in Burma two weeks before the first atom bomb was dropped on Hiroshima in 1945

• Nicholas Watt in Rangoon
• The Guardian, Saturday 14 April 2012
• Article history

The Spitfires deal reached in Burma raises the prospect of doubling the number of surviving planes. Photograph: Sac Neil Chapman/RAF/British Ministry of Defence/EPA

David Cameron has reached an agreement with the Burmese authorities to dig up the remains of up to 20 RAF Spitfires that were buried in Burma two weeks before the atom bomb was dropped on Japan. A group of Spitfire enthusiasts, who believe they have identified the whereabouts of the planes at airfields using radar technology, will have the right to start digging. The agreement, reached with President Thein Sein at his palace in the Burmese capital of Naypyidaw, raises the prospect of doubling the number of surviving Spitfires.

Of the 21,000 built, only 35 remain in a good enough condition to fly. There are potentially 20 buried in crates under Burmese soil.

A No 10 source said: "The Spitfire is arguably the most important plane in the history of aviation, playing a crucial role in world war two. It is hoped this will be an opportunity to work with the reforming Burmese government to uncover, restore and display these fighter planes and get them gracing the skies of Britain once again."

The saga of the Burmese Spitfires dates back to the closing days of thesecond world war. Shortly before the Americans bombed the Japanese city of Hiroshima on 6 August 1945, Earl Mountbatten of Burma ordered the Spitfires to be buried in Burma. Mountbatten, an uncle of the Prince of Wales who was then supreme allied commander of South-east Asia Command, feared that the Spitfires could have been used by the Japanese. The allies had driven the Japanese out of Burma in April of that year. But Mountbatten feared that the Spitfires could provide the Japanese with a great advantage if they captured them after a successful reoccupation.

The Mark 14 Spitfires had recently arrived in Burma in crates. They were shipped into the country along the Burmese death railway built by allied prisoners of war during the Japanese occupation.

Japan eventually capitulated after the second atom bomb was dropped on Nagasaki on 9 August, three days after the Hiroshima bombing. But the planes appeared to have been forgotten in the Burmese soil.

Ref:guardian