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04-15-2012, 10:33 AM
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Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: In the shadow of the Valhalla Mountains, BC .
Posts: 9,175
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Twenty Spits ... buried alive!
Well, maybe not buried 'alive', but they could be dug up and brought to life. Time will tell . . . http://www.calgaryherald.com/hopes+b...712/story.html
Any Spitfire fans here?
TF
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04-15-2012, 11:24 AM
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Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: edmonton
Posts: 131
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Yes I'm particularly fond of the PR Mk XIII (Type 367) airframe.  ha ha j/k
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04-15-2012, 11:24 AM
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Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Aridzona
Posts: 3,456
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Who isn't??
Bring 'em back from the grave!
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04-15-2012, 11:31 AM
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Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Look behind you :)
Posts: 27,782
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My Great Uncle (who I sadly never had a chance to meet) was a pilot in the War he flew the Spitfires and Typhoons (II) over in Germany and was responsible for taking out bridges. He was eventually shot down and killed....at the age of 24 I believe. Our Family has his flight log right from training up to until he was killed....the last 3 entries are in another persons hand writing as he had passed.....it is a really cool part of history to know that a Family member served and paid the ultimate price.
RIP Uncle Frank.
LC
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04-15-2012, 11:37 AM
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Join Date: Dec 2009
Posts: 354
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Very exciting news
Loveliest plane ever built IMHO.
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It's not sporting to scare them to death.
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04-15-2012, 11:38 AM
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Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: In the 400's
Posts: 6,581
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Amazing aircraft! I was fortunate enough to watch my father restore ours. I know that he discovered and bought it off an old villager in Greece! I don't remember the full details, but it's now in the hands of the Greek gov.
We also have some friends that had a huge fleet of old war birds, that all flew ! Including his 2 spitz! They use to live just outside Drum
I'll see if I can dig up some old pics!
Last edited by pottymouth; 04-15-2012 at 11:54 AM.
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04-15-2012, 12:15 PM
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Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Beaver Mines AB.
Posts: 881
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Spitfire restoration
For those who are interested, there is one almost fully completely restored at the Comox Airport Museum. It has been a work of art for a small number of retired airmen for quite a long time. Last summer i dropped in again, for a visit.
It is open for the public viewing a few hrs a week.You can get info at the beautiful Comox Air museum located at the airport. The motor was, still last year in California for a complete rebuild. When complete, very soon now, they will unveil, and fly it. I plan to be there when this happens.Although we live in Medicine Hat, my wife and I have a condo at Bates Beach, just north of the airport so every summer I get a update on the progress. It will be quite a spectacle to witness this old bird spring to life again. See you there. Phil
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04-15-2012, 12:26 PM
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Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: In the shadow of the Valhalla Mountains, BC .
Posts: 9,175
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04-15-2012, 01:18 PM
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Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: YEG
Posts: 720
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What a find and what a riveting story! I'd love to see and hear a Spit flying some day. I stood, stunned and speechless, in front of one in the Seattle Museum of Flight last year. Against my better judgement, my hand, apparently of it's own accord, reached out and touched a wingtip. Wow...
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04-15-2012, 01:46 PM
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Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Calgary
Posts: 19,420
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Great story. Dibs on the teak beams  .
That turned into one of those research segue's for me where I Googled Burma to learn a bit about that nation and it's history, then wandered over to Nepal and then read up on the Gurkha's and their khukuri's. Then on to the heroic story of Gurkha Sgt Dip Prasad Pun http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dip_Prasad_Pun
But enough with the segue/hijack:
It was interesting to note that the Spitfires buried are rumored to have the Griffon engines. How on earth those things remain unexcavated to this day surprises me. One would think that an enterprising local witness to their burial would have undertaken the task already. Lots of cheap labour available there if they didn't have heavy equipment access; they'd just need to locate a buyer.
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"The trouble with people idiot-proofing things, is the resulting evolution of the idiot." Me
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04-15-2012, 02:10 PM
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Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: GP AB
Posts: 16,261
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Wow....just wow......that would be so completely amazing to see a squadron of Spits flying. Aircraft collectors would be lining up and plunking down million dollar deposits on those things if they were to hit the open market! Kind of like the story of the squardron of P-38s that got lost in the ice for years....
http://p38assn.org/glacier-girl-recovery.htm
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'Once the monkeys learn they can vote themselves a banana, they'll never climb another tree.'. Robert Heinlein
'You can accomplish a lot more with a kind word and a gun, than with a kind word alone.' Al Capone
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04-15-2012, 02:39 PM
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Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Ft. McMurray
Posts: 38,609
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Spitfires?
They are as cool as cool gets , as cool as a SAA Colt, and original Sharps business rifle or a an old Westley Richards SXS! 
They just don't make them like that anymore!!
Cat
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Anytime I figure I've got this long range thing figured out, I just strap into the sling and irons and remind myself that I don't! 
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04-15-2012, 03:32 PM
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Banned
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Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Rycroft
Posts: 21,548
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Thank's T F you bring up the coolist stuff !!! 
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04-15-2012, 06:34 PM
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Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: In the shadow of the Valhalla Mountains, BC .
Posts: 9,175
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04-15-2012, 07:18 PM
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Join Date: May 2008
Location: Bonnyville Alberta
Posts: 2,355
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I'd like to have one of those Rolls Royce Merlin engines on a stand in the backyard and run it to listen to the sound.
Sadly there probably will not be much left of the fuselages, even if they were bauried.
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04-15-2012, 07:23 PM
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Join Date: May 2008
Location: Bonnyville Alberta
Posts: 2,355
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TriggerFinger
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Got a hard on watching that. Sexiest plane ever tied with the P51 Mustang.
Funny enough the p-51 had RR Merlin engines when it first was introduced.
Last edited by Roughneck12; 04-15-2012 at 07:37 PM.
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04-15-2012, 11:13 PM
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Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: In the shadow of the Valhalla Mountains, BC .
Posts: 9,175
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Roughneck12
I'd like to have one of those Rolls Royce Merlin engines on a stand in the backyard and run it to listen to the sound . . .
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Great idea ^, but you wouldn't be the first . . .
What would your neighbors have to say if you fired-up a Merlin in your backyard?! - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yprfH5ZsAHk
TF 
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04-16-2012, 06:33 AM
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Join Date: May 2008
Location: Bonnyville Alberta
Posts: 2,355
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No worse than the idiot riding his quad around at ten at night.
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04-16-2012, 04:39 PM
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Join Date: May 2008
Location: Bonnyville Alberta
Posts: 2,355
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Always loved the gull wing. Just looks cool. Of course its so they could put a bigger prop on the plane.
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04-16-2012, 06:56 PM
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Join Date: Jan 2011
Posts: 1,923
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Maybe Canada can use them as the F-18 replacements? They might be in our price range.
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