140 WWII Spitfire fighter planes
found buried in Myanmar- October 18th,
2012
The British Embassy said an
agreement to dig up the World War II-era Spitfire
planes was reached after discussions between
Myanmar President Thein
Sein and British Prime
Minister David
Cameron during his
visit to Myanmar earlier this year.
The excavation of the
Spitfires is to begin around the end
of October 2012.
A retired Myanmar geology professor
who has assisted in the recovery operation since
1999 said there are about 140 Spitfires buried in
various places around the Southeast Asian country,
which until 1948 was a British colony called
Burma.
Soe Thein said the British brought
crates of Spitfires to Myanmar in the closing
stages of the war, but never used them when the
Japanese gave up the fight in 1945. The
single-seat version of the fighter plane was 9.14
meters long with an 11.3 meter wingspan.
The US Army was in charge of burying the planes
after British forces decided to dispose of them
that way, he said, adding David Cundall
interviewed at least 1,000 war veterans, mostly
American, to gather information about the
aircraft's fate. He said a ground search was
started in 1999 using magnetometers and ground
radar, but faced difficulties. Only in recent
years did technology become advanced enough to be
more certain of the finds, he said.
Each plane was kept in a crate about 12.2 meters
long, 3.4 meters high and 2.7 meters wide, said
Soe Thein.
The plans under a two-year contract, are to
now recover 60
planes in the first phase: 36 planes in
Mingaladon, near Yangon's current air base and
international airport; 18 in
Myitkyina in Kachin state in the north; and six in
Meikthila in central Myanmar. Others are to be
recovered in a second phase.
Mingaladon
sits right on top of the Andaman Sea.
Andaman
trench/Tectonic plates
Finding the Spitfires, which are
believed to have been buried deep underground,
involves the use of specialised
machinery capable of passing a massive
electric current through the ground.
By measuring the resistance to the electric
current, it is possible to establish whether you
have found just soil or the metal of a Spitfire.
Digging can only take place during
the brief window of opportunity between the earth
drying out following one monsoon and the onset of
the next. The next monsoon season begins in june.
Thai meteorologist and
seismologist Dr. Smith Dharmasaroja.
In recent interviews, the Thai scientist has
warned that the epicentre of the next
earthquake would be further north than 2004's
temblors, which brings the Straits of Malacca
and - more disturbingly - Singapore and Malaysia
into range.
"The latest data shows that the epicentre is
moving north towards the
Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and if
an earthquake takes place in this area, this
would cause greater effects in the
Straits of Malacca than what happened in
2004. The
Deadliest Tsunami in History?
The number of people killed in
December 2004's tsunami disaster topped
295,000.
02-11-2012
Dr Smith
warns of tsunami risk in
Phuket, Andaman region
Dr Smith
Dharmasaroja (inset) and
the crowd of 2000 school
administrators he
addressed at the Royal
Phuket City Hotel.
PHUKET:
-- The man whose
warnings of a possible
tsunami disaster along
Thailand's Andaman coast
went unheeded years
before the 2004 calamity
struck was in Phuket
recently, urging a
national assembly of
school administrators to
be prepared for more
possible disasters in
2012.
Dr Smith Dharmasaroja,
former Director of the
National Disaster Warning
Center (NDWC), was guest
speaker for a gathering of
some 2,000 secondary
school directors and
deputy school directors in
the main ballroom at Royal
Phuket City Hotel in
Phuket.
Speaking on the likelihood
of a possible earthquake
and tsunami disaster like
the one that befell Thailand
and neighboring countries in
2004, he urged the
administrators to "be
prepared but not to panic".
“Earthquakes have occurred
in many countries lately,
and there is always a
possibility one could hit
Thailand as well. Our
warning center has detected
some movement from
[tectonic] plates in the
Indian Ocean and Andaman Sea
that indicates an earthquake
could happen sometime soon,”
said Dr Smith.
“Although 2012 could be a
year when many natural
disasters occur, I would
like everyone to prepare
for the worst -- but not
to panic about the
possibility," he told the
educators.
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Mid-Point - March
21st, 2013
God Bless,
Gail