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Buried Spitfires In Burma & Hitler's Gold

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Anonymous

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Has anyone else ever come across the following couple of WWII stories? Both were relayed to me by my Dad and I haven't come across anything similar in the UK.

Apparently, my Grandad used to tell stories of how at the end of WWII, a whole bunch of Spitfires which had just rolled off the production line were put in storage as the war had ended, suggesting there's an underground hangar somewhere in the Midlands stuffed with unused planes. I find it hard to believe that any dedicated historians haven't sought to dig them up, as surely it would be documented, and I wonder why they were put away rather than put to use - maybe the death toll was such that there were not enough people to fly them? I'd be interested if any similar stories have been reported - my Grandad used to live in the Tamworth area nr. Birmingham which must be the approximate location for him to know about it. On the other hand, it could just be another FOAF story...

The second story is that my Dad used to work with a man who claimed to be in a secret British military unit that was tasked with following the trail of "Hitler's Gold" at the end of the war. Apparently the trail was followed all the way to North Africa before it was lost, and never found again. Again, it could be BS, or chasing shadows as much has turned up in Swiss bank accounts. Seeing a documentary the other week about how a group of Nazi officers sank a chest of mysterious papers in a remote Austrian lake as the Allies closed in reminded me of the story... anyone else heard anything like this...?
 
Nazi plunder tales are not all mythical, even when they sound
way out. There is a tale of a fabulously ornamented room,
called "The Crystal Room" or something similar which had been
plundered from Russia in sections and was reputed to have been
stored in a French? mine at the end of the war. Another version
of its fate suggested that it had been sunk in transit??

Sorry my memory of the details may be vague but I think there
is a story along these lines. Has anyone got an accurate version?

I saw it on television about four or five years ago. Some sort of
true story lies behind it and I think the room may have
belonged to Catherine the Great. :confused:
 
Buried Spitfires

'Forgotten military equipment' seems to be a common theme for urban legends.

As a motorcycle-mad teenager in the 1960s I repeatedly heard rumours that the Canadian government had discovered large numbers of military-model Harley-Davidsons, bought during World War II and never used. These were to be sold for a pittance - $50 was the most commonly heard figure. Of course, no one ever had any details about where or when the sale would be held.

I seem to recall in a recent issue of FT there was a story (or letter?) about rumours of Spitfires stored in Australia against the threat of Japanese invasion, but never used and eventually forgotten.
 
You're right, in issues 135 and 140 there are letters about stored military equipment, but these deal solely with Australia. The guy who responded to the initial letter suggests lost military equipment in Australia is quite likely as at the time large areas of Oz were not accurately mapped, and Spitfires were not particularly suited to the climate or a match for Japanese fighters.
However, I haven't heard a similar story relating to the UK, where it would be far more difficult to hide an underground hangar chock full of planes waiting to be discovered.
 
Sherman Tanks

Really bizarre - I remember an old tale from Stockton on Tees about a number of Sherman Tanks that were buried under a huge slag heap near to an iron and steel reclamation plant in the Oxbridge part of the town! I always wondered why they didn't just melt these things down for scrap or simply use them - there were severe shortages of all raw materials after WWII, plus a new (Cold) war in the offing - so wouldn't it make sense to do this?

Mind you, they did dump lots and lots of surplus stuff out to sea.
 
War-time military equipment

Does anyone here remember the delicious April 1st spoof that appeared in the Daily Telegraph magazine some years ago?

It was an article of several pages, complete with colour photographs, of a Barrage Balloon unit that was still operating in Northern Scotland decades after the end of the war!

According to the story, the unit, originally in southern England, received orders to move to a new location, but someone got the grid references the wrong way round and they relocated to Scotland. Somehow the unit managed to keep itself functioning and receiving wages by various ruses, and the men married into the local community. The 'story' only came to light when the aged balloon cable finally broke, and an airline pilot reported the balloon drifting out over the Atlantic!

The story was told with all the usual Telegraph gravitas. I think it deserves a place in some Fortean Hall of Fame!
 
A junior officer on my ship once told me a story I heard often in the 60's and 70's.His brother was an Army officer stationed in southern Bavaria,and told stories of bunkers under guard in the mountains full of captured rifles,machine guns,and literally tons of old Third Reich military equipment being stockpiled in case of a Russian invasion.I find this highly likely as there is a large amount of Russian surplus and some some Russian captured German equipment on the collector's market here in the States now.
 
Re: Sherman Tanks

lordshiva said:
Really bizarre - I remember an old tale from Stockton on Tees about a number of Sherman Tanks that were buried under a huge slag heap near to an iron and steel reclamation plant in the Oxbridge part of the town! I always wondered why they didn't just melt these things down for scrap or simply use them - there were severe shortages of all raw materials after WWII, plus a new (Cold) war in the offing - so wouldn't it make sense to do this?

Mind you, they did dump lots and lots of surplus stuff out to sea.
Click to expand...

I've lived in/near Stockton nearly all my life and have never heard this one!
Do you have a source for this story, Lordshiva?

Carole
 
Usual Urban legend stuff - grandparents, uncles, all foaf stuff really.

Completly unsubstantiated, of course.
 
I've heard that many aircraft were dumped in the Moray Firth at the end of the second world war - by then jets were appearing on the scene and they were outdated and surplus to requirements.

In America many aircraft were actually sold to the pilots which is why so many of them are still around today (they used them for racing). But here in Britain they were scrapped.
 
Im from inverness, which sits where the river ness joins the moray firth and ive never heard this one. Seems unlikely to me as i dont think the moray firths that deep and surely bits would get washed up. When i was about 6 or 7 there was a downed Wellington bomber found in the depths of Loch Ness which was quite exciting. But thats as far as dumped military equipment goes that ive heard of.
 
for Natzi gold legend see Illuminatus trillogy, big bit of it is about Lake Topplitiz(Selling?) where somthing was dumped at the wars end....... these are some surplus equipment stories i have heard.. Brighton sea front developed a hole from a storm after the war and Harley Davidsons were used to fill it before concreating over it to make the road....In this area (Falmouth) huge amounts of equipment was made ready for D-day and all over the place u still find enegmatic torpedo shaped tings about 8 ft long and a foot -ish diameter. These are populary known as auxilury Mustang fuel drop tanks (tho tey dont have any fittings on them) They are made of what apears to be glass fiber but are side to be some mixture of paper mache!...There are some huge cocncreat barges in the estry ex-fres water barges for d-day(?)
And the bay is said to be liberaly littered (all be it under a lot of sea) with Sherman tanks and lorries and jeeps. The story is that loaded ships would try the vehicles to see if they started and if they didnt they went over the side!...
 
Let's face it, the Nazis looted just about everything they could lay their little Aryan mitts on! Art treasures, gold, French wine . . . there's bound to be many tales of treasure troves hidden away. When my husband worked in Libya, there were tales of old Afrika Corps tanks, etc, turning up from time to time in the desert.

Carole
 
Sidecar_jon is right about the concrete barges - they were used as water (and fuel) barges after D-Day to take supplies to the landing beaches. Several remain in Falmouth harbour (and no doubt elsewhere), used as mooring barges or house boats, a couple are in the Docks.

After the war there were also several captured U-boats on the seaward side of town, but these have since been removed.

When I was in my teens in West Sussex there were several strange 'wrecks' to the west of Bognor Regis, some of which could be reached at low tide. I later learned that these were left over bits of the Mulberry Harbours which were also built of concrete, and towed across the Channel to give the 1944 invasion forces secure harbours in Normandy.
 
The D-day barges are a strnge feat of engineering, bult more like coal bunkers tan ferocreat yachts they were bult useing shuttering and 4" or 6" mesh and poured with sand that seems to have contained peebles up to an inch across!..so far they have proved faily indestructable. ive seen em used as queys, house boats and two notable ones in Gweek as a tradeing sailing barge (Portugal and back with teracotta pots) and one with its deck house built from breeze blocks! ( i think they mesured 20 foot by 80 ft tho some seem to be larger)... On U -boats in falmouth after the war severil (ive heard up to seven) were tied up off the beech and used for target practice till one night they snapped thier mooring ropes and fetched up on Castle beech. Where they remaind at least till the 60's subject to the tender mercies of local scrap merchants. Bits of them are reguly explored by divers even now. Soposedly another more modern sub was sunk off Meanporth as practice for Navy divers...
 
Buried Nazi Booty

When I was young, my family was stationed at a NATO airbase near Vaudignes, in Belgium. It had at one time been a regular airstrip, but was only used for helicopters now, as the runways were showing massive signs of subsidence due to the Nazi's having buried vehicles under them, supposedly to keep them out of the hands of enemies.
 
my friend bought a lovely old British motorbike several years ago that had been part of a store of bikes, put away by the Government in the 60s in case of Armageddon or something , which was subsequently sold due to the end of the Cold War .
Marion
 
Dark Detective said:
Has anyone else ever come across the following couple of WWII stories? Both were relayed to me by my Dad and I haven't come across anything similar in the UK.

Apparently, my Grandad used to tell stories of how at the end of WWII, a whole bunch of Spitfires which had just rolled off the production line were put in storage as the war had ended, suggesting there's an underground hangar somewhere in the Midlands stuffed with unused planes. I find it hard to believe that any dedicated historians haven't sought to dig them up, as surely it would be documented, and I wonder why they were put away rather than put to use - maybe the death toll was such that there were not enough people to fly them? I'd be interested if any similar stories have been reported - my Grandad used to live in the Tamworth area nr. Birmingham which must be the approximate location for him to know about it. On the other hand, it could just be another FOAF story...
Click to expand...

I'm originally from Tamworth and to be honest I haven't heard this story.
 
burried spitfires

About twelve years ago I kicked around with a bloke, whos Uncle had a largish wheat /sheep property near Wagga Wagga N.S.W.Anyway this property had a large concrete runway 2 or so miles long, an old second world war control tower ,and even a steam traction engine that seemed to take a mile to stop.He also pointed out some large old piles of dirt covered by dry grass (this being mid summer). This place was used to train bomber pilots ,during WW2.He claimed that the piles were underground bunkers with spitfires interned, and that his Uncle was going to dig them up for his retirement. He should be retiring soon.The property was The (better contact ME) at Uranquinty near Wagga,Ihave wondered about this for years,is it just the fantasy of a young red headed boy, . He used to tell woopers but this had the element of truth,as well as good supporting evidence.
 
a whole bunch of Spitfires which had just rolled off the production line were put in storage as the war had ended, suggesting there's an underground hangar somewhere in the Midlands stuffed with unused planes.
Click to expand...


Yeap i been told this by my dad also about a big quary up near west brom were a great big bomb fell to the bottom, instead of gettin it out they filled it in and built over it so someone somewere is sittin on a timebomb lol
 
burried spitfires and nazi gold

On the same subject,a few years ago,a bloke came on Channel 9 on the sunshine coast,claiming to have been recovering Yank aircraft that had been dumped in the Coral Sea after WW2.For years trawlers opperating from Maroochydore have been pulling up bits of aircraft from the sea floor!After WW2 they put the aircraft on barges took then out to sea, and dumped them,but one wonders how bad the rust will be?
 
Dark Detective said:
I find it hard to believe that any dedicated historians haven't sought to dig them up, as surely it would be documented,
Click to expand...

It probably is documented, but considering British secrecy laws it will be another 40 years before we find out.

Seeing a documentary the other week about how a group of Nazi officers sank a chest of mysterious papers in a remote Austrian lake as the Allies closed in reminded me of the story... anyone else heard anything like this...?
Click to expand...

A huge amount of Nazi gold was pulled out of the lake at Halstatt in Austria in about 1982. They also found loads of plates used for counterfieting foreign currency. There is a scuba diving club in Halstatt and they have a display of a few of the things they have brought up, hand grenades, shells, rifles, etc, plus older stuff.
 
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Major Kraut said:
A junior officer on my ship once told me a story I heard often in the 60's and 70's.His brother was an Army officer stationed in southern Bavaria,and told stories of bunkers under guard in the mountains full of captured rifles,machine guns,and literally tons of old Third Reich military equipment being stockpiled in case of a Russian invasion.I find this highly likely as there is a large amount of Russian surplus and some some Russian captured German equipment on the collector's market here in the States now.
Click to expand...

sounds like the UL going around at the time - the Alpine Redoubt: the nazi leaders and the cream of the ss were planning to turn the alps into an unassailable fortress and let the allies bleed themselves dry attacking it. baseless of course. i'd be amazed if the nazis were stockpiling stuff for a russian invasion because a) there was one, so it would have been used and b) part of the reason hitler lost the war (or what compounded his errors, anyway) was the decentralisation and weakness of german industrial capacity compared to the allies. by the end they were throwing old men in front of tanks with nothing but handguns, stitching together wrecked planes as suicide bombers, etc. there simply wasn't anything to stockpile. at the time, though, the propaganda had worked to some extent and everyone thought they were invincible supermen, hence the legends.
 
What I was referring to was mostly captured small arms being stockpiled,probably jointly,by NATO,and the U.S. and German governments for use in the Cold War.There were literally millions of Czech,Belgian,and German made Mauser rifles captured by 1945.Hell,the Germans still had large stocks of Model 1871 and 71/84 rifles in the arsenal.I know that at the end,they were arming Volksturm troops with almost anything,including obsolete long arms and pistols,but how many of their stockpiles were in Allied hands by then.

Interarms,an old CIA front company,imported thousands of fine European military arms,mostly obsolete,for the U.S. domestic collectors market for years,as well as arming Third World insurgent groups.Old bolt action military rifles were still commonly used in the Third World until the 80's.Interarms still exists as an importer of arms in the U.S.,though they no longer front for the CIA.I own a few Interarms imported pieces myself.

My point is that I know there were formerly huge stockpiles of small arms in Europe.Being a collector,I also know there are still fairly large stocks of obsolete arms in Eastern Europe and Russia,as wll as Africa and Asia.
 
About twelve years ago I kicked around with a bloke, whos Uncle had a largish wheat /sheep property near Wagga Wagga N.S.W.Anyway this property had a large concrete runway 2 or so miles long, an old second world war control tower ,and even a steam traction engine that seemed to take a mile to stop.He also pointed out some large old piles of dirt covered by dry grass (this being mid summer). This place was used to train bomber pilots ,during WW2.He claimed that the piles were underground bunkers with spitfires interned, and that his Uncle was going to dig them up for his retirement. He should be retiring soon.The property was The (better contact ME) at Uranquinty near Wagga,Ihave wondered about this for years,is it just the fantasy of a young red headed boy, . He used to tell woopers but this had the element of truth,as well as good supporting evidence.
Click to expand...

Wildman, those piles of dirt could have been blast pens. Planes were kept between them in wartime to stop the explosion of one 'plane destroying all the others. They were certainly used for that purpose to protect fighter planes in WW2 in the UK, and it seems likely they could have been used for the same reason on a training base, even in the vastness of NSW.
 
Spitfire underground

News from Cornwall for people with an interst in WW2 aircraft and a spade.


I was talking to our local Mp (Candy Atherton) and happened to mention Nacecucke a site i know she has been endevoring to uncover and decontaminate..(it was a nerve gas and general nasty things makeing factory untill quite recently) I mentioned that many things were roumoured to be buried up there and asked about a local legend that a full Spitfire was buried after the war on site. (the legend is it was so contaminated in nerve gas spraying tests it was tipped down a mine shaft and left).... She said that there was a Spitfire up ther but it had been buried cos they just didnt know what else to do with it!.... also a couple of Beufighters were mentioned (but the result of failing to take off, off the cliff)
 
was that a crashed one?... this one was aparently just surplus to requirments!....... there is a history to burying mechines, when raod tax was first introduced (1918 ish???) mant people just dug a hole and buried thier bikes?cars in protest!....
 
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