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Old 17th Apr 2012, 11:13
  #21 (permalink)  
LowNSlow
 
Join Date: Aug 2000
Location: Just South of the last ice sheet
Posts: 2,681
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Wooden transit crates under 4m of wet tropical soil for 67 years??? Of course they'll be intact, not.

It would be marvellous if they were still complete but I think there are two chances of that:

1. Fat chance
2. No chance

Hopefully there will be salvageable components but I would strongly doubt that the returns would be worth the $500,000 it's estimated it's going to cost to dig them up. The only really valuable parts are the dataplates, everything else can be replicated and indeed has been in the past. One of the "original" Spits flying today was "rebuilt" from a firewall, where the dataplate is mounted, which only had bent engine bearers to the front of it and the windscreen and the remains of the instrument panel to the rear of it.
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