During the war they did,
Things have always disappeared off inventory. I've disappeared quite a lot of stuff myself during my my career. However, what I'm talking about is things that are "On Inventory". Any crated Spitfires being shipped to Rangoon for assembly and squadron allocation would have been firmly "On Inventory" until such time as the squadron adjutant scribbled his name at the bottom of the transaction slip. And although there is plenty of evidence of Spitfires being sent to Burma, they were previously assembled by an MU in India. There is also plenty of documentary evidence of unused crated Spitfires being shipped back from ACSEA to UK, and others being handed over to the Indian Air Force and - surprise, surprise - the Burmese Air Force. Its the lack of any evidence of any large batch of Spitfires being shipped to Rangoon that makes me sceptical about their existence.