Although the war ended in August 1945, war material continued to arrive in southeast Asia for many months, since the supply chain stretched all the way back to the UK and ships already underway continued to arrive well into 1946. Shipments included at least 124 crated Spitfires which were delivered to Calcutta in 1945. The fighters were bound for operational squadrons across South East Asia, including Burma. But according to legend, before they could be unpacked, they disappeared!

Some say that the orders came from the very top of the British Government, perhaps from Prime Minister Winston Churchill himself, perhaps from the King’s own cousin Lord Louis Mountbatten, the Supreme Allied Commander in Burma, but whoever gave the order it saw the Spitfires buried amid the deepest “need to know” secrecy, by engineers of the famous Construction Battalions, the CB’s. Others say that the British could not be bothered to return to England what was, by late 1945, just so much surplus aluminum, particularly as thousands of warplanes were being scrapped on airfields from Norway to Australia.

The only fact that anyone has been sure of is that no one – not the world press, not the British Government, not the Myanmar Government – got to the bottom of the story. That is until now. The Buried Spitfires of Burma explores how a team of researchers and archaeologists, funded by video game developer Wargaming, solve the mystery of what exactly happened at Mingaladon in 1945-46.

Readers follow the clues as we sleuth through the archives at the UK National Archive in Kew, the RAF, and the US Navy archives in Britain and the USA, examining operational log books, shipping manifests, and the recollections of veterans who served at Mingaladon in 1945-46. It’s CSI Yangon where we visit the scene of the ‘crime’ (Mingaladon), interview ‘witnesses’ (veterans who saw and heard things), forensically examine clues (the documents, photographs and evidence in the ground) and look for the ‘body’ – the missing planes!

The result is a fascinating, surprising, and elegant mixture of Indiana Jones AND Sherlock Holmes. There were crated planes shipped to Burma. Our living witness did see crates on the airfield at Mingaladon. Those crates almost certainly did contain airplanes. But as the team stares down into the deepening trench at Mingaladon airfield in January 2013, we realize that we have uncovered an even bigger mystery. Someone has already dug up the site!

David Cundall’s quest features a supporting cast of unforgettable characters ranging from Foreign Office officials at the Yangon Embassy to Burmese Generals; from a former head of Israeli Intelligence to a billionaire real estate tycoon; from a shady Treasure Hunter reviled throughout Asia for looting historical sites to the British Prime Minister David Cameron and President of Myanmar, to some of the key players in the international networks engaged in WW2 aircraft recovery for wealthy private collectors and museums.

The Buried Spitfires of Burma is a story of obsession for the era of fake history and fake news, much like the legend of the Oak Island Money Pit, Yamashita’s Gold and other legendary quests in search of fabled treasures. We examine the role of the broadcast and print media, 10 Downing Street, and the Burmese government in creating and sustaining the Burma Spitfire legend. ‘Buried in Burma’ highlights the conflict between archaeologists and treasure hunters, those who believe and those who demand evidence; all against the backdrop of a former Colony emerging from decades military rule and transitioning to Democracy and full participation in the community of nations.