Myanmar Spitfire hunters say search has hit snag

(20 Jan 2013) SHOTLIST 1. Park Royal hotel in Yangon where Spitfire excavation team are staying 2. Park Royal hotel signage 3. Excavation team bus in front of hotel 4. Mid of two members of excavation team in hotel lobby 5. Members of excavation team including Lead Archaeologist for the project, Andy Brockman (right), gather in lobby before leaving for the dig site 6. Wide, members of excavation team including spitfire enthusiast and team leader, David Cundall (white hair) gather in lobby before leaving for the dig site 7. SOUNDBITE (English): Andy Brockman, Lead Archaeologist for Burma Spitfires project: "One of the trenches we opened up earlier on in the week, it was an area that David was interested in, he directed us where to put it. When we came to excavate it, we got down to about 3 metres (9.8 feet) and then we hit natural clay. Now, that clay could be anything from 500 to 10,000 years old. There's no way that a spitfire that was supposedly buried in 1945 or 1946 can be underneath that." 8. Andy Brockman walking towards team bus with a metal detector 9. Wide, members of excavation team outside hotel 10. Andy Brockman gets on team bus with a metal detector 11. SOUNDBITE (English): Andy Brockman, Lead Archaeologist for Burma Spitfires project: "There's a further area that we haven't been able to look at this time that David's interested in looking at now or in the future and that may well happen as well. But certainly in terms of Yangon airport which was our target this time, the area within the perimeter of Yangon airport, we are very close to our valid sample." 12. Close of member of excavation team outside bus 13. Mid of pigeons across road from bus 14. Two members of team outside bus 15. Tracy Spaight (left) Wargames Director of Special Operations and another team member walk onto bus STORYLINE An excavation team searching for buried Spitfires in Myanmar has returned to work despite bleak prospects for finding the iconic aircrafts. After a day's recess the team returned to their chosen dig site on Saturday amidst rumours that they had given up any hope of finding the World War II-era British fighter aeroplanes. Spitfire dig lead archaeologist Andy Brockman said the excavation at Mingaladon airport had not produced any evidence of spitfires in the areas where project leader David Cundall had hoped they would be. And with only two days left to search, it appeared some of the team may have given up hope. Brockman said that the recognised sample used to draw conclusions on an excavation site, 5 percent, has almost been reached without any spitfires having been recovered. "In terms of Yangon airport which was our target this time, the area within the perimeter of Yangon airport, we are very close to our valid sample," he said. After almost 2 weeks of work it looks bleak for the team as they set off for one of their last days on the site. Wargames, the gaming company funding the project would not comment on whether they had concluded their search for spitfires, but emphasised that the dig was not just about finding spitfires but was also a wider archaeological study of the former military airbase. The search for the aircrafts is being led by David Cundall, a farmer and aircraft enthusiast. Cundall has spent nearly two decades looking for Spitfires in Myanmar after accounts from 8 separate eye witnesses convinced him that as many as 36 spitfires may be buried in the Mingaladon area. Cundall is said to still be optimistic about finding the aeroplanes and is expected to head to a second excavation site in Myitkyina in northern Kachin state, next week. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...