[1] When these smaller nations started to update their air forces, many of their Second World War aircraft were sold on the open market to individuals or for scrap.
In 2012 a great deal of media attention was given to a claim that the RAF had buried a number of Spitfire Mk.XIV aircraft in Burma, unassembled and in their packing crates, during August 1945.
However, no documentary or other evidence of the burial has been uncovered, and some have dismissed the story as implausible and apocryphal; military archaeologist Andy Brockman argued that for the RAF to prevent the Spitfires' misuse, it would have been far more expedient to burn them, destroy critical equipment, or crush them rather than painstakingly burying them intact.
[78] Leeds University experts and an academic from Rangoon used sophisticated geophysical techniques to produce evidence consistent with buried metal at what is now Yangon International Airport, the former RAF Mingaladon airfield.
[79][80] In January 2013, following investigations at both Yangon International Airport and Myitkyina, archaeologists led by Brockman concluded that there were no aircraft buried at the sites.
A Supermarine Spitfire aircraft landing at Biggin Hill airport in June
MV239
at Point Cook, Victoria (2008)
PK481
on display at Bull Creek WA
MJ783/SM15 in Brussels
Restored Spitfire CGYQQ Y2K S/N TE294
TP280
on display at Oshkosh 2006
NH188
TE565 on display at the National Technical Museum
MJ271
on static display at Duxford before restoration as the "Silver Spitfire"
MA298
on display at the Stauning Aircraft Museum
RR263
on display at Musée de l'Air et de l’espace, Le Bourget
TE554
, The
Black Spitfire
MK805
, operated by the Italian Air Force in the very last stages of WWII
