Leeds joins Spitfire dig

University of Leeds geophysics expertise will be called in to help with the final stage of Lincolnshire aviation enthusiast David Cundall's bid to locate buried Spitfires in Myanmar. Roger Clark, Senior Lecturer in Geophysics in the University’s School of Earth and Environment, and Adam Booth, a Research and Teaching Associate at Imperial College London (formerly University of Leeds) will lead a geophysical ground investigation in Mingaladon, after which the site will be excavated. It is hoped the dig can take place in January, pending final negotiations with Myanmar officials. Surveys carried out by Clark and Booth for Mr Cundall over the past 10 years show large areas of electrically conductive material underground. Although it is impossible to say if these are Spitfires, the location and depth of the material corroborates eyewitness reports given to Mr Cundall that Spitfires were buried at this site toward the end of World War II. Clark, who leads the University’s MSc Exploration Geophysics programme, has advised Mr Cundall for more than 20 years on several projects to detect buried military relics at a number of locations in the UK and overseas. Booth was formerly a student on this MSc programme and also completed a PhD at Leeds under the supervision of Clark.