Speaking of the Doolittle Raiders..
 

...and WWI aviation in general. This is a fascinating story for aviation and history buffs!
WWII Spitfires found in Burma.

I've known a few US Spitfire Pilots, and they were exceptional to say the least!! I'm looking forward to how this turns out. I really hope and Pray that the ground water has not made it's way into them!! If it has, it will only be a story of unrequited and unfulfilled perseverance.

Later
Martin

I'm thinking even if the ground water had intruded they should still be in pretty good shape as long as the crates haven't collapsed. Better than having been exposed to the air anyway.

Ground water is WAY worse than air!! In air, what works against you is predominantly Oxygen. With water, you not only have O2, but also, the either acidic or alkaline compounds, that are naturally found in the ground!!

One of the things that have preserved some, if not most, of the ancient artifacts that have been found, has been that they were either in very deep water, encased in ice in a perpetually frozen area or at an extreme altitude (sometimes also encased in ice) or in a perpetually arid area.

Extreme oceanic/lake/H2O depth and extreme altitude basically are the same, O2 is so compressed or dissipated that it's ability to react with the surfaces are inhibited!!

Later
Martin

Well...at least all the parts are there.:)

Interesting story.

Talk about finding buried treasure, let's see; 20 X 1,780,000 = 35,600,000 British Pounds.

Pretty good take 'ol chap. The pints of ale are on me!

Myself? I'll take one of the many ME-109s and FW-190s that were found in Russia after the Soviet Union collapsed in the '90s.