Spitfire at Crocodile Creek

[TeckDeckEugene]

Anyone know the song or a theme ???? pls :)

[StorytellerMedia]

As I understand it was used as spares on other restoration projects

[kineticdeath]

digging through mud, battling crocs and the other wildlife draining the place of water all the pain staking effort well worth it for that is one valuable and precious bird they saved there. Whatever happened to this plane? was it restored, is it on display somewhere?

[jonzflicks]

nice vid' but the cockpit close-up is a Hawker Hurricane :-)

[baldymer]

@engaurd Easy tiger! dont get too serious, especially with the crocs about.

[sidv192]

This is the heart of the blues.. Not just a black man's song.

[pringlel]

Why edit in a guy sitting in a Hurricane?

[TeckDeckEugene]

nice song!!!!!!!

[MrStatic62]

@TeckDeckEugene thats all!

[HRMOKeefe]

'Broken Wings" claims some spitfires stored at Oakey, just needs your millions to prove it

[slickstrings]

@HRMOKeefe ive seen that trailer for broken wings. I knew exactly what they were talking about. My godmother told me about that story more than a decade ago. She had an aborigional friend back in the 50's who told her he was involved in burying them. Unfortunately he died a long time ago. 

[Santoslhelpa]

hahaha cute but too gay hahaha

at least tehy save a bird

msut be a filthy mix of broke back mountain x woodstock x indiana jones

[silvanojung]

Where is Crocodile Creek? Did you get an identification for the aircraft? Any human remains? Any archaeological report of the recovery excercise?

[silvanojung]

Oops, just read the provenance of the site. See also:

Clark, P. and S. Jung 1995. Submerged material culture in the Beagle Gulf Marine Park, Northern Territory. Gazetteer of sites. Unpublished report, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin.

I guess people weren't thinking of aircraft as archaeological sites back in 1987. What's left there today?

[wobblywarhead]

Interesting...I haven't seen any of my vision from this for a while. I was one of the two cameramen on that expedition. It was in Late November early December of 1987. Quite a few of the parts we retrieved made it back to the RAAF Museum at Point Cook. It was a great trip. Hi mike S.........

[MarsFKA]

.39 I didn't know the RAAF had Hurricanes in Darwin.

Just kidding. It's obviously a fill-in.

PS. On the occasions that I fly into and out of Australia, I put "Oz" on the immigration cards and no one official has ever said anything. To the people who have commented against PC, I agree with everything you say. PC is the language of cowards and politicians desperate for votes. It demeans us and richly deserves all the contempt that can be heaped upon it.

[twinstu50]

Love it mate!. As for the faceless/nameless/annonymous/G­UTLESS  PC brigade, here's a little wake-up tap for their collective downward-sloped, never carried their own fair weight or put in a decent days work shoulders.

I am Australian. I was born in Sydney, N.S.W. You P.C. dropkicks can just pull yer heads in, none of you mob have the right to dictate how ANYONE refers to the country of my birth, if I don't like whats said, then I'll speak up. Bloody P.C. Galahs!.

[LMSStanier]

Well said mate!!

[LMSStanier]

I did hear that some Spits (about seven of them?) were found in a cave in Oz, still in their crates. I think this back in the 80s or 90s and they had been put there because the Australians thought highly of them not to to be captured by the Japanese nor to destroy them. Could anyone confirm this?

[Baza1964]

I remember hearing that story back about 84 but as I remember it they were found in the early 70,s .the caves were in the flinders ranges as I recall the story, close to the old air base at port pirie ?

[twinstu50]

Sorry to burst your bubble mate, but the 'Spitfires still in their crates hidden in a cave'  somewhere in Australia (choose your location) is a myth, fostered by the press of the day years ago when nothing much was happening on the local scene. It's the same as the 'Harley Davidson motorcycles, still in their crates, buried at the end of the airstrip/runway' myth, again, choose your location.

For either one though, it's still nice to wonder, 'what if' over a coldie or two.

[LMSStanier]

We have a similar story here in the UK of Spitfire engines being buried within the foundations of the Dagenham Ford plant. How true this is I'm not sure. It could be a myth similar to what you describe in Oz.... oops, sorry. Political correctness here means we're not allowed to say Oz anymore lol. Anyway, time for Time Team to investigate the Ford plant at Dagenham, me thinks.

[twinstu50]

So much for the P.C. mob,- yair, we've got 'em here too, we treat them ALL with the contempt they deserve, not just a select few. ( can't be fairer than that.) Anyway, I fully agree with your suggestion about Time Team, (with Your permission?), Pommie T.V. at its best, and required viewing in my house, top show!. Here's one for you. Have you ever heard of the 'ghost' Wimpey, supposedly heard over Loch Ness, look it up, it makes rather interesting reading.

Cheers mate.

[LMSStanier]

As yet I haven't checked this out but will do, thanks mate.

[BROOKS39]

Most of the RAAF Spitfires ended up in Oakey, Queensland between 1945 to 1949. Austral Bronze, a Sydney based scrappy company set up a operation on site and set about destroying about 250 Spitfires. I believe they were sold for around 30 pounds ($70)...

[gav240z]

That sucks.

[LMSStanier]

Aussie Time Team with added croc lol!!! Brill.

[carelessband]

Bravo for true persistance! did they restore it?

[britishbulldog36]

good on ya lads

[spitfirepilot1994]

i be to croc creek and it was pretty warm when i was there something like 45 degrees Celsius and the mud caked to u in about 3 seconds and we cooked our food on the mud coz it was so hot but fun and we also found a piece of that spit and gave t to aus war musem

[GerbilEssences]

0:40 is a Hurricane ;)

[pacificspitfires]

This is Spitfire Vc, BS231 flown by Squadron Leader Ray Thorold-Smith, DFC, O.C. No. 452 Squadron based at Strauss in early 1943. Shot down and killed in this aircraft on 15 March 1943. He was 24 years old.

[pacificspitfires]

Seems the far north is littered with crashed Spitfires :o I'm told this is another Spitfire Vc, BR545 from 54 Sqn (RAF) that crashed. The pilot was Flying Officer Gray.

[Anne2428]

452 was my Dads Squadron we have some photos of planes crashing at Darwin, some of which are in the museum there.

[Anne2428]

They were on a convey to Perth, my Dad was in the cargo plane , they had 4 Spitfires with them and when they came out of the cloud there were only three

[gronsta]

Sorry I stand corrected, Is a hurricane, very very similar to a Mk V Spitfire Canopy- I'll shut up now

[Camerameister]

@gronsta That is a Hurricane at 0:38

[nolifemerc]

@Camerameister true the canopy cant lie

[nolifemerc]

@Camerameister true the canopy cant lie, og now the next question how did the pilot get out of there.

[gronsta]

Definitely no Hurricanes in this vid, only Spits. And that is no freshwater croc, Living in NE Arnhem Land gives you an uncanny knack of telling the difference between a maneater and an irritation

[FionaLawson]

My great uncle crashed a Spitfire after the Battle of Britain and was buried in his plane for 50 years

[bestamerica]

use machine gun and shot shot shot kill alligator / crocodile

[DoyleCE]

The rateing on this vid doesn't reflect its true value. WWII was an amasing time when when very few people looked at life from such a selfish point of view as they do today. Digging up a piece of that history is trully a great cause. I would like to know if there is a full movie about this project?

[bark00000]

i agree, WW2 was one of the worst times in history, but behind it was the cooperation and selflessness of the people that is the key ingredient in world peace... its ust to bad it came about at the wrong moment in history

[fiftycaliberfistfuck]

My grandfather crashed a P38 (or P40? he flew both) when his engine failed somewhere in the Aussie outback, and had to hoof it back to base. Still alive and living in TN. Someone made a video of him telling his story somewhere.

[177c17asty]

must have been a p-40. p-38 has 2 counter rotating props, and can fly for a long time on just one engine. p-40 only has a single prop. but as it is, your grandfather would be the expert in that department :)

[gronsta]

DO you know where he was based? Northern Territory, as far as i know had mostly P 40s, and Spitfires later on in the war, apart from the heavier bomber/recon aircraft. My grandfather was in Darwin when the Japs bombed in 1942, he still remembers it vivdly

[TedGreene]

I believe that is a Fresh Water North African Alligator, ethier that or a Juiao Fresh Water Alligator

[StorytellerMedia]

It's an Australian salt water crocodlie. Serious man eaters

[baldymer]

@StorytellerMedia Do they only eat serious men?

[Reverseflush]

@baldymer

Haha!

[Warthogfan]

@StorytellerMedia You know those stupid yanks, think the world stops their borders.

[HRMOKeefe]

@StorytellerMedia S Florida and theGlades have a new fast growing population of salt water crocks, the local 'authorities' claim they are very shy, must be with the Chamber of Commerce...between that and the giant anacondas and Boas taking over it looks pretty grim for the old Florida Allligators, especially since Tim Tibow graduated

[blackreagan75]

@TedGreene what the fuck is a fresh water north african alligator? alligators dont live in AFRICA

[justinvelletta]

what song is that playing in the background? I regognize it from somehwere i think. thanks

[spectrumpulse]

Nice shot of the pilot in a Hawker Hurricane...

[caferacer56]

one part of the sequence shows a Hurricane cockpit !