Another WWII find

[Dave W]

Curtiss P-40 Kittyhawk found in Sahara

[Pilgrim]

Amazing that it wasn't buried in sand by this time.

[OldManC]

I hate to think of what that guy's last few days of life might have been like, but that's an amazing find. Let's hope the Brits collect the plane before the locals make off with the rest of it.

[dadagoboi]

Maybe the Egyptians will hold on to it until they get back all the antiquities the Brits stole from them and refuse to return. 

[godofthunder]

 I'd give them all the Egyptian crap for the P40

[Dave W]

Amazing that it wasn't buried in sand by this time.

Isn't it possible that it was completely buried in sand for years? Maybe that's why it was unseen.

[Highlander]

Cockpit looks pretty clear of damage and I would suspect more crush-damage from any significant weight of sand...?

[Pilgrim]

Isn't it possible that it was completely buried in sand for years? Maybe that's why it was unseen.

You'd think so...but in that case I'd expect the cabin to still be full of sand.  Once filled, I doubt the wind would clear it out.

[uwe]

Hey, it wasn't us!!! For once. Though P 40ies were good target practice for a Me 109 F.

Carlo raises a good point. There is probably more valid reason for this plane to be kept by the country it crashed in (was it Egypt?) than there are reasons for all the ancient egyptian stuff to remain in Western museums. I know the arguments: Valid contracts of the time (but often negotiated from a position of strength and not disclosing the full findings or concluded in corrupt circumstances), we take better care of the artefacts or that they have enough own stuff still. But I find the situation inherently colonial and I'm not sure whether the US (named here as a graphic example only and surely not the worst offender as regards abducting Egytian artefacts, that is the Old World, especially London, Paris and Berlin) would take too kindly to those type of arguments if the original documents of the Constitution were on display in Cairo after a corrupt American administration had sold them to Egyptian archeologists/historians. Think about it. I believe most of that stuff should be returned/permanently loaned to the countries of its origin (well, perhaps not Afghanistan after what they did to those Buddha statues!).

[Dave W]

Even if it weren't buried, it wouldn't need to have been completely covered or filled with sand, just enough to make it less obvious in a vast area.

Anyway, here are more photos and video.

[uwe]

Good camouflage painting then. That said, the pilot would have probably preferred something more attention grabbing once he was dying of thirst. If they did search for him at all that is, probably couldn't be bothered.

[eb2]

Always cool when the sands blow around.  Egypt is fun that way.  Tanks, planes, shopping lists from the 1st century, lost Greek plays, etc.

I am not always in favor of returning things to Egypt, among other places.  Mostly because the people who run the joint aren't the same people who make the stuff that got hauled away, culturally or genetically.

[dadagoboi]

Always cool when the sands blow around.  Egypt is fun that way.  Tanks, planes, shopping lists from the 1st century, lost Greek plays, etc.

I am not always in favor of returning things to Egypt, among other places.  Mostly because the people who run the joint aren't the same people who make the stuff that got hauled away, culturally or genetically.

I'd say the current day Egyptian is more closely connected culturally and genetically to the "stuff" than the people who stole it or now "own" it.  That's irrelevant anyway.  Theft is theft, be it basses or art, by crooks or conquerors.

[Big_Stu]

I'd say the current day Egyptian is more closely connected culturally and genetically to the "stuff" than the people who stole it or now "own" it.  That's irrelevant anyway.  Theft is theft, be it basses or art, by crooks or conquerors.

Yup! ...and even as you type thousands of US citizens are standing in line to hand the deeds to their houses back to the Native Americans, while us "Brits" will hand ours back to the Italian descendants of the Romans and then all of them together will hand them back to the Ethiopians (or thereabouts) where after all they reckon the first humans migrated from - all Ethiopias problems solved due to a lil ol' P40.

On a more serious note There was a survival type TV show that told the story of a crashed US bomber crew who dropped in northern Australia in WW2. They told of how the crew were finished when their eyes dried out & they couldn't open their lids to see where they were going. 

[eb2]

Well, the Native Americans have had a bit of luck through the courts and casinos and getting back a tiny bit of their stuff.  There just is very little connection between the majority of current Egyptian population with the fine folks who cranked out pyramids and mummies.  The Coptic minority would have a very strong and valid claim, but they have other things on their minds these days. George Santayana is chuckling.