By . Daily Mail Reporter . PUBLISHED: . 11:39 EST, 7 January 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 02:37 EST, 8 January 2013 . A search team led by a British aviation enthusiast arrived in Burma yesterday to begin a dig he believes will unearth dozens of rare British Spitfire fighter planes.British farmer David Cundall, who heads the team, spent over a decade and more than £130,000 of his own money working to track down the aircraft, after being told by a group of U.S. veterans they were buried there at the end of the Second World War.The 62-year-old and a group of archaeologists hope to find the planes so they can be painstakingly packaged up and transported back to the UK for restoration. Finally there: Farmer David Cundall pictured finally arriving at Yangon International Airport yesterday to begin the excavation of spitfires buried in Burma at the end of WWII . The team: The British archaeologists, pictured yesterday at Yangon Airport, will start digging in the next few days and hope to find anything between 36 and 60 planes . The 21-member team will start excavations near the airport in the country’s largest city, Rangoon, in the next few days. At least 36 - and potentially as many as 60 - of the British fighter planes are believed to have been buried in the Burmese jungle towards the end of the Second World War in 1945. In 1996 aviation enthusiast Mr Cundall, from Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, was told the rare Marx XIV Spitfires were buried there in crates in August 1945. High hopes: Aircraft enthusiast David Cundall, 62, has spent the past 17 years researching and investigating into the case of the missing Spitfires . Saved for posterity: The historic planes were buried in the Burmese jungle in August 1945 . He subsequently spent two years researching the project, eventually gathering eight eye-witness reports backing up the claims. Surveys undertaken at one of three sites . in Burma have indicated the presence of large areas of electrically . conductive material around 10 metres beneath the surface of the ground. The location matches the eight eye-witness reports collected by Mr Cundall, who has made 16 visits to Burma over the years conducting surveys and negotiating with authorities. Hopeful: David Cundall, pictured in front of a spitfire at the Imperial War Museum in London, hopes the planes will still be in 'first-class condition' One of the Spitfires (pictured: the tail fins) being crated up in Burma in 1945 ready to be buried . Avengers re-assemble: The team hopes to be able to uncover the Mark XIV Spitfires in a good enough state so that they can be reassembled upon their return to Britain(file photo) His project reached a landmark . junction last year when sanctions blocking the movement of military . materials in and out of Burma were lifted. Speaking shortly after arriving at . the international airport in Rangoon, Mr Cundall said: 'We are expecting . them to be in first-class condition.' He believes the excavation project will take about four to six weeks to complete. The Spitfire remains Britain’s most . famous combat aircraft. Its reputation was cemented during the Battle of . Britain when the fast-moving single-seater aircraft helped beat back . waves of German bombers. Britain built a total of about 20,000 Spitfires, although the dawn of the jet age at the end of the Second World War meant that the propeller-driven planes quickly became obsolete. Searchers hope they are in pristine condition, but Andy Brockman, a freelance archaeologist who is part of the search team, said it was possible all they might find is a mass of corroded metal and rusty aircraft parts. But he added: 'I’m very confident that we’ll have answers to the story of what happened ... in 1945.' The venture is being backed by the Belarusian videogame company Wargaming.net, which is best known for its multiplayer titles including World of Warplanes and World of Tanks. The search team says 36 Spitfires are believed to be buried near Rangoon airport, while another 18 are in Myitkyina in northern Kachin state and six more are buried in Meikthila in central Myanmar. A place in history: A poster unveiling the Spitfire from around 1939 .
Farmer David Cundall worked for 17 years to discover the location where the planes were buried in crates .
Cundall and a British search team yesterday arrived in Yangon to start dig for the WWII relics .
The spitfires are believed to be in good condition due to careful containment .
Once found, the planes will be returned to the UK for restoration .
By . Daily Mail Reporter . PUBLISHED: . 11:39 EST, 7 January 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 02:37 EST, 8 January 2013 . A search team led by a British aviation enthusiast arrived in Burma yesterday to begin a dig he believes will unearth dozens of rare British Spitfire fighter planes.British farmer David Cundall, who heads the team, spent over a decade and more than £130,000 of his own money working to track down the aircraft, after being told by a group of U.S. veterans they were buried there at the end of the Second World War.The 62-year-old and a group of archaeologists hope to find the planes so they can be painstakingly packaged up and transported back to the UK for restoration. Finally there: Farmer David Cundall pictured finally arriving at Yangon International Airport yesterday to begin the excavation of spitfires buried in Burma at the end of WWII . The team: The British archaeologists, pictured yesterday at Yangon Airport, will start digging in the next few days and hope to find anything between 36 and 60 planes . The 21-member team will start excavations near the airport in the country’s largest city, Rangoon, in the next few days. At least 36 - and potentially as many as 60 - of the British fighter planes are believed to have been buried in the Burmese jungle towards the end of the Second World War in 1945. In 1996 aviation enthusiast Mr Cundall, from Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, was told the rare Marx XIV Spitfires were buried there in crates in August 1945. High hopes: Aircraft enthusiast David Cundall, 62, has spent the past 17 years researching and investigating into the case of the missing Spitfires . Saved for posterity: The historic planes were buried in the Burmese jungle in August 1945 . He subsequently spent two years researching the project, eventually gathering eight eye-witness reports backing up the claims. Surveys undertaken at one of three sites . in Burma have indicated the presence of large areas of electrically . conductive material around 10 metres beneath the surface of the ground. The location matches the eight eye-witness reports collected by Mr Cundall, who has made 16 visits to Burma over the years conducting surveys and negotiating with authorities. Hopeful: David Cundall, pictured in front of a spitfire at the Imperial War Museum in London, hopes the planes will still be in 'first-class condition' One of the Spitfires (pictured: the tail fins) being crated up in Burma in 1945 ready to be buried . Avengers re-assemble: The team hopes to be able to uncover the Mark XIV Spitfires in a good enough state so that they can be reassembled upon their return to Britain(file photo) His project reached a landmark . junction last year when sanctions blocking the movement of military . materials in and out of Burma were lifted. Speaking shortly after arriving at . the international airport in Rangoon, Mr Cundall said: 'We are expecting . them to be in first-class condition.' He believes the excavation project will take about four to six weeks to complete. The Spitfire remains Britain’s most . famous combat aircraft. Its reputation was cemented during the Battle of . Britain when the fast-moving single-seater aircraft helped beat back . waves of German bombers. Britain built a total of about 20,000 Spitfires, although the dawn of the jet age at the end of the Second World War meant that the propeller-driven planes quickly became obsolete. Searchers hope they are in pristine condition, but Andy Brockman, a freelance archaeologist who is part of the search team, said it was possible all they might find is a mass of corroded metal and rusty aircraft parts. But he added: 'I’m very confident that we’ll have answers to the story of what happened ... in 1945.' The venture is being backed by the Belarusian videogame company Wargaming.net, which is best known for its multiplayer titles including World of Warplanes and World of Tanks. The search team says 36 Spitfires are believed to be buried near Rangoon airport, while another 18 are in Myitkyina in northern Kachin state and six more are buried in Meikthila in central Myanmar. A place in history: A poster unveiling the Spitfire from around 1939 .
aviation enthusiast arrived in Burma yesterday to War.The 62-year-old and a group of archaeologists the UK for restoration. Finally there: Farmer David Cundall pictured finally arriving at Yangon excavation of spitfires buried in Burma at the end of WWII . The team: The British planes . The 21-member team will start Spitfires were buried there in crates in August will still be in 'first-class condition' One of The search team says 36 Spitfires are believed to