Any information can be placed in the sidebar to help your website visitors navigate your site.New plan discovered in National Archives
Periodic searches of the National Archives of Australia continues to unearth important pieces of the Oakey puzzle. A recent search unearthed a plan of the base as it was laid out in 1943. The plan is very detailed with its inclusions of fence lines, sewerage, drainage, water and electricity supplies and makes a fascinating comparison to the aerial photographs of the base produced in 1945.
It’s also interesting to note the future expansion plans with north south and east west runways both included in the plan. What’s more, the Bellman hangars 227 and 228 are correctly aligned (previous plans showed them 90° to the west). The legend describes certain features shown in a range of colours. It’s a pity, the original in the archives has been converted to some sort of dye line print., thereby losing all but the blue dye line.
If you wish to see the plan up close, you’ll find it at the bottom of our Research page.
Interest far and wide
Karl has recently returned from a trip to China for the production of a new television commercial. It seems the interest in our project continues to spread far and wide with his contacts in Hong Kong and Singapore enquiring about our latest developments. While Karl didn’t have much to report, discussions were centered around other ways we could move production forward.
Naturally Discovery Channel and National Geographic Channel came up again in conversation – they always do. And our answer is always the same. We spoke to Nat Geo and actually presented to Discovery Channel management a few years ago and while both were excited about the project, funding was out of the question.
Hopefully the BBC or the ABC here in Australia will show more interest. The trick is finding a way to get to the right people…New aerial photography of Oakey
It’s taken months of research, approvals from government departments (some of which no longer exist), quite a few dead ends and a fair dose of persistence, but we finally have in our possession a collection of photographs we knew must have existed somewhere.
Our discoveries made in a little known archive of a quasi-government department has uncovered some exciting new aerial photography of the Oakey base.
The shots taken in 1952 and 1970, finally provide us with the ability to make a detailed comparison with the aerial shots taken in 1945. If the ground on the base has been disturbed in any way, theoretically we should be able to spot it.
Infra-red to find Spitfires?
While we're on the topic of aerial photography, the BBC website is reporting that seventeen lost pyramids have been identified in a new satellite survey of Egypt. But that's not all. More than 1000 tombs and 3,000 settlements were also discovered using a NASA satellite and infra-red photography of the Egyptian landscape.
The survey team headed up by Dr Sarah Parcak an American archaeologist, used the Infra-red imaging to highlight different materials under the surface from a NASA sponsored lab in Birmingham, Alabama.
Test excavations confirmed the team were spot on with their survey, unlocking a treasure-trove of potential dig sites for archaeologists. The BBC accompanied Dr Parcak her on her journey to Egypt and will screen her findings on 'Egypt's Lost Cities' on BBC One on Monday 30 May at 2030 BST.
Of course this type of technology may have some bearing on the Broken Wings project. There's a chance we could usesatellite infa-red imagery to help locate the Spitfires. Whether or not infra-red could detect metal and timber is yet to be determined. But a conversation with Dr Parcak is certainly worth seeing what she can tell us. If you'd like to read the BBC story in full, you'll find it at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-13522957, or click here.
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