The RAAF also apparently buried Spits in sealed crates around some WW2 RAAF bases in Australia. There were reports from Australian airliner crews that they had seen unregistered Spitfires flying in outback Queensland in the early 60's. The reports were ignored, but rumours persised for years that a cache of Spitfires had been located, excavated & the aircraft had been assembled with ex-RAAF personnell. They haven't been seen for a long time & no-one is talking.
...And the race is on .. No matter where they are in the world, England should have FIRST claim to them, Not a farmer who tried to play James Bond of his own doing .. If any one is being held "hostage" over it all, it's England
King James I Grammar School in Bishop Auckland in the UK..I would say he has passed on now. About 2001 we had several low passes by a Spitfire and a Hurricane and I would guess that would be for him. He smoked a lot. Has a daughter called Sally who will now be 57 years old. Never seen her since 72 when I left school at 18.
Here's a later update that's a couple of weeks old now, but I don't think it's been posted on this board -- the comments are definitely running in the farmer's favor, so guess we'll all have to see just how much "money talks" as this drama plays out...