A British farmer is heading to Myanmar to lead efforts to unearth more than 30 Spitfire fighter planes, 17 years after he first heard rumors they were buried under a World War Two airfield.

Among the 21-strong team accompanying flying buff David Cundall on Saturday will be Stanley Coombe, now in his early 90s, who was stationed in Myanmar at the end of the war and saw crates of Spitfires being buried under Mingaladon airfield.