Flt Sgt Copping's P-40 From The Egyptian Desert

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Member for

15 years 5 months

Posts: 313

I love the conspiracy theories.

So this guy set up the screen name "AWOT" nearly a decade ago on a modeling website and patiently waited for just the right opportunity to post his masterpiece diorama that can fool even the most seasoned experts. GENIUS!

Do you think he might have been referring to model building (the subject of the website) as being "A Waste Of Time" when he created that handle all those years ago?

Occam's razor has sure lost its edge.

Member for

12 years 1 month

Posts: 442

Well his cover story rings true, there appears to be plenty of oil and gas in the Sahara...

Member for

15 years 5 months

Posts: 313

its all fishy to me. was the photograther on his/her own?. normaly with discoveries like this there is always one or two people mooching around in the photo`s.

total lack of sqn code and no photo of the tail serial seems realy odd. any ref number or detail you would try to record. does not matter if it was an old lorry or a sunken ship.

Who says he didn't write down serial numbers or identifying numbers? Many parts of that airframe have been sandblasted down to bare metal. What is so surprising about someone releasing pictures without positive identifying numbers? Intentional or not? I would do the same thing until I had time to do more research myself. Likewise with people in the photos. I seriously doubt that these are the only pictures this person took, and we know that this isn't someone alone in the desert. Maybe they didn't want their faces show just yet, or at all. Just because they didn't post GPS coordinates and serial numbers to a modeling site? Petrol exploration has led to many of these discoveries over the years.

Member for

19 years 10 months

Posts: 917

Hi
Well a previous post does imply high modelling skills

Pytanie jak w temacie. Czy ktoś wie w jak sposób i gdzie zdobyć uprawnienia instruktora modelarstwa ?

.. anybody knows as manner in and where earn entitlement of instructor modelarstwa?

one of his models and full post name possibly

[model] Samolot Gee Bee R1 (Autor: Awot/McGregor)

http://www.konradus.com/forum/read.php?f=5&i=5&t=5&filtr=0&page=1

But then maybe I am just to suspicious or to old...

or will it be at legends ...as they say...

cheers
Jerry

Member for

12 years 1 month

Posts: 442

Having messed with the screen contrast the interior shot is definitely 'in situ' with the sand and rocks just visible outside. But why is the canopy closed? Would they be able to open the canopy to get in?

Member for

16 years 2 months

Posts: 1,911

Lots of posters are expressing concerns about the distant shots and I shared them until looking at them in Photodeluxe (a fore runner of Photoshop).

Details can be seen inside the cowling but I'm no expert on the P40 nor the Allison engine so I don't know how accurate they may appear? The guns protruding from the leading edge are nicely done too, if it's a model. Why go to all that trouble and then not expose the (convincing) detail in the photos?

I'm struck by what appear to be footprints in the other photo (circled) - a nice touch if done by a modeller?

But, what's to stop these being genuine photos taken 40 or 50 years ago? What if they've been colourised to appear more recent than they are?

And if the paintwork has been preserved by being covered by sand, recently shifted to reveal the aeroplane, then I'm afraid I agree with the earlier poster who questioned why the cockpit wasn't full of it...

Another thought strikes me - in the days of film cameras, you were limited by the number of frames on the film roll and you tended to be careful of how many exposures you made. In the days of digital pictures and memory cards, I think whoever discovered this hulk would have photographed it from every conceivable angle and we ought to be seeing many more photos than we have here.

On balance then, I'm saying genuine but not recent, but I hope I'm proved wrong! :)

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Member for

13 years 2 months

Posts: 865

Who says he didn't write down serial numbers or identifying numbers? Many parts of that airframe have been sandblasted down to bare metal. What is so surprising about someone releasing pictures without positive identifying numbers? Intentional or not? I would do the same thing until I had time to do more research myself. Likewise with people in the photos. I seriously doubt that these are the only pictures this person took, and we know that this isn't someone alone in the desert. Maybe they didn't want their faces show just yet, or at all. Just because they didn't post GPS coordinates and serial numbers to a modeling site? Petrol exploration has led to many of these discoveries over the years.

well perhaps some people aint so thoughtfull, after all they were looking for oil and perhaps not realy into old things and aviation. odd that the 1st couple of pics are distant shots.seems a waste if its old film photography as you didnt have many frames to spare.. but bad alignment and crap shots if digital.. im half convinced its real.. the cracks in the front R/H screen are the same inside as out and the close up detail looks correct in light and scale but the distant shots look odd. like the first shots of MAN ON THE MOON.

is there a date given for when the photo`s were taken?

Member for

13 years 6 months

Posts: 629

Do you think he might have been referring to model building (the subject of the website) as being "A Waste Of Time" when he created that handle all those years ago?

Lots of us scale modelers do, in obvious jest...

Member for

12 years 1 month

Posts: 442

is there a date given for when the photo`s were taken?

He just says 'recently'. The close up seems odd. Why take a couple of shots from miles away and then decide that the what-ever-it-is-for hatch is interesting? Also, would the photographer's own shadow not be present anywhere?

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13 years 2 months

Posts: 865

we have got members from all over the world. any polish out there who could interpret???,

Member for

15 years 5 months

Posts: 313

You guys are still talking about these pictures like they are the only ones. They are the only ones we've seen so far, but who knows how many pictures may have been taken? Maybe they aren't showing any other pictures because they do show numbers or other identifying marks. The poster claims the shots were taken by a friend so maybe those are the only shots the photographer gave him. Why is it so hard to imagine that there could be many reasons why the photographer doesn't want to give all his secrets away just yet? Never heard of that around here?

Or it could all be a hoax. But so far no one has pointed out anything that could positively disprove this story. A lot of poorly thought out speculation is all I'm seeing so far. I've become used to a much higher standard of thinking and analysis around here. Disappointing.

Member for

15 years 5 months

Posts: 313

we have got members from all over the world. any polish out there who could interpret???,

I posted the OP's first two lines earlier in the thread and someone posted the whole page yesterday in this thread. Or you could use Google Translate like we did if you want to be sure for yourself.

They are talking about the Burmese Spitfires today.

Member for

14 years

Posts: 4,996

Also, would the photographer's own shadow not be present anywhere?

Depends on the time of day they were taken. During the middle of the day,
the sun would be pretty much overhead. As indicated by the shadows under the wings.

Member for

17 years 5 months

Posts: 8,980

Canopy could simply be open because those images were shot first, so the outside shots show it open, I think the look real, for one the shadow cast in the front and side views are both indicative of a fixed light source, ie the sun.

Member for

16 years 10 months

Posts: 151

I sent him a email asking him for confirmation of their authenticity and if there were any more photos if possible. Reply below.

Hello
The photos are real. In a few days I'll have next.
Raphael

Member for

19 years 3 months

Posts: 27

Hello

After my last Private Message from AWOT (Rafal):
He is waiting for more information and photos. He also wrote that the plane will not be abandoned.
I see that he knows very little and He is waiting for more like us.

greetings
Michal (Losiu on Konradus.com)

Member for

14 years 3 months

Posts: 1,205

As a modeller of 13 years, there's absolutely no way in my mind that could be a model. It's several orders of magnitude beyond anything I have ever seen in photographs or in the 'flesh' on display tables.
Just taking the close-up of the fuselage as an example (in my mind the most convincing shot). There really is no way to recreate in any reasonable scale the puckered skin, jagged holes, faded stencilling, worn flush rivets, and screw heads.
Even disregarding technical skill, there are so many tiny details that even the best modeller probably wouldn't have the imagination to think of, let alone create. Just look at the way the Perspex of the flush rear cockpit windows (top left of the fourth picture) is not only crazed and cracked, but some of the splintered shards have slipped down behind the ones below them. As another example, look at the way the different qualities of the paint shades on the roundel have made them fade and wear to different degrees under the sandblasting conditions. The yellow has barely changed at all, the blue has mostly worn away back to the Dark Earth underneath, while the White has worn away revealing the Blue (or is that primer?) underneath.

To have that much imagination and to get it so perfectly right is more or less impossible. I grant that they could well still be old pictures, however. Still, the quality of the fuselage picture looks much too good for a shot taken 20-30 years ago?

I wonder if, had the Burma Spitfire story been accompanied with pictures of this detail and clarity, would the same torrent of disbelief and (dare I say it) on occasion cynicism still apply?

I sincerely hope this rather significant aircraft gets rescued and preserved.
(If it does turn out to be a model, I shall eat my hat! :eek:)

Member for

20 years 5 months

Posts: 2,778

I reckon there's one born every minute--or in this case several of you.
I say fake--although it looks very good.
The local A-rab population would have a real one in the smelter long ago--sadly.

Member for

15 years 5 months

Posts: 313

Only if they can get to it, and know of it. There are still many areas of the deep desert where nomads and Bedouin don't go. That could be a clue as to the location of this aircraft. Or maybe it's just a mirage.

Member for

20 years 7 months

Posts: 18,353

Doesn't look like a Mirage to me... :diablo:

(sorry!)