+1 It hurts so much to see that canopy undamaged in video 1, and then busted in video 2 - and let's guess they did not open the ammo loading doors with a screwdriver but with a crowbar... Arghh...

Why don't the friggin RAF that according to the story has been contacted and identified the AC just fly down a team of experts and tell them to just get away from the wreck?

well it's sad but it would have happened soon or late. Weapons and ammo have to be removed anyway for safety reasons. Wonder what's gonna happen to it now.

Would not surprise me if we see a glut of parts on Ebay or similar (the wonderful power of the internet ;) )

Idiots

Well, it's been there is the desert for 70 years without anyone stealing those old .50 guns/rounds - I guess getting a working AK for a few bucks in that region is a lot easier than going out there picking up those dusted up guns ;) It just hurts seeing them tear those ammo boxes away...

It looks extremely well preserved (due to the dry climate naturally). But one can wonder what happens to aluminium that has been exposed to extreme heat every day for 70 years, and then rather harsh cold every night ;) I was in the Sahara not far from there long ago and the temperature range you go through in a 24 hour period is rather impressive...

S!

Amateurs wrecking a rarity :(

As someone has already said the canopy was closed so its a fair assumption the pilots remains were still inside.
The wreck therefore should be considered a war grave it just seems sacriligious to bust the canopy open and desicrate this site, irispective of the archiological importance of this find.
Even on a financial front surely the aircraft recovered complete has a far greater value than the transportable parts just sold as bits on ebay.

It's not a foregone conclusion the pilot was dead, the aircraft looks like it made a controlled and surviveable crash landing, he may just have closed it when leaving it for some strange reason.

I agree, a plane looking so good in terrain like that sure would need a pilot in rather good shape to handle that landing. And if the pilot was unhurt he sure would have closed the cockpit after leaving the plane... It would be rather strange after all the training to just leave it open in the desert? Then sadly one can guess that he did not make it on foot as the plane is still there without anything being salvaged - if he made it back they ought to have sent some salvage team to at least take some stuff back like instruments/guns etc...? But in the middle of a war that may have not been possible. It would be interesting to read what the RAF knows of the story as they according to the Polish site had identified the aircraft.

When looking at the Polish forum I found a link to the sad story of a B-24 lost in the same area that was not found until 1959, and the crew had lived for a week before the water ran out...

http://www.ladybegood.com/

Ah, me too. I think it is a beautiful plane and it has something very American about it. While the stang has something of a glamour boy and Cadillac style about it the P40 seems to me to be more grass root cowboy style.