Air commander denies claims about 50 buried warplanes

ANKARA

A Turkish air force commander has denied allegations that 50 German-made warplanes in the inventory of the Turkish Air Forces (TSK) were buried right after World War II.

“Those [rumors] are false,” Turkish Air Force Cmdr. Gen. Abidin Ünal said on Oct. 27, answering the questions of reporters concerning the allegations of the whereabouts of the missing warplanes. Ünal was in Kayseri, a Central Anatolian province where the warplanes were said to be buried.  

Ünal’s statement came after daily Sabah reported on Oct. 14 that 50 of 72 warplanes that went missing 70 years ago were found buried under the former airport in Kayseri.

The FW-190A3 warplanes disappeared in 1947 when the U.S. decided to send aid to Turkey and were deleted from the inventory in line with the aid plan, the paper reported.

Following the report, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan also voiced the allegations on Oct. 18, indicating the existence of “graveyards of planes.”

“We were forced to give up what we gained after the Republic, in order to play a part in the Western Alliance which was taking a shape after the World War II,” he said.

“They forced us to close our aircraft factories which was founded with great difficulty and scarcity. There are graveyards of planes in Kayseri where our planes were buried. Now, there are forces that do whatever it takes to hinder us from making our own planes,” he added.