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A fully-functioning Second World War Spitfire is up for sale.
It is being offered for £1.5million - £2 million by a private owner.
It's the first of its kind to be offered at public auction for more than 20 years and has been painstakingly restored to airworthiness over a five-year period.
The warbird is absolutely ready-to-fly and in truly sparkling flightline condition," said a spokesperson from Bonhams auctioneers.
Originally it was a single-seater but it's been refitted to take a passenger.
The Supermarine-designed aircraft was built by the British Vickers-Armstrong company in 1944, then delivered to the Royal Air Force at Lyneham in Wiltshire before being sold in 1948 to the South African Air Force.
In the 1970s, it was rediscovered in a Cape Town scrap yard from which it was rescued by an aviation enthusiast, the late Charles Church.
Mr Church initiated the long process of restoration before it was sold in 1989 to Alan Dunkerley, who eventually resold it to the late Paul Portelli in June 2002.
This will be the second of the WWII Spitfires that Bonhams have offered. Last September the auction house sold a non-airworthy 1945 Supermarine Spitfire for a record price of £1.1 million.
This was a 'Bubble Canopy' MK XVI, considered by collectors as being less desirable than this two-seater MK IX Spitfire.
James Knight, MD of Bonhams Collector's Motoring Department which is managing the sale of 'G-ILDA' said: "We are greatly honoured to be entrusted with the sale of such a distinguished and historic aircraft.
"As Bonhams is the last of the great international fine art auction houses to remain under British management, the sale of an aircraft so linked to the history and very survival of our nation has enormous significance for us here."
The sale will be at the RAF Museum, Hendon, London on 20th April.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/5071649/Spitfire-for-sale-at-2m.html
http://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supermarine_Spitfire
maximus otter
It is being offered for £1.5million - £2 million by a private owner.
It's the first of its kind to be offered at public auction for more than 20 years and has been painstakingly restored to airworthiness over a five-year period.
The warbird is absolutely ready-to-fly and in truly sparkling flightline condition," said a spokesperson from Bonhams auctioneers.
Originally it was a single-seater but it's been refitted to take a passenger.
The Supermarine-designed aircraft was built by the British Vickers-Armstrong company in 1944, then delivered to the Royal Air Force at Lyneham in Wiltshire before being sold in 1948 to the South African Air Force.
In the 1970s, it was rediscovered in a Cape Town scrap yard from which it was rescued by an aviation enthusiast, the late Charles Church.
Mr Church initiated the long process of restoration before it was sold in 1989 to Alan Dunkerley, who eventually resold it to the late Paul Portelli in June 2002.
This will be the second of the WWII Spitfires that Bonhams have offered. Last September the auction house sold a non-airworthy 1945 Supermarine Spitfire for a record price of £1.1 million.
This was a 'Bubble Canopy' MK XVI, considered by collectors as being less desirable than this two-seater MK IX Spitfire.
James Knight, MD of Bonhams Collector's Motoring Department which is managing the sale of 'G-ILDA' said: "We are greatly honoured to be entrusted with the sale of such a distinguished and historic aircraft.
"As Bonhams is the last of the great international fine art auction houses to remain under British management, the sale of an aircraft so linked to the history and very survival of our nation has enormous significance for us here."
The sale will be at the RAF Museum, Hendon, London on 20th April.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/5071649/Spitfire-for-sale-at-2m.html
http://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supermarine_Spitfire
maximus otter
