For sale, the £4.5m movie star Spitfire
A SPITFIRE that shot down an enemy fighter in the Second World War and then went on to star in the 1969 movie The Battle of Britain is on sale for a record £4.5million.
The aircraft – MH415 – also has another claim to fame. The vast majority of its parts can be traced back to the day it first flew in 1943.
Many of the 70 or more airworthy Spitfires around the world have been restored and maintained by using replacement components.
But MH415 is ready for flight with 95 per cent of its original parts, including the original Second World War pilot seat and rearview mirror.
The aircraft is a Mark IX, more advanced than the Spitfires that flew in the Battle of Britain in 1940 and upgraded to take on the latest German fighters of the time such as the Focke-Wulf 190.
Indeed, it shot down one over northern France in September 1943.
The single-seater aircraft, valued at £4.5million, is currently stored in a hangar in Northamptonshire. It is owned by Warbirds Flight Club, a group of Australian investors.
It was shipped home after restoration in Australia. It had spent 40 years in a barn in Texas, the property of stunt pilot Wilson ‘Connie’ Edwards who was given the aircraft in lieu of flying 125 hours during filming for The Battle of Britain.
Auctioneers, The Aircraft Sales Company, said: ‘MH415 stayed fully assembled, other than for shipping and maintenance, from its date of manufacture… right through to the commencement of its restoration in 2015.
‘MH415 is one of the most original airworthy Spitfires in the world.’ The seller added: ‘On the September 24, 1943, MH415 claimed a FW-190 victory north-west of Amiens in France whilst being flown by Flying Officer Desmond F. Ruchwaldy.’
The aircraft was also used to escort bombing raids on railway yards at Amiens.
In 1962 it featured in DDay epic The Longest Day alongside a host of British and US stars, before appearing in The Battle of Britain, which starred Michael Caine, Christopher Plummer and Robert Shaw.
‘Escorted bombing raids’