A rare two-seat version of the beloved Spitfire fighter, the plane that earned a nation's gratitude for its part in the Battle of Britain, may fetch a record price when it goes before the hammer at Bonhams in the next few weeks.
Purists may malign it for its "double bubble" or "two hump" configuration, but this is the real thing, a one-seat World War II-era fighter that became a two-seat trainer in the 21st century.
Bonhams, which is offering the meticulously restored plane at a sale on April 20, estimates it will sell for 1.5 million pounds ($2.2 million). Retrieved from a junkyard in South Africa 30 years ago, the plane is now certified to fly.
Bonhams' Austria unit, Bonhams & Goodman, sold a 1945 Spitfire Mark XVI for NZ$3.2million ($1.8 million) in September, reportedly the record auction price for a Spitfire. That plane had been on display at the U.S. Air Force Museum in Dayton, Ohio until 1997.
The one now for sale is a Mark IX model delivered on Oct. 23, 1944, one of 23,000 Spitfires built through the war.
1 comment:
Beautiful aircraft, double canopy or not... great design and history.
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