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Second World War Spitfire Sells For Record-Breaking £3m
An RAF Spitfire, that lay buried beneath a beach for 40 years, has been sold for a record-breaking £3 million at auction in London.
The Mark 1 Spitfire was one of two restored by American philanthropist Thomas Kaplan, and went for well over its pre-auction estimate of up to £2.5 million.
Forces TV revealed in April that the Spitfire was to be sold - take a look above for the full report...
The money will be split by the RAF Benevolent Fund and several other charities.
The plane is one of two that Kaplan has restored, with the other donated to the Imperial War Museum at Duxford.
German officers sitting on the downed Spitfire in 1940 .
After years of careful, considered restoration, the auctioned aircraft was granted a new lease of life.
The iconic Mk 1 Supermarine Spitfire aircraft was originally flown by Peter Cazenove, a veteran of the Great Escape, over the skies of the French coast during the evacuation of Dunkirk, on 24 May 1940.
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After coming under fire, likely from the German Luftwaffe, and losing power to the plane's engine, the Spitfire came down on to the Calais coast and Mr. Cazenove was captured.
Not long after, German troops took the photo opportunity to pose triumphantly atop the plane's fuselage:
German Troops N3200, Sangatte Beach, in 1940. Peter R Arnold Collection.
The Imperial War Museum said:
"One of the most instantly recognisable silhouettes in the air, the Spitfire is not just a thing of beauty, but a phenomenal aircraft that helped to save Britain in 1940 and contribute significantly to winning the Second World War in the air.
The Spitfire's Browning.303 machine guns were so well preserved they operated perfectly after being cleaned and oiled.
‘You don’t get into a Spitfire,you put it on’John Romain, Pilot
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