Battle of Britain Plane for Sale
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
For sale: used airplane, nearly complete, fragile, single seat, by modern standards slow and uncomfortable. Sixty years old. Price: about $2 million.
Serious collectors of aviation and military memorabilia are being sought by an auction house that’s selling an original U.K. World War II fighter.
The former Royal Air Force Supermarine Spitfire was built in April 1945 and is said to be one of only 44 airworthy examples of the fighter, which played a key part in the Battle of Britain.
“The sale of an aircraft so linked to the history and very survival of Great Britain has enormous significance for us here at Bonhams & Goodman,” Tim Goodman, chief executive of the Australia-based auction house that joined the Bonhams in September 2003, said.
The restored Spitfire MK XVI, RAF Serial No. TE 330, will be the centerpiece of his inaugural auction of aircraft and cars in New Zealand, to be held at Nelson, South Island, on September 14.
According to the New Zealand Herald’s Web site, the sellers are the Subritzky family of North Shore, Auckland, vintage aircraft collectors who acquired the Spitfire 11 years ago. The family recently advertised the plane on trademe.co.nz without attracting a firm offer, the Web site operator said.
It flew in the 1957 Battle of Britain Memorial Flight and was displayed at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs until 1997.