Iconic World War II Spitfire up for grabs at Bonhams

Bonhams is known for holding rare automobile auctions, and now the celebrated auction house has announced an auction of Collectors’ Motor Cars and Automobilia this April at the RAF Museum, London. The highlight of the auction will be a two- seat Vickers-Supermarine Spitfire TR Mark IX, which has been restored from a zero-hours ground-up r to perfect two-seat TR Mark IX specification. This is the second iconic World War II spitfire that Bonhams has offered within the last seven months. The civilian-registered ‘G-ILDA’ Vickers-Supermarine Spitfire TR Mark IX was originally a single-seat Mark IX, but now it offers extra accommodation and flexibility of the two-seat trainer option. The spitfire was built by the British Vickers-Armstrong company in 1944 and was later delivered to the Royal Air Force’s No 33 Maintenance Unit at Lyneham in Wiltshire. Passing from hand to hand, the war bird was sold to the late Paul Portelli in June 2002, who restored the machine to its as-original TR Mark IX two-seat trainer specification with the help of Classic Aero Engineering. James Knight, MD of Bonhams Collector’s Motoring Department said…

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 Vickers-Supermarine Spitfire TR Mark IX is ready-to-fly and is in great condition. They hope it to sell for between £1.5 million and £2 million.

Via: Bonhams