Airworthy spitfire sold for £1.7m

British polar adventurer Steve Brooks bought the historic plane, which is airworthy again after a five-year period of careful restoration.

The two-seater Vickers Supermarine is the first ready-to-fly Spitfire to go under the hammer for 20 years.

Its buyer became the first person to fly from pole to pole by helicopter, landing in Antarctica in January 2005.

Spitfires buzzing through blue skies over the English countryside are one of the memorable images of the war. The pacey, manoeuvrable planes played an integral role in helping secure the Battle of Britain and have become much-loved by the public as a result.

The Supermarine-designed aircraft was built originally by the British Vickers-Armstrong company in 1944. It was delivered to the Royal Air Force's No 33 Maintenance Unit at Lyneham in Wiltshire where it was to be prepared to operational standard for service delivery. Its original serial number was SM520.

The aircraft was sold in 1948 to the South African Air Force in whose service its operational history remains unknown.

In the 1970s, it was rediscovered in a Cape Town scrapyard from which it was rescued by the late building developer and aviation enthusiast Charles Church, who started the inevitably long process of restoration.

The plane changed hands several times before finally being restored to its current glory. It was sold for £1,739,500 buy Bonhams, which hosted the auction at the RAF Museum in Hendon, north London.

A Bonhams spokesman 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."