UK man's 20-year Spitfire garage project sold for £18,000 after his death

For more than 20 years, a garage in the British town of Newport Pagnell housed the partly rebuilt body of a historic Spitfire aircraft. Its owner, Peter Arnold, had spent decades collecting aircraft remains and putting together pieces of aviation history.

But he never got to see his final project sold. Arnold died in 2025, aged 83, and on October 8, this year, the unfinished aircraft fuselage fetched £18,000 at an auction in England.According to a report by The Independent, Arnold was widely known among aviation enthusiasts as “Mr Spitfire”. His garage contained the reconstructed fuselage of a Supermarine Spitfire F Mk 22, identified as PK519. But the fuselage was only the main body, assembled using surviving wreckage and parts recovered from other Spitfires.The aircraft was not always hidden away inside the garage. Arnold sometimes moved it onto his driveway, allowing members of the public to have a closer look. In 2003, when asked about keeping the unusual project at home, he said, “I just like it being here.”The fuselage remained at Arnold's home for more than two decades. Following his death, it became part of an auction handled by Dominic Winter Auctioneers in Cirencester.

Childhood fascination became a lifelong hobby

Arnold grew up near RAF Northolt, a Royal Air Force station in England. Aircraft were a source of fascination from an early age, and that interest continued during his school years.At Harrow County Grammar School, he admired a stained-glass window showing the Supermarine S6B racing aircraft. The aircraft had been flown by John Boothman, a former student who won the Schneider Trophy in 1931.Outside school, Arnold spent time visiting old aircraft crash sites.

He would cycle to these locations and examine the remains left behind. During one such visit, he discovered Spitfire XVI RW386.His childhood interest eventually developed into decades of collecting and research. Arnold travelled internationally to examine more than 260 Spitfires and spent approximately 50 years locating and documenting over 350 aircraft crash sites.Arnold also worked in automotive engineering, including at Aston Martin, which helped him travel farther in search of historic aircraft remains.In 1973, he recovered two Seafire fuselages, SX336 and SX300, from a scrapyard in Warrington. Other aircraft parts followed as his collection expanded.

The Spitfire that eventually reached his garage

One of Arnold's final projects involved PK519, an aircraft that had already passed through several stages of service before its remains became part of his collection.According to Vintage Aviation News, PK519 was ordered in 1943 and completed as a Spitfire Mk 22 with a Griffon 61 engine.

It reached an RAF maintenance unit in September 1945, shortly after the Second World War ended.After spending time in storage and undergoing modifications, the aircraft joined No. 615 Squadron of the Royal Auxiliary Air Force at Biggin Hill in August 1949.Its service eventually ended as the squadron moved to newer aircraft. By 1954, PK519 had been withdrawn and placed in storage.The aircraft was subsequently used as a ground target on the Salisbury Plain military ranges, where aircraft carried out demonstration attacks.Aviation historian Peter Foote discovered its remains in 1966. Arnold visited the range in 1977 and recovered some surviving components. Other parts reached him years later through fellow collectors.By then, PK519 was no longer anything close to a complete aircraft. Rebuilding its main body meant bringing together pieces that had survived in different places.

What buyers received at the auction

Arnold used original panels from other Spitfires to help reconstruct the fuselage, fitting them around wooden supports.The finished sections included a cockpit window assembly and a transparent Perspex canopy. The instrument panel fitted inside was a paper representation intended for display.The auction lot also included five original Griffon propeller blades, painted black with yellow tips. Other surviving components included metal sections, undercarriage parts and wreckage associated with PK519.Arnold had registered the aircraft with the Civil Aviation Authority as G-SPXX in May 2012, although the reconstruction remained unfinished.According to Dominic Winter Auctioneers, “Peter was the doyen of Spitfire historians, and we hope that his collection will be appreciated for many more years to come.”The fuselage sold for £18,000 on October 8. Other items from Arnold's collection included an aircraft instrument panel containing original instruments and an RAF sector clock dating to 1941.