By NOOR QURASHI, NEWS REPORTER
Published: | Updated:
An incomplete Spitfire has sold for £18,000 after a man who spent 20 years working on it in his garage died aged 83.
Peter Arnold, who came to be known as 'Mr Spitfire', rescued the fuselage after it was deployed on the Salisbury Plain Ranges in 1948.
The Supermarine Spitfire F Mk 22 PK519, his final project, was kept at his home in Newport Pagnell in Buckinghamshire before his death in 2025.
It was expected to fetch between £20,000 and £30,000 at auction – but sold for £18,000.
The plane was ordered on June 2, 1943 and delivered to Brize Norton on September 22, 1948 where it was used as a ground target on the Salisbury Plain Ranges.
Mr Arnold used replacement panels from other Spitfires built on the original wooden formers to restore the body, a cockpit window assembly and a Perspex canopy.
His fascination with Spitfires grew in school when he would cycle to crash sites within a 50-mile radius to find and repair them.
Over the years, his commitment to chronicling the surviving planes worldwide saw him record some 365 extant Spitfire and Seafire airframes.
Peter Arnold, who came to be known as 'Mr Spitfire', rescued the fuselage after it was deployed on the Salisbury Plain Ranges in 1948. He is pictured here with his incomplete project
He is pictured with his son Richard with the fuselage in the back of a red pick-up truck
Mr Arnold is seen here in earlier years. The Spitfire and other items in his collection were auctioned on October 8
Auctioneer Henry Meadows said the aircraft was one of the 'more unusual lots' to be sold over the years and it would be 'appreciated for many more years to come'
The inside of the aircraft is pictured here. The control panel came with the item, which ultimately sold for £18,000
He would regularly wheel the PK519 out of his garage for neighbours to see and previously said: 'I just like it being here.'
The Spitfire and other items in Mr Arnold's collection were auctioned through Dominic Winter Auctioneers on October 8.
Auctioneer Henry Meadows said the aircraft was one of the 'more unusual lots' to be sold over the years and it would be 'appreciated for many more years to come'.
He told the Telegraph: 'It's a really good range of items, which has been incredibly well received.
'He was a very popular man in the Spitfire world. It's a good tribute that we're offering this collection for sale.
'His collection will go to other fellow collectors and be appreciated for many more years to come.'
John Sanderson, who worked with Mr Arnold on a book about the history of two-seat Spitfires, said he had saved 'numerous projects which would otherwise have been lost to time'.
Mr Sanderson added that the enthusiast had revealed the true identity of many previously unknown or misidentified Spitfire airframes.
The fuselage was sold alongside Mr Arnold's RAF sector clock which dates back to 1941.