It’s a famous fighter plane which helped win the Battle of Britain and went on to become the star of countless documentaries and films.
Now aviation and history fans alike have the chance to own - and fly - an iconic World War II Spitfire for the relatively modest sum of £89,950, the price of a top- range car like the Jaguar F-Type.
Enthusiasts say that when pilots call “chocks away!” and take off in the fast fighter for the first time they will experience ‘love at first flight’ in this magnificent flying machine.
Globe-trotting businessman and engineer Iain Hutchison, who has put the aircraft resplendent in brown camouflage paint up for sale, is well placed to say “Roger that”.
The father-of-three, 52, of Perth, and his friend Graham Robinson, constructed the 80 per cent scale replica, from a pre-pack kit supplied by US makers Supermarine and flies his aircraft from the local aerodrome at Scone.
He said: “If you can drive a car, you can fly this aircraft. It’s a few thousand pounds a year to keep, including insurance and hangarage, and it costs me around £60 per hour to fly so it’s relatively accessible flying. It has a range of over 500 miles and cruises at about 170mph.
“I have been fortunate enough to twice fly original Spitfires, at Goodwood and at Cumbernauld, and a real one will cost a couple of million and then about £3000 per hour to run.
“The Spitfire provided us with our freedom. There are only a few dozen of the originals left but this is a chance for someone to own the next best thing.”
The successful businessman started building the Spitfire in Australia before having it shipped to Scotland when he moved back home, with Graham doing the lion’s share to finish it.
Iain used the aircraft to help market his engineering firm, Merlin ERD, to overseas clients and said the Spitfire proved so successful that the business soared, earning him two Queen’s Awards and a 2014 audience with Her Majesty.
The chartered engineer graduated from Heriot Watt University, where he got his first taste for flying with the university air squadron, before spending 20 years travelling the world working on complex drilling projects.
He’s selling the two-seater aircraft, which has a top speed of about 225mph, on Facebook Marketplace.
He said: “The idea for the plane was as a PR tool for the business. We used it unashamedly as a symbol of great British engineering. I actually took the name for the business from the Merlin engines which were fitted in Spitfires.
“The Spitfire proved the key in differentiating us from others and we ended up building a multi-million pound business. We are a world-beating nation and the Spitfire was the ideal symbol of this.
“I’ve taken the plane up to Plockton, which was beautiful, and we went over to Portrush, Northern Ireland, to do an airshow which was a great experience. It’s only 45 minutes to Northern Ireland from Perth. It’s a speedy little plane so it doesn’t take long to get places.”
Sadly, Iain's friend Graham passed away recently, which is part of the reason for the sale.
“He’s left a great legacy” notes Iain, who says it’s like Graham is with him in the cockpit every time he flies.
“I had the privilege of putting it through its paces in front of Graham’s family.”
Scotland has historic connections with the Supermarine Spitfire with Air Chief Marshall Lord Hugh Dowding, from Moffat in Dumfriesshire, playing a leading role in developing the fast fighter aircraft.
He went on to lead RAF Fighter Command into the decisive victory over the German Luftwaffe during the Battle of Britain.
A prototype Spitfire number K5054 first flew on March 5, 1936, and the first production Spitfire K9787 took to the air on May 15, 1938.
A plane that crashed into a Norwegian peatbog almost 80 years ago is currently being rebuilt piece-by-piece in tribute to its Scottish pilot.
Auchterarder -born Flt Lt Alastair ‘Sandy’ Gunn crashed his Spitfire on a mountainside in south-west Trondheim on March 5, 1942, after he was shot down during a secret mission to photograph the German battleship Tirpitz.
Parts of his Spitfire are still being recovered and used to reconstruct the aircraft in a hangar on the Isle of Wight, with hopes it will ‘Reach for the Skies” again by 2024.
