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£1.5m Spitfire would make unique gift - 20/04/09

If you're searching for a unique gift for a loved one and just happen to have £1.5 million to spare, then it might be worth your while visiting a special Bonhams auction.

The star attraction at the sale in London is an airworthy Vickers Supermarine Spitfire aircraft - one of the icons of the Second World War.

The two-seater plane, registered G-ILDA, is the first airworthy Spitfire to be offered at auction for 20 years and is expected to reach around £1.5 million when it goes under the hammer.

Painstakingly restored over a five-year period, the Supermarine-designed aircraft would make an unusual gift for anyone with an interest in war memorabilia or classic planes.

It was originally built by the British Vickers-Armstrong company in 1944 and 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 South African Air Force bought the aircraft in 1948 and it was rediscovered some 30 years later in a Cape Town scrapyard from which it was rescued by the late building developer and aviation enthusiast Charles Church and eventually restored.

     

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  Hazel Truffle Tree Grove

  20 x Corylus avellana

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  Create a very special tree grove of twenty Hazel truffle trees where you can harvest Hazel nuts and native truffles after several years growth. This ...

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