Half a Spitfire sells for £18,000 after enthusiast who worked on it in his garage for more than 20 years dies aged 83

Peter Arnold, known as “Mr Spitfire”, spent more than 20 years restoring an incomplete Spitfire fuselage in his garage. After his death aged 83 in 2025, the aircraft sold at auction for £18,000, below its estimate of £20,000 to £30,000. The sale brought attention to Arnold’s long-standing work preserving the history of surviving Spitfires.

The aircraft, a Supermarine Spitfire F Mk 22 named PK519, was delivered to Brize Norton in 1948 and later used as a ground target on Salisbury Plain. Arnold rescued its fuselage and rebuilt it with replacement panels, wooden formers and cockpit parts. He also documented about 365 surviving Spitfire and Seafire airframes; the fuselage was auctioned with his 1941 RAF sector clock.