RETIRED businessman Peter Vacher says it is “painful” for him to discuss selling the only surviving airworthy Battle of Britain Hurricane, even though it could fetch £2.5m.

Mr Vacher, 72, from Abingdon, spotted the aircraft in 1982 on a visit to Benares in north east India and bought it in 2001 for £25,000 before shipping it to Britain.

After four years and 32,000 hours of restoration work, including renovating the Rolls-Royce Merlin III engine, Hurricane R4118 was airworthy again.

The Hawker Hurricane Mk1 is being sold through an American dealer, prompting concern that it could be lost to Britain.

Mr Vacher, a vintage car enthusiast who first discovered the plane while looking for old Rolls-Royces, said: “It was a labour of love to recover and restore it and I have enjoyed watching it fly for the past 10 years.

“It is time for somebody else to take it on and my hope is that it will stay in the UK or in Europe.

“It is such an iconic British plane — the public absolutely love it. This is painful for me to talk about.”

Hurricane R4118 flew 49 sorties during the worst days of the fighting and shot down five enemy aircraft.

Wing Commander Bob Foster DFC was responsible for three of the plane’s five kills in the Battle of Britain and died in July, aged 94.

Mr Vacher has written a book about the restoration project called Hurricane R4118: The Extraordinary Story of the Discovery and Restoration of a Great Battle of Britain Survivor.

 

 

 

  • Do you want alerts delivered straight to your phone via our WhatsApp service? Text NEWS or SPORT or NEWS AND SPORT, depending on which services you want, and your full name to 07767 417704. Save our number into your phone’s contacts as Oxford Mail WhatsApp and ensure you have WhatsApp installed.