Click photo to enlarge
The scene where a two-seater spitfire crashed at Ardmore
airport, Auckland, New Zealand. Credit:NZPA / Wayne
Drought.
A rare two seater Spitfire fighter has been damaged in
what has been called an embarrassing landing accident at
Ardmore Airport, south of Auckland, this morning.
The Spitfire, worth several million dollars, ran off the end
of the runway when it landed at 11.50am today, damaging the
propeller and its undercarriage.
The TR9 Spitfire, one of only a handful in the world with two
seats, was not badly damaged.
It is believed its owner Doug Brooker was the pilot.
"It is easy enough to repair, it just takes time," said Peter
Haughton from the Warbirds Society at Ardmore.
Mr Haughton told NZPA the accident happened as the Spitfire
came into land and the runway at Ardmore was blocked for some
time until it could be removed.
"The propeller hit the ground and it was damaged so it's not
a crash at all. It is a bit of a landing accident that is
all. No one was hurt.
"It has broken the propeller and hasn't done the
undercarriage much good either.
"The wind was in the process of changing. It is now blowing
the other way so that probably contributed to it (the
accident).
"It is sitting on its belly beside the runway on the grass."
Mr Brooker bought the Spitfire about two years ago after it
was modified in America from a single seater to a two-seater
- one of only five in the world.
Mr Haughton said the aircraft could be worth more than $3
million.
It arrived in New Zealand on September 11 last year, and was
painted in RAF desert colours with the markings of a Mk IX
flown by a New Zealand Squadron Leader Colin Gray, when based
in Tunisia in mid-1943.
It was the second accident since the plane arrived in New
Zealand having suffered damage during a heavy landing at Hood
Aerodrome, near Masterton, in January.
