In an ironic testament to British engineering, this beautifully preserved German warbird comes to life for the first time in over 40 years. This is one of five barn find Spanish ME-109's featured in the movie Battle of Britain that were fitted with surplus Rolls Royce Merlin engines purchased from the U.K.


These examples are Hispano Aviaciõn HA-1112 M1Ls, a Bf 109G-2 built under license from Messerschmitt by Spain and were last flown in the Battle Of Britain movie in 1968. Afterwards they were disassembled and shipped to Texas where they have been stored for the last 45 years. These planes made the journey to Texas via the hands of Connie Edwards who took payment for his work on the movie Battle of Britain in the form of 8 aircraft including several ME-109's and a Spitfire. Connie is a war veteran, stunt pilot, and an all around badass. He is perhaps the most qualified living warbird pilot on the planet, and you need to watch his interview where he details how he acquired this unique hardware and why he decided to sell after the loss of his son in tragic automobile accident.


The collection of aircraft was recently auctioned off and a single plane could have been yours if you had pockets deep enough to pay the expected price of $1 million. Two were bought by the Swiss company Boschung Global Ltd, including the only survivng factory 2-seat version which they plan to restore to original factory condition.


As always, apologies for the music soundtrack drowning out the beautiful notes the Merlin V-12.