The male pilot of a replica Spitfire plane has been killed in a crash near Gympie in south-east Queensland on Friday afternoon.

Police say the single-seater plane crashed at about 4:00pm (AEST), about 10 kilometres south of Gympie at Lagoon Pocket Road.

The aircraft has broken apart and debris is strewn across a field.

Pilot Ray Gresham who lives on a property nearby says he was watching the Spitfire before it crashed.

"It was a three-quarter sized Spitfire - not a full one," he said.

"He was just doing circuits and it appears as though he has lost control just before he came in to land and went out of control in a spin and crashed into a private farm at Lagoon Pocket."

An investigation is now underway.

The Spitfire was designed as a short-range, high-performance interceptor aircraft and was used by many Allied countries during World War II.