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Spitfire flown by The Great Escape's Sandy Gunn to return to skies with help from GKN

Once restored, the historic plane will fly to Norway and will attend air shows in New Zealand and the US

Spitfire AA810 taxies at RAF Wick on the 29 January, 1942. Just five weeks later the aircraft would be shot down with Sandy Gunn at the controls(Image: Tomlinson Family)

A Second World War Spitfire flown by a pilot whose story was immortalised in the film The Great Escape is set to return to the skies as part of a major project.

The AA810 plane flown by Alistair ‘Sandy’ Gunn was shot down over Norway in 1942 while on a secret mission to photograph the German battleship Tirpitz. The pilot escaped - but was later captured and imprisoned by the Gestapo. He was executed in 1944 following his involvement in 'the Great Escape’ from the Stalag Luft III prisoner of war camp.

The historic aircraft flown by Mr Gunn is now being restored following a £500,000 donation from aerospace giant GKN, which supplied fuselage frames and system components for the Spitfire more than 80 years ago.

GKN apprentices in Bristol and the Isle of Wight will be involved in the restoration project, with the plane expected to take flight in 2024.

Alastair ‘Sandy’ Gunn leaning on the tail of Spitfire R7056 in November 1941(Image: Gunn Family)

During the 1930s and 1940s, a thousand Spitfires rolled off GKN’s Hadley Castle production line near Telford. It also made components for the aircraft at its East Cowes facility, where the Spitfire AA810 will be restored.

The project will involve the restoration of the plane’s fuselage structure, as well as the wing spars, leading edges and the wing ribs, GKN said.

GKN established Spitfire AA810 Restoration as a limited company in 2018, with the aim of returning Mr Gunn’s historic aircraft to flight. The associated charitable education arm – the Sandy Gunn Aerospace Careers Programme - was launched in 2019.

John Pritchard, president civil airframe at GKN Aerospace, said the company is hoping to “inspire the next generation of aerospace engineers” with the project.