Recently we had the opportunity to catch up with with Simon Brown of Platinum Fighters Sales. Part of what prompted the interview was the recent rumor about a Battle of Britain movie re-make spreading like wildfire on social media. Several aviation websites reported this news as a fact, but it seemed like such a massive and risky undertaking that we felt something was amiss, and wanted more formal proof before making our report. Much of what has been driving this rumor has been the recent activity concerning Connie Edwards’ former collection of Hispano Buchons. Simon Brown’s company Platinum Fighter Sales was the broker which arranged the sale of these aircraft, and also the recent re-sale of four of them, so he seemed like the perfect person to verify the facts one way or another.
Simon Brown’s definitive answer is as follows… “Unfortunately there is not going to be a remake of the Battle Of Britain movie. I put something about that on Facebook as a joke and the next thing I knew someone wrote an article to that affect.”
Brown continued….
All eight Buchon’s were originally sold last year to a Swiss company called Boschung Global – whose principal is Paul Boschung.
In October 2015, Platinum Fighter Sales then re-sold four of the Buchon’s to an Australian entity. This includes the two-seater, one single seater, and the two project Buchons. These four aircraft are enroute to the UK, where they will be restored and the two seater will operate on a commercial ride program alongside a two-seat Spitfire.
The four single-seat Buchon’s that Boschung retained, have been shipped to California where they will all be restored to airworthy condition. Boschung then plans to keep one plane in the US, one will be shipped to Switzerland, and the other two will possibly be sold or traded. One of these single seaters s/n 220, was the last fighter that Adolf Galland flew – in 1968 when he was a consultant on the movie “Battle Of Britain”. This plane will be restored and painted just like it was in the movie and will be the plane that Boschung keeps as his personal plane.
It was amazing to me how much interest there has been in the Buchon’s. Within two weeks of listing the Buchon’s we had two offers for the entire collection (eight planes) as well as multiple offers for individual planes. What everyone liked was the fact that these planes were unrestored – no one has touched them in 45 years, so they are completely original as they came from the Spanish Air Force [Ed. – other than the paint].
We had probably ten times the amount of interest in the Buchon’s than we had on any other warbird – simply amazing!
The reason it took so long to close the deal is that there was a brand new [Pilatus] PC-12 involved as a trade and I had to order it and wait for it to be built and delivered.
Connie Edwards has enjoyed owning the planes – as people always came out to visit him and see the planes. I think he was glad that he hired us so he didn’t have to deal with all the tire kickers etc…
The Mustang needs to be sold with a huge package of spare engines (20 Merlins) and probably the worlds largest P-51 parts inventory that survives. I’m actually pretty close to selling it – to multiple people who each want parts of the entire package.
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Born in Milan, Italy, Moreno moved to the U.S. in 1999 to pursue a career as a commercial pilot. His aviation passion began early, inspired by his uncle, an F-104 Starfighter Crew Chief, and his father, a military traffic controller. Childhood adventures included camping outside military bases and watching planes at Aeroporto Linate. In 1999, he relocated to Atlanta, Georgia, to obtain his commercial pilot license, a move that became permanent. With 24 years in the U.S., he now flies full-time for a Part 91 business aviation company in Atlanta. He is actively involved with the Commemorative Air Force, the D-Day Squadron, and other aviation organizations. He enjoys life with his supportive wife and three wonderful children.
I worked and lived in the small town of Shefford in 1967/68 just a few miles from Henlow airfield where many of the ‘British’ aircraft were rebuilt/restored and many of the mockups were put together. There was an aircraft modified to resemble a Stuka but I don’t think it was used in the actual movie. I also had the thrill of visiting Duxford when flying sequences were being shot. Great days! thanks for the article.
The modified a/c where actually Percival Proctors. The resultant composite was named jokingly ‘Proctukas’ and were not used.
The statement about it being the most original spitfire in the world isn’t really true. Thus machine flew from the 40s up til 1973 so while unrestored it’s not representative of a spitfire in wartime fit. The imperial war museum mk 1 and Truscott’s mk11 in Australia are as they were when withdrawn from service so much more original
Delighted to hear there will be no remake of the Battle of Britain film. How you could you assemble a cast like the one in the original? It would probably end up like the remake of The Flight of the Phoenix – a total turkey!
The cost was quite epic first time around don’t need another here in UK . The licence to fly warbirds here is astronomical since Shoreham accident so not happening I think