RAF veteran Kurt Taussig wins bid for painting of Spitfire he flew

A 94-year-old RAF veteran has been reunited with his beloved Second World War spitfire in the form of a painting.

Kurt Taussig and his son bid for the artwork at a Cambridge auction.

It was painted by a fellow pilot who became an artist after the war and depicts a mission they flew on together over Italy in two mark nine spitfires in 1945.

Mr Taussig was 21 years old at the time.

Mr Taussig had the opportunity to buy the painting years ago when it was first displayed but didn't and regretted it, so his son Richard took him toCheffins auction house in Cambridge when he saw it was available again.

They were the highest bidders at £360 and Mr Taussig, who was a Flight Lieutenant, said it would take pride of position at his home in London.

He said: "I will make room for it, don't worry, even if I have to throw the television out maybe."

One of the last surviving Spitfire pilots Kurt Taussig, 93, looks at a painting of himself in Return from Bologna Credit: PA

Mr Taussig came to Britain as a Jewish refugee and was soon flying missions against the Nazi forces who had forced him out.

He trained in South Africa where he flew Tiger Moths, then flew Harvards inRhodesia and became an officer pilot flying Hurricanes and spitfires inPalestine, later beginning his active service began in Sicily.