A CLASSIC aeroplane which has been on display at Wycombe Air Park for the past five years has been given a new home at a prestigious air museum.

The Hawker Hunter (mark four) fighter plane was moved to the park in Booker after a museum on the Isle of Wight closed in 1999.

Ever since it has been kept at the entrance of the park, where it has been on view to members of the public and air enthusiasts as they come to visit.

However, due to its poor state of repair, the plane was bought by musician Kai Choi last month, and he has since secured its relocation to the Brooklands Museum in Weybridge, Surrey.

The plane is being loaned to the museum for the foreseeable future.

Mr Choi, of Godalming, Surrey, said it was likely that the plane would now be refurbished at the museum in a lottery funded programme for aviation volunteers.

He said: "It is sad that it is being moved but it is fortunate that it will be saved from deterioration."

Mr Choi and a team of volunteers from the museum disassembled the plane for three hours on Saturday before it was transported to Surrey.

It has since been put on display while it awaits restoration.

Julian Temple, curator at Brooklands Museum, which occupys a 30-acre site, said: "We are hoping to see some restoration in the new year.

"It is important we preserve these types of aircrafts and there has never been lottery funded training for volunteers in museums before.

"We are very pleased to have it," he added.

The Hawker Hunter, a standard RAF fighter in the 1950s, is said to be the most successful British fighter plane after the Second World War.

But the plane in Booker was actually one of just 30 exported to the Danish airforce in 1956. It was retired in 1974 after 3,021 hours and 11 minutes flying time. It was later sent back to Britain where it became acquired by British Aerospace and several museums.