A REPLICA Spitfire plane will be a centrepiece of a city’s Remembrance Day commemorations, on Sunday.

The full-size fighter aircraft will be situated in Durham’s Market Place, providing a backdrop and interest piece for the annual military parade through the city.

Hand-built, it is the only full-scale reproduction of a Spitfire MKIX in existence.

It will provide a reminder of the centenary of the birth of the Royal Air Force, in 1918, and its local links.

The replica took more than 20 years to build and incorporates many genuine features and instruments seen in the actual aircraft.

Its connections to Durham date from the 1940s, when 607 (County Durham) Squadron of the Royal Auxiliary Air Force was deployed to India, equipped with Sp[itfires, to help in the fight to regain Burma from the Japanese.

Formed in 1930 at the then new RAF Usworth Airfield, the squadron also fought with distinction during the Battle of Britain.

The squadron was awarded the Freedom of Durham City, last year.