A jet fighter plane worth more than £50,000 was destroyed in a deliberate fire.

The rare, two seater 1951 De Havilland Vampire training jet had been stored at the address on Church Road, Dodleston, for 17 years but was gutted by fire at about 5.15am yesterday morning (Wednesday).

The former fighter plane, of which only 700 were thought to have been produced, can reach speeds of 550 mph and fly at more than 42,000ft.

Only 80 of the planes are thought to be airwothy and even fewer are still flying in the world and, despite the damage, it is thought the damaged jet could still be worth thousands of pounds.

A Cheshire Fire And Rescue spokesman said: “We were called to reports of the plane on fire in Doddleston. It was possibly a deliberate fire, there were youths in the area. The first issue we had on arrival was there were metals included in the plane that react with water which cause quite a violent reaction.

“Two appliances were sent to the site and the incident took about 45 minutes to make safe.”

The RAF used the two seater plane as a training craft and it remained in service until 1966.