FROZEN in time, a World War II RAF fighter plane lies virtually intact in the desert where it crash-landed 70 years ago.

 

The Kittyhawk P-40 was found in the Egyptian Sahara, 200 miles from the nearest town, after vanishing in 1942. It is thought to have been piloted by Flight Sergeant Dennis Copping, 24. He lost his bearings while flying the damaged plane between British bases during the North Africa campaign against Rommels forces.

 

Ft Sgt Copping is believed to have survived and initially used his parachute to shelter from the scorching desert heat before making a futile effort to walk to safety.

 

Signs of his makeshift camp were found beside the US-made Kittyhawk.

 

Now a hunt will be launched for his remains, which could be anywhere within a 20-mile radius.

 

And the RAF Museum at Hendon, North London, hopes to quickly recover the plane amid fears it may be stripped by tribesmen.

 

The plane, preserved by the arid climate, was discovered by a Polish oil company worker exploring the area. Historian Andy Saunders, of Hastings, East Sussex, said: The aviation world is hugely excited about this discovery.

 

It is a quite incredible time capsule the aviation equivalent of Tutankhamuns Tomb.

 

Ft Sgt Copping, of Southend, Essex, was a member of the RAFs 260 Squadron. It is not thought any immediate family members are left in the UK.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/4309662/Crash-landed-RAF-warplane-found-in-Sahara.html

 

I stumbled across this today and thought it was pretty cool. Check out the link to the original article, the pictures of the plane are amazing. I can only imagine how exited the RAF Museum was when they were told about it. I've seen planes in the Aviation Museum here in Ottawa that aren't that well preserved.

 

Hopefully they can find the remains of Ft Sgt Copping and give him a proper burial.

Yeah, sand tends to preserve stuff really well. Cool find.

That's pretty neat. The pictures are crazy too.

It's really cool. Unfortunately, I can't see the man being found, as he's much smaller than a plane and much harder to detect.