Thfire.com Everyday news that matters A crashed World War II plane that belongs to Britain’s Royal Air Force (RAF) has been found in the Sahara Desert. It has been found after almost 70 years after it crash landed. Details about who flew the plane and their whereabouts is not clear.
Vintage Wings, a Canadian aviation news website was the first to report about it. Jakub Perka, who works for an oil company came across the Kittyhawk P-40 in March when he and his team was on an expedition in the Sahara Desert, Egypt.
“It is a quite incredible time capsule, the aviation equivalent of Tutankhamun’s Tomb,” said Andy Saunders, a UK-based historian, according to the Daily Mail.
It is believed that this particular plane was flown by Flight Sergent Dennis Copping, who was just 24-years-old at the time of the crash.
Looking at the crash site photos it seems that he might have survived the crash as a parachute has been found near the plane.
Saunders believes, “”[My] guess is the poor bloke used it to shelter from the sun,”.
“If he died at the side of the plane his remains would have been found,” he added, according to The Mail. “Once he had crashed there, nobody was going to come and get him. It is more likely he tried to walk out of the desert but ended up walking to his death. It is too hideous to contemplate.”
Metro reports that Copping belonged to the RAF’s 260 Squadron that was based in Egypt during a campaign against German General Field Marshal Erwin Rommel. According to the paper, Copping “had been told to fly two damaged Kittyhawk P-40 planes from one British airbase in northern Egypt to another for repairs” when he lost his way and crashed during the flight.
But there is nothing to worry about ammunition, guns, explosives in the plane as the Egyptian Army have already removed them from the plane.
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