Family wants return of war crash pilot for burial

The Irish family of an RAF fighter pilot who crash-landed in the Sahara during the Second World War have spoken of their plans to bring him home for burial.

A number of human bones have been found in the desert close to the spot where Flight Sergeant Dennis Copping disappeared after crash-landing in Jun 1942.

Copping, then 24, survived the incident and is believed to have walked away from his wrecked P40 Kittyhawk fighter plane to find help. He was never seen again.

The well-preserved plane was found in the Western Desert by Polish oil exploration workers earlier this year. His nephew John William Pryor-Bennett, 62, spoke of his family’s hopes to lay Copping to rest with a proper funeral.

In June this year, a team of historians from Italy unearthed 12 human bones close to an outcrop of rocks, which Britain’s ministry of defence said were unlikely to be that of the pilot as no military clothing was found nearby.

Dr Laurence Garey, an independent forensic anatomist, studied photo-graphs of the bones and said there was no question they were human. “Whether they are the bones of Dennis Copping is another matter,” he said.

Mr Pryor-Bennett, who runs the Mother Hubbards café in Kinsale, Co Cork, said his family had until now believed the pilot had died in the crash. Instead, the wreckage of the plane suggests he made a makeshift shelter using his parachute before walking away from the plane to find help.

Mr Pryor-Bennett said: “If there is any chance of finding him now and bringing him home, so we can give him a funeral and pay our respects, then I would fully support any search. My own son, John, is willing to go over to Egypt and help with the search. I just hope they find him and bring him home.”

Mr Pryor-Bennett’s son John, 35, told The Daily Telegraph: “He must have had such a horrible and lonely death so it would be wonderful if we could give him a funeral with his family around him.”

However, a source at the ministry of defence said that if the bones in the desert were Copping’s remains it was likely he would be buried at the Commonwealth War Cemetery at El Alamein in northern Egypt.

Historians are urging the British government to step in sooner rather than later to have the scene protected.

The site of the crash lies within an area controlled by Egyptian military. Political and religious tensions in Egypt are hampering diplomatic efforts by Britain to investigate whether the bones found are those of Copping.

The RAF Museum in north London is working with the ministry to secure the aircraft and return it to Britain.