A MAN whose RAF pilot uncle disappeared after his plane crashed into the desert has spoken of his astonishment that the wreck has been found – 70 years on.

As a lad, John Pryor-Bennett listened in awe as his grandparents, aunts and uncles told stories about Flight Sergeant Dennis Copping, 24, from Rochford, whose plane came down in the Sahara, in June 1942.

He was never seen again, but his amazingly-preserved Kitty- hawk P-40 has now been discovered by chance by a Polish oil worker exploring the Western Desert in Egypt, as revealed in Friday’s Echo.

Mr Pryor-Bennett, who once owned Laceys newsagents, in Kents Hill Road, Benfleet, left to run the Mother Hubbard cafe, in Kinsale, County Cork, with his wife Carole 16 years ago.

The 62-year-old said: “I hadn’t got a clue about the discovery until a relative phoned me and I then saw it in the papers.

“He was one of five siblings, Lionel the eldest, Lillian, Gordon, my mother Edna Florence and Dennis, who was the youngest. His father was a dentist in Whitegate Road, Southend.

“When I was young I heard he was sent on a mission to take the Kittyhawk for repairs to another aerodrome, but he never made it. I had heard his story since I was a child and there was even a photograph of him on the mantelpiece.”

It is thought the young pilot survived the Second World War crash and initially used his parachute for shelter before making a doomed attempt to walk out of the desert.

Mr Pryor-Bennett added: “By all accounts he was a pleasant lad. My mother thought the world of him and told me he was a very nice person.

“I was so young when I first heard about what happened, so you can imagine when I heard they had found the plane I felt quite sad. It wasn’t a nice way to die.”

The single-seater aircraft now lays in the middle of one of the most remote places on the planet. The pilot’s body wasn’t found, but efforts are now being made to find his remains.

Plans are also in place to bring the aircraft back to Britain to be displayed at the RAF Museum, at Hendon, north London.

Mr Pryor-Bennett, who hopes to see it, said: “By a strange coincidence I once worked on the hangar at Hendon as a steel erector for the sub-contractor who built it.

“I would love to see the plane when it is brought back.”

His wife is equally excited to see the plane, having heard lots of stories about its brave pilot.

She said: “I have heard John talk about him over the years. I sort of half didn’t believe it, but when I saw it in the paper, I thought ‘my goodness, it did happen’.”

There are fears over what will be left of the wreck after locals began stripping parts and instruments for souvenirs and scrap.

Historians are urging the British Government to step in and have the scene declared as a war grave, so it can be protected.