He poses proudly in his RAF uniform and also looks down from the cockpit of his Second World War fighter plane, perhaps ready for a mission against the Desert Fox himself, Erwin Rommel.

These are the first pictures of 24-year-old Flight Sergeant Denis Copping, the wartime pilot who crash-landed his plane in the Sahara and then walked off across the sands to his death.

His story came to light last week when pictures of his Kittyhawk P-40 were published. The battered but well-preserved wreckage was found in the Western Sahara – 70 years after the plane came to grief. It was believed that Flt Sgt Copping had no surviving relatives, but The Mail on Sunday found his nephew, whose family album contains these poignant photographs.

William Pryor-Bennett revealed that, until now, the fate of his uncle had been a mystery because all the family had been told officially was that he was 'missing in action'.