(Image by streamer020nl, reproduced with permission)
Drawn on the pavement of a city in Holland, this 3D street art tells the remarkable story of Sergeant Dennis Copping, aged 24, who went missing over the Sahara desert on June 28, 1942. Sgt Copping, a member of the RAF’s 260 Squadron during the North Africa campaign of World War Two, was flying his damaged P40 Kittyhawk from one airbase in Egypt to another when he vanished without a trace. His devastated parents received a telegram at their home in Southend, Essex, explaining that their son was missing in action.
Finally, 70 years later in the summer of 2012, Polish oil worker Jakub Perka stumbled across the wrecked Kittyhawk lying silently in the Western Desert. The aircraft was remarkably intact, though the pilot’s body was nowhere to be seen. A search of the area later revealed human remains three miles from the crash site, along with a torn piece of parachute and a metal button dated 1939. The bones were reportedly being examined to determine whether they were indeed those of Sgt Copping, while the RAF Musem at Hendon, North London, was working to recover the Kittyhawk for display in the United Kingdom.
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