A Second World War fighter plane that crash landed in the vast abyss of the Sahara desert almost 70 years ago could be winging its way to a Hendon museum after it was miraculously discovered largely intact.

The stray Kittyhawk P-40 (similar to the one pictured) went down over Egypt on June 28, 1942, as British RAF pilots came under attack from German general Erwin Rommel.

Flight sergeant Dennis Copping became disorientated during the chase and strayed almost 100 miles into the desert before the aircraft ran out of fuel and came crashing down.

The plane was presumed lost forever until recently when a Polish oil company worker discovered the wreckage.

The RAF Museum, in Grahame Park Way, Colindale, is now looking to retrieve the well-preserved fighter for display.

Ajay Srivastava, of the museum, said: “We’re all really excited about it and very keen to have it at the museum. It is a very significant find and will be a great addition to our collection.

“The Egyptian authorities are more than happy for us to bring it back but the issue we are now facing is that a number of looters are going out there and stealing bits of the aircraft.

“Because of all the attention this has been getting, aviation enthusiasts have been going out to take mementos. We have every intention of bringing it back but we just hope there will be some of it left.”

The plane remains property of the Ministry of Defence and the museum is in the process of applying for a license to retrieve the historic craft.

Remains of the young pilot have never been found but evidence around the crash site suggests the 24-year-old survived the impact.

Experts say the blistering temperatures in such a remote area of the desert would have made long-term survival impossible and it is thought he eventually ventured away from the wreckage and succumbed to the heat.

Museum officials are meeting later today to discuss the next stage of the retrieval and are hopeful of adding the item to its war collection in the near future.

Mr Srivastava added: “Aviation experts are getting very excited about this find. People are very passionate about this sort of thing and we just hope we can get to it before people take the parts for their own collections.”