Jakub Perka, a Polish oil worker, found an American-made Curtiss P-40 Kittyhawk from World War II recently while exploring the Sahara Desert. The plane was found about 200 miles from the nearest town and was in remarkably good condition for being more than 70 years old. Historians believe 24-year-old Dennis Copping was flying the British Royal Air Force plane in 1942 and was forced to land in the middle of the Egyptian desert.
"The radio and batteries were out of the plane, and it looks like he tried to get it working," Military historian Andy Saunders said. "If he died at the side of the plane, his remains would have been found. Once he had crashed there, nobody was going to come and get him. It is more likely he tried to walk out of the desert but ended up walking to his death. It is too hideous to contemplate."
Saunders also added that the the find was "the aviation equivalent of Tutankhamun's tomb."
[via MSNBC]
