THE aircraft of a long-lost airman from Cheam has been recovered in Malaysia after it crashed in the jungle 61 years ago.

John Trevor Bromfield was an air bomber onboard the KL 654 Liberator bomber when it took its final journey on August 23 1945. Along with seven other soldiers, the 20-year-old unmarried son of Bertram and Isabel is believed to have lost his life when the aircraft plummeted into the jungle near the town of Seremban in Malaysia soon after the Second World War ended.

However, due to an expedition by the Malaysian Aviation Archeological Group, the Liberator has been recovered and identified positively as the one that led the young Sutton airman to his death. The aircraft was recognised through a serial number on one of the engine plates.

Royal Air Force and military history historian Joe Banford and his colleague Arthur Lane were contacted by the group in Malaysia last year and have helped them to get in touch with the Ministry of Defence (MOD). He said: "John Bromfield was part of the crew on the Liberator bomber which was an American built bomber used by the RAF during the Second World War. We think he was part of the 356 squadron based on Cocos island which is a very remote island north west of Australia.

"On August 23 it took off from the sea to drop supplies on the island below. There were eight men on board when it crashed but we believe two were dropped in the jungle. We think they were searching for prisoner of war camps. After it took off nothing was heard from any of them again but they are mentioned on the Singapore war memorial as having no known grave.

"The first we heard of it was last summer in August or September when the Malaysian Aviation Archeological Group contacted us. We went on to contact the Ministry of Defence to try and get them to follow the group's findings with an investigation. I wrote to Tony Blair and Arthur wrote to Prince Charles to try and make this happen."

Two members of the defence staff from the British High Commission in Malaysia went on an expedition to the crash site in December 2006. They reported no human remains were found on the site. A further expedition to try and recover some of the wreckage is planned for later this year.