AFTER Flight Lieutenant Duncan McCuaig was shot down and killed in his Spitfire over Bremen in the Second World War, his whereabouts remained a mystery for almost 50 years.

It was not until the early 1990s that the wreckage of the RAF Benson-based pilot’s plane was found.

And that sparked research by a German amateur historian which led to the young airman’s unmarked grave.

Yesterday more than 100 people gathered at the entrance to the Oxfordshire airbase to witness the station’s ‘Gate Guardian’ Spitfire being rededicated in memory of Flt Lt McCuaig, who died aged 24 in 1944.

There has been a Spitfire as gate guardian since 1973 and the replica Mark X1 Spitfire,which replaced a real one in 1989, has been given the markings carried by Flt Lt McCuaig’s plane.

Flt Lt McCuaig died while serving with the Photographic Reconnaissance Unit.

His daughter Karen Macdonald travelled with her family from her home near Glasgow to attend yesterday’s ceremony.

The 69-year-old mother-of-four, who was two when her father died, read a poem she wrote in memory of him.

She said: “I am delighted that RAF Benson has chosen my father for this rededication. He represents many young men who flew out and did not return and were missing.

“I am so lucky that after about 50 years my family found out what had happened and it’s incredible that the Spitfire will now carry my father’s markings.

“My mother Olwen, who died aged 72 in 1994, lived to know that my father’s plane had been found and that brought some closure for her.”

After Flt Lt McCuaig’s family received a missing, presumed dead notice in 1944, it took almost half a century before the truth emerged.

He had been listed as Flt Lt McCraig when he was buried at a war grave near Oldenburg, Germany, and, as no record could be found of a Flt Lt McCraig, they were forced to inscribe “Unknown Pilot” on his cross.

Werner Oeltjebruns, an amateur historian from Germany, excavated the crash site, and found the plane’s tail number.

Armed with the information, he confirmed with the Ministry of Defence that the pilot had been Flt Lt McCuaig, and his relatives were eventually traced.

Station commander Group Captain Richard Mason told yesterday’s ceremony: “We are here today to remember those who paid the ultimate sacrifice.”