A LONELY grave in an English village has sparked an international hunt for a former Perth school high-jump champion turned bomber pilot who was killed at the outbreak of World War II.

Royal Australian Air Force Flying Officer William “Bill” Kinane was killed when his light bomber clipped a cable and crashed during a training exercise in Bedfordshire, England on August 11, 1939.

Aged just 21, he was buried in the village of Cranfield as a bugler played the Last Post.

Now, locals in the Bedfordshire hamlet are compiling a book of the servicemen buried in their village to commemorate them properly, and they contacted The Sunday Times for help to track down photos and family of FO Kinane, who was from South Perth.

Cranfield history buff Lee Hall and local author Marjorie Cotton are compiling the book and tracking down photos and details of the men before they are lost to history.

“Over the years, the men who are named on our war memorial have been largely forgotten as their own next-of-kin either died themselves or moved away,” Ms Hall said.

“William is the only Australian in our graveyard, he was 21 years old when he died, and we’re not sure if anyone from his family has ever visited his grave.

“It’s up to us in Cranfield to make sure this young Australian will not be lost and forgotten over the years.”

WA newspaper articles recording FO Kinane’s death at the time paid tribute to him as a talented athlete who became the 1934 Perth interschool high-jump champion, also holding the high-jump record at Christian Brothers’ College.

The youngest of five siblings and the only boy, he was also a talented at surf lifesaving and football.

He had started an engineering course at university when he decided to become a pilot, attending military flying school where he was selected for the RAAF.

He was 18 at the time, and as well as excelling at flying he set a new record for the long jump at the training school.

Sent to England attached to the Royal Air Force’s 218th Squadron as war was on the horizon, he was taking part in low-altitude training exercises when his single-engine Fairey Battle aircraft was struck by turbulence and clipped a high-tension cable and crashed.

Also aboard were Sgt Peter Aitkin Allen, 28, an observer, and wireless operator Ivor Roberts, 21, both from the UK.

Reports from the time say wreckage was scattered across two fields and the aircraft came to rest when it struck a tree, uprooting it.

“The plane had stopped only feet away from a farmhouse and the first on the scene was bailiff John Henry Bevington, who with his son rushed towards the wreckage to see what could be done,” Ms Hall said.

“On arriving they noticed some movement within, and despite the intense flames crawled in and pulled out Roberts.

“His first words to his rescuers were, ‘Don’t worry about me, there are two other men in there’.”

But the fire was too fierce and minutes later the aircraft’s fuel tank exploded.

Both FO Kinane and Sgt Allen were killed, and sadly Roberts died two days later in an RAF hospital in Cranfield.

His father, William Kinane Sr, learnt of his son’s death when he opened his morning newspaper, The Sunday Times reported at the time.

FO Kinane was buried at the Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul in Cranfield with “a volley of three shots and a bugler playing the Last Post”, and Ms Hall said she hoped the new book would ensure the young Perth pilot would not be forgotten by the town.