Aviation historians are fuming that a Second World War RAF fighter plane found in an African desert has been given a “hideous” makeover, complete with lurid paint and shark’s teeth.

In May 2012, Polish oil company worker Jakub Perka was on an expedition in Al Wadi al Jadidi, 200 miles from the nearest town when he discovered a crash-landed Curtiss P40 Kittyhawk aircraft in “time capsule condition”.

It had lain untouched for 70 years in that remote location, remaining relatively intact and a makeshift shelter had apparently been constructed outside the plane using a parachute - evidence that its pilot, Flight Sergeant Dennis Copping, had survived the crash but had died from exposure in the inhospitable conditions.

His body was never found.

In 2015, the RAF Museum tried to recover it, donating a Spitfire from its own collection to encourage its return.

But the Kittyhawk has instead gone on display at El Alamein Military Museum, south-west of Alexandria, after undergoing a “truly awful and unsympathetic” restoration. The aircraft has been sprayed in garish yellow with a set of shark’s teeth painted at the front.

Experts agree the P40 should have been salvaged but argue it should have been left untouched, acting as a memorial to Flt Sgt Copping. Its emergence as a museum exhibit 1,500 miles away at least solves a three-year mystery over its whereabouts.