THE mystery of the Polish airman has been solved. Last week, we published an appeal from Jim Hartley of the Royal Air Force Association who wanted to find the family of Sergeant Abram Kawenocki.

The 22-year-old, who is buried in Liverpool's Long Lane Cemetery, died when his plane crashed in Yorkshire in 1943.

The long lost cousins of Abram have now been tracked down thanks to Arnold Lewis, the Liverpool Jewish Community archivist.

Arnold put on his detective hat after a request via Greenbank Drive Synagogue, which owns the cemetery.

He explained: "I managed to locate the grave and noted that the only other person mentioned by name on the tombstone was an aunt called Gertrude Denby.

"Following a search amongst various archives I was able to establish that one of the grandchildren of this Gertrude was Rachelle Cohen, a Liverpudlian now residing in London.

"She was delighted to learn of the discovery and informed other members of the family. Several of them were vaguely aware of having been told as youngsters that they had a Polish airman relative whom they thought was called Alec."

Rachelle contacted Mr Hartley who lives in the village of Bradley where the plane - a Wellington Bomber - crashed on a training flight killing its seven crew members including Abram Kawenocki.

She will attend the unveiling of a memorial at the crash site next year.