A war hero educated in Oxford will finally be buried on May 14 with full military honours -- nearly 60 years after his plane was shot down over Germany.

Spy pilot Wing Commander Adrian Warburton, who was based at RAF Mount Farm, in what is now Berinsfield, near Wallingford, became a wartime legend after completing a series of daring low-flying missions to photograph enemy positions in preparation for Allied attacks.

Sir Alec Guinness, on the set of The Malta Story, in which he portrayed Adrian Warburton

"Warby", 26, became one of the RAF's most decorated pilots, winning the Distinguished Service Cross and bar, and Distinguished Flying Cross and two bars as well as the American Distinguished Flying Cross.

One citation read: "This officer has never failed."

His remains, along with parts of his Lockheed F-5B, were discovered in southern Germany last November, after a painstaking search by aviation researcher Frank Dorber.

Wg Cmdr Warburton was born in Middlesbrough on May 10, 1918. He was educated at St Edward's School in Oxford.

Commissioned in the RAF in 1939, he served with a torpedo-bomber squadron before being posted to Malta in 1940.

His heroics were later celebrated in the 1953 film The Malta Story starring Alec Guinness.

Wg Cmdr Warburton was shot down on April 12, 1944, after taking off from Mount Farm to photograph German airfields.

At the time of his death, he was flying for the United States after being grounded by the RAF, while recovering from a car crash in north Africa.

His funeral will be attended by his widow, Eileen, as well as Air Marshal Sir Roderick Goodall.

Representatives from the US and Malta are also expected to attend.

The service will take place in Gmund, near Munich.

It will be followed by the burial at nearby Durnbach Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery.