He was the would-be French and Latin graduate whose life was cut tragically short after the Lancaster bomber he was in crashed during the Second World War.

Hugh Harvey Mooney had been the first in his working-class family to be accepted to any university but it had been a long road for the 27-year-old to take up his place from his home in Glasgow's Garscube Road.

With the Great Depression taking hold in Scotland, the family were unable to immediately afford for him to take the place.

It took seven years of saving for the gifted linguist to be able to step through the doors of the University of Glasgow having first been accepted in 1932.

But the pilot and navigator lost his life in a the wartime crash in the Netherlands on June 29, 1943 along with fellow air crew having completed just one year of his studies.

Now, nearly 80 years after he first enrolled it has emerged that his memory is being honoured by family in a bequest to help fund other students, while research already carried out by Mr Mooney's great-nephew Marc Conaghan has led to the Dutch Government recognising the general crash site in its approved list of WW2 archaeological investigations sites.

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1944 photo of the crash site crater

And there is hope that the work will finally lead to the recovery of the remains of the the Australian pilot, Robert Ingersoll Gates.

The bequest will help students and early career researchers attend a conference on conflict archaeology - which deals with the technological, social, cultural, psychological aspects of war - at his old alma mater.

The H Mooney fund, is one of two travel awards which will allow students and researchers to travel to Glasgow to participate in post-graduate conferences in conflict archaeology. Some £1000 will be offered every two years to fund travel and accommodation costs.

The latest conference is being organised by conflict history and archaeology PhD researchers Euan Loarridge and Mr Conaghan will be held in October. Mr Conaghan is the first member of his family since his great-uncle to go to the University of Glasgow.

He said: “Uncle Hughie was like a father to my grandfather. I grew up listening to my grandfather tell stories about his uncle, many centred on their shared love of football.

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“Hugh was from a poor working-class background and he was a bit of a child prodigy with a talent for languages and maths. He was the first in our family to go to University. It was just unfortunate that his time at the university was interrupted by war. And like so many of his comrades, he didn’t come home to realise his potential.”

Mr Loarridge added: “The conference, founded at the University of Glasgow in 2011, helps support students to develop their skills and present their work to their peers. The funds donated on behalf of Sgt Mooney will mean that this opportunity can be offered to students who, for reasons of funding, would otherwise struggle to attend.”

Professor Tony Pollard, Professor of Conflict History and Archaeology, said: “As a conflict historian, this story is a remarkable insight into wartime Britain and to the role of many of our staff and students during the Second World War.

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“War isn’t just about tactics and battles, it is about the ordinary men and women who, in the extraordinary circumstances of war, gave their lives. It is important that the stories of the 459 members of our community who died in WW2, including Sgt. Mooney, are recognised and remembered.”

Sgt Mooney joined the 467th squadron of bomber command in April 1943 and was based at RAF Bottesford. He and his crew had carried out nine successful missions in their Lancaster bomber.

But on their 10th mission to bomb Cologne in June 1943, their luck ran out. Their bomber was spotted by German night fighter ace Wilhelm Herget and was so badly damaged in the skirmish it crashed a short while later.

All but two of the crew perished. While four of the five bodies of the crew were recovered, the body of the pilot was never found.

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The pilot

Dr Iain Banks, senior lecturer in history and battlefield archaeology and Mr Conaghan’s PhD supervisor, said: “The work Marc and a fellow Glasgow graduate Emile Picard have done on his great-uncle’s WW2 story has identified the exact crash site location.

"Marc and Emilie cross-referenced 1943 WW2 reports and aerial photos with maps of the area today. This work has led to the crash site now being formally recognised by the Dutch government in its approved list of WW2 archaeological investigations sites.

“We believe that if we can locate the cockpit, we may find the remains of the pilot and be able to solve the mystery of his final resting place for his family.

“Ideally we would love that staff and students from Glasgow be able to be involved in digging this important site and we hope we will manage to lever in suitable funding to do this.”