A YOUNG airman’s heartfelt search for his brother’s grave thousands of miles from their Herefordshire home is detailed in a deeply moving letter sent back to their family more than 80 years ago.

In this Royal Air Force centenary year, the story of two brothers who left behind their farming roots in Dinedor and embarked on careers during the early years of the service has a special resonance.

Flying Officer Albert ‘Bert’ Cleland left Hereford High School for Boys with glowing reports.

In his passing out report from RAF College Cranwell in 1930, the “prize cadet” whose top marks in the entrance exam earned him a £200 scholarship, was described as an “exceptionally fine” young officer.

Tragically, two years later at the age of 22 he was killed in a plane crash near Khartoum, where he had been involved in concerted efforts to guard the Sudanese frontier against Abyssinian raiders.

Five long years’ later, his younger brother, Ralph, also an airman, flew more than 2,000 miles across flat plains to find Bert’s grave at Gedaref in Kassala province.

In a letter to his father at Glebe Farm, Ralph reported how the ground below his plane had risen up slightly in the form of a knoll when he first spotted the graveyard.

Ralph was clearly at pains to present his findings as gently as possible. Comparing the high ground as “half the size of Dinedor Hill”, he said: “It was one of the prettiest little scenes I have seen for a long time.”

Met by the Sudan Defence Force, Ralph was given fresh liver and eggs for breakfast before the commanding officer took him to his brother’s grave.

“I did not expect to find anything like a British war grave cemetery,” wrote Ralph.

“What I saw was quite satisfactory, the headstones are there, the thorn hedge is quite sound and the area is being weeded and sown with flowers which will return yearly.”

Ralph’s task, to take flowers to Bert’s grave and report back to their father, must have been harrowing.

“It was pretty heavy going but I busied myself with tidying up the grave and taking photographs,” he wrote before painting an image for the family back at home.

“Could you picture the surroundings, you would be charmed with them. Everything was so peaceful and sweet smelling.”

As Ralph flew out from the airfield he saw once more his brother’s grave on the hillside.

Then he flew on to Khartoum, left for Cairo at dawn the following morning, arriving at RAF Heliopolis in Egypt that night.

“I returned with a feeling of satisfaction, happy to find that his resting place is a suitable one in a country which I found most interesting and attractive.”

After Ralph’s poignant duty, he went on to demonstrate his own courage and dedication in the RAF.

During the Second World War he directed air support from HMS Hilary off Juno Beach as part of the Normandy Landings, and again from HMS Kingsmill at Walcheron Island. Ralph was subsequently awarded the CBE.

Both brothers’ names are recorded at St Clement Danes Church in The Strand, along with all those who died serving in the RAF.

Ralph died from heart failure in 1948, though this was considered to have been a result of his war service.

Even as his career flourished, Ralph never forgot his farming roots.

At RAF Lindholme he still found time to grow corn, keep pigs, even a dairy cow.

And all these years later, plans have been announced to move Bert’s grave to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery in Khartoum, finally bringing a degree of closure to a sad story which began nearly 100 years ago.