John Reid, of Lancashire, is looking for photos, documents and letters about the pair to accompany a copy of a newspaper produced by inmates at Stalag Luft VI prisoner of war camp in East Prussia.

Stirling bomber crewmen DN Allen, of Westbourne Park, and CRS Morris Graghill, of Ravenscar, are among more than 300 Yorkshiremen who were held at the camp and their names are listed in the newspaper.

Mr Reid, who is archivist at the Stirling Bomber Research Library in Bacup, Lancashire, found out about the publication, The Yorkshire Post, Kriegie Edition, during some recent research.

The newspaper was secretly produced at the camp using paper which was brought in undercover and written by hand with the aid of homemade pen nibs.

Bound in plywood covers, the original paper was smuggled back to England to much acclaim and was even read by Winston Churchill.

The 84 pages included details about life and events in Stalag Luft VI as well as drawings, caricatures, poems and cartoons.

Sergeant Navigator Richard Pape, who in peacetime worked on the editorial staff at the Yorkshire Post, decided to produce the paper to help raise morale among the Yorkshire-men in the camp.

After the war the Yorkshire Post arranged for about 300 copies to be produced and distributed to all the Yorkshiremen, who were released from Stalag Luft VI in 1945.

Their names and last known addresses were included at the back of the book and Mr Reid is now creating an album of material about the servicemen.

Mr Reid, 65, said: “I want to bring out the personal element of all the names listed as a fitting tribute to all those who spent many years in captivity.

“This album will then become part of the archive and then will hopefully go into a museum.

“Many of the people will have died but there are still friends and relatives and I’ve had some good responses already.”

Mr Reid, who is a former engineer in the food industry, has been an archivist for the last 20 years and most of his research focuses on the Stirling bomber.

l Anyone with any information about the Scarborough men should contact reporter Paul Derrick on (01723) 383829.