Wreckage found in the mountains of California has been identified as the plane being flown by world-record holding yachtsman and aviator, Steve Fossett, who went missing a year ago.

News reports yesterday of a hiker coming across identity documents and cash belonging to the 63-year-old pilot have been backed up today by the wreckage which contained more of Fossett’s belongings.

Fossett disappeared on 3 September last year having taken off from a Nevada airstrip on a mission to find a site suitable for his attempt to break the land speed world record.

Despite an extensive search, the area in which the documents and the wreckage was found – the Sierra Nevadas near Mammoth Lake California – was not considered a likely destination for the plane.

Mr Fossett was declared legally dead in February 2008. The search for his body continues.