Eighty years after his life was saved by Slovenian villagers and resistance fighters, an Australian pilot has been honoured at the very site where his plane went down in the dying days of the Second World War.

One of many allied fliers who flew sorties over Slovenia, Royal Australian Air Force pilot Barnaby B. Davies was shot down near Laško in east Slovenia on 1 April 1945.

Exactly 80 years later, the local community has erected a plaque in his memory and the Laško Museum has launched an exhibition dedicated to the downing, the rescue mission, and the broader context of cooperation between Slovenian resistance fighters known as the Partisans and the allied powers.

Davies commanded a P-51 Mustang squadron that struck a German convoy and destroyed a number of enemy vehicles. After his Mustang P-51 was hit by enemy anti-aircraft fire, he managed to eject himself.

He landed close to some houses and the locals brought him to the partisan resistance fighters. He continued to fight alongside them until the war ended a month later, when he returned to his farm in Australia. He died in 1989.

He would later recall that the food and treatment he received from the locals were excellent, according to the Laško Museum.

Davies would not have survived and gone on to have children without the help of the locals, Defence Minister Borut Sajovic stressed at the ceremony. "The stories of brave individuals who risked their lives for freedom teach us about the ongoing necessity of standing together and striving for a world where peace and humanity prevail," he said.

Australian Ambassador to Slovenia Ian Biggs lauded the locals' selfless help that saved Davies's life saying such events remind us that friendship, courage and solidarity are values transcending time and borders.

There are deep-rooted ties between Australia and Slovenia, he added, and Australia is proud of the joint efforts to preserve the shared history.

The ceremony was also attended by Davies's son John, who thanked the locals on behalf of his entire family for helping his father.