Can anyone tell me what was there defending the Malta? And how many RAF squadrons were there.

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Go-Flames-Go

The famous early air defence of Malta was in the hands of 4 Gloucester Gladiators. In overviews this tends to get translated as 3 named, Faith, Hope and Charity, but there were 4. There’s some interesting recorded interviews about the early days from both sides. Italian pilots talking about the Gladiators taking them on using virtually ‘flying stunts’ of great aerial manoeuvrability which the Gladiator bi-planes were capable of. Also how much punishment the Gladiators could take and still fly.

Later-on mono wing fighters arrived and by all accounts, there was a ‘gentlemanly’ aspect of war in the air until the Germans joined in. Previously if a pilot was shot down in the sea, each side would phone the other (as a phone link was left in place between Malta and Sicily) who would pick their man up. A British controller on Malta recalled that one day he made a call to Sicily and a German answered. From then after the ‘relationship’ changed!

No.9

A veritable library of excellent books regarding the 'Malta Air War' is available.

My own favourites - all memoirs by airmen who were involved - are 'Onward To Malta' by 'Tom' Neil, 'Malta - The Thorn In Rommel's Side' by 'Laddie' Lucas and 'Malta Spitfire' by the legendary Canadian, George 'Buzz' Beurling. All three flew with 249 Squadron.

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"Stand by to pull me out of the seat if I get hit" - Guy Gibson

Just found a quite interesting 'visual bibliography' of that 'Malta Library' I was just talking about : -

http://www.killifish.f9.co.uk/Malta%...Literature.htm

Make sure you click 'HOME' and it will give you a lot more info about Malta's role in WWII. A pretty neat site, I think.

[ 15. February 2003, 01:23 PM: Message edited by: Martin Bull ]

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"Stand by to pull me out of the seat if I get hit" - Guy Gibson

Sweet! Buzz Berling was there! He would have been there while serving in his RAF or RCAF days?

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Go-Flames-Go

Beurling flew with 249 Squadron, RAF on Malta between June and October 1942 under the command of 'Laddie' Lucas.

If you're interested in Beurling's remarkable ( and rather sad ) life story, I highly recommend Brian Nolan's definitive biography ' Hero : The Falcon Of Malta ' ( published in Canada in 1981 under the title ' Hero : The Buzz Beurling Story ' ).

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"Stand by to pull me out of the seat if I get hit" - Guy Gibson

Thankyou

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Go-Flames-Go

Hey, just found some more on Canada, 25% of the airmen defending Malta were Canadian.

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Go-Flames-Go

Malta has a nice little air museum with WWII aircraft. http://www.digigate.net/aviation/html/aircraft.html

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Work Harder ! Millions on welfare are depending on you.

Theres another book called the Convoy (or something like that) and tells of a British destroyer trying to get through. Very good book .

Jet

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And when he gets to heaven
To Saint Peter he will tell
One more soldier reporting sir
I have served my time in hell

There have been a number of good books ( and a superb BBC documentary a few years ago ) about 'Operation Pedestal' and the legendary 'epic of the Ohio '.

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"Stand by to pull me out of the seat if I get hit" - Guy Gibson

Take a look here for a nice picture :

http://www.aviatorart.com/taylor/t-ohio.htm

and here for the full story :

http://www.usmm.org/malta.html

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"Stand by to pull me out of the seat if I get hit" - Guy Gibson

After watching and reading about the battle of Malta must remind you of this person....

George Frederick Beurling

Flight Lieutenant George Frederick "Buzz" Beurling DSO, DFC, DFM and Bar RCAF (6 December 1921 – 20 May 1948), was the most successful Canadian fighter pilot of the Second World War.

Like many successful Spitfire pilots, Beurling developed the habit of only engaging enemy aircraft at 250 yards or less — a range at which many other pilots would be breaking away. His nickname on Malta was "Screwball," an expletive he had a habit of using. Beurling tended to be a loner on the ground and in the air – angering his commanders with his disdain for teamwork.

On 27 July, Beurling shot down the famous Italian ace Capt. Furio Niclot Doglio of 20 Gruppo, Serg Gelli of 150 Gruppo and two German fighters, one of which was the "five-kill" ace Lieutenant Preu of JG 53. For this day's work he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Medal; having reached eight victories.

Over Malta, he had claimed over 27 kills, by far the highest total by an RAF pilot during the campaign.

George Beurling - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

WW II ACE STORIES

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Hi Guys, I am going to Malta on the 29th of July for 2 weeks

My farther in law was based there for two and a half years, he was bilited in sigwe

On his way to Malta the ship ( HMS Arcadia )he was on rammed a U boat in the night, said it never stopped to pick up survivors

After Malta he went to Italy,I intend in the future to trace his movements

When return I will post some pictures

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What manner of men are these who wear the Red Beret ?Their duty lies in the van of battle.They are in fact men apart Every man an Emperor.
Field Marshal Montgomery

Neil

"Air Attacks on Malta" from Tactical and Technical Trends

The following intelligence report on German bombing of Malta during WWII is taken from Tactical and Technical Trends, No. 6, August 27, 1942.

[DISCLAIMER: The following text is taken from the U.S. War Department publication Tactical and Technical Trends. As with all wartime intelligence information, data may be incomplete or inaccurate. No attempt has been made to update or correct the text. Any views or opinions expressed do not necessarily represent those of the website.]



The heavy and persistent air attacks on Malta have rightly earned for that small Mediterranean island the description "the most bombed place on earth".
Because of its importance to antiaircraft artillery, a brief review of the aerial tactics used by the enemy is presented here.
All heavy attacks were by day, with a few light raids by night. The Germans never employed straight, high-level bombing. Full use was made of the sun and any available cloud cover. The practice of feinting was used--starting to dive towards one objective and then turning to attack the real target.
Until the middle of March, with one exception, only JU 88's were used by the Germans. Later JU 87's were also constantly used. The JU 88's approached between 12,000 and 18,000 feet and came in at angles that varied between 30° and 60°, releasing their bombs at 6,000 to 9,000 feet, sometimes pulling out as low as 4,000 feet. Generally, the JU 87's dived very steeply, pulling out at the same height as the JU 88's.
The early attacks were by successive waves all approaching from the same direction and attacking the same objective. As the attack developed, the tactics varied, and synchronized attacks by waves of bombers approaching the same objective from different directions were common. The synchronization became markedly better with practice. Alternatively, heavy attacks were made simultaneously on two targets, the object in either case being to confuse the defense. Later "wingers" would peel off from the main attack to make individual attacks on heavy antiaircraft gun positions on the lines of approach or close to the target, or small formations would make deliberate diving attacks on gun positions, synchronizing these attacks with the main attack.
After delivering their attacks, bombers took violent avoiding action, turning and changing height until clear of the island, and did not normally come low enough to make good targets for light antiaircraft guns. They did not attack light antiaircraft gun positions.
Bomber formations were always strongly escorted by fighters. After a raid, some of the latter would machine-gun British dispersal areas, gun positions, fishing boats, or fighters about to land. Bombers were preceded by a fighter patrol and always followed by reconnaissance from a great height.
ME 109's often carried bombs, which were dropped with accuracy from a height until special Maltese spotters (who have remarkable eyesight) were established in observation posts to identify bomb-carrying fighters so that the guns would engage them. At least in the bombing attacks on Malta, Germans showed the trait, observed in the last war, of doing the same thing at the same time every day. During the heavy raids it was normal routine to receive an attack of about 75 bombers soon after breakfast, a second at lunch time, and a third at about 6 in the evening. This regularity was found to be a great convenience.


Air Attacks on Malta, WWII Tactical and Technical Trends, No. 6, August 27, 1942 (Lone Sentry)

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For the first time I have seen "History" at close quarters,and I know that its actual process is very different from what is presented to Posterity. - WWI General Max Hoffman.

I'm the "Confederate with a pipe"!! LOL

i believe the soldiers who defended malta,later went on to form the nucleus of the 231st inf bde.50div,who assaulted gold beach on d-day.yours,lee.

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fair,balanced and unafraid.thanks,4th wilts..