HISTORY

aircraft on the ground and in the middle

of February 1942 the defenders were left

with only eleven airworthy Hurricanes. At

the same time the pressure to re-equip

the fighter squadrons defending the island

with Spitfire mounted.

Spitfires over Malta

In the middle of 1941 the Spitfire production

in its latest version Mk.V was not yet

meeting the Fighter Command squadrons

re-equipment requirements therefore the

British aviators in the Mediterranean and

(later) in the Pacific had to make do with

the obsolete types. Only in September

1941 the decision was made to dispatch

the first two Spitfire squadrons to North

Africa. The transfer started in February

of the following year. A portion of these

aircraft was re-directed to Malta. After

a year and half of the fighting the

procedure of the fighters transportation to

the besieged island was well established.

First the crated, dismantled aircraft were

transported to Gibraltar where they were

assembled and boarded on the aircraft

carrier. After the approach to Malta, the

airplanes took off directly from the decks

of the aircraft carriers Eagle, USS Wasp

(CV-7) or Furious which immediately

after turned back. Except of one instance

when Eagle and USS Wasp (CV-7) sailed

together (Operation Bowery) only a single

aircraft carrier sailed to Malta at a time.

In order to get Spitfire airborne off the

mere 200 m (660 ft) long flight deck it

had to place the landing flaps into the

take-off setting. However, the Spitfire’s

pneumatically controlled flaps had only

one setting – 85 degrees which was

actually a breaking setting for slowing

down the aircraft during the landing. The

solution was quite simple – wooden shims

were inserted into the space between

The first Spitfire leaves the deck of HMS Eagle on

March 7, 1942. Codenamed Spotter, the operation

sent fifteen Mk.Vb Spitfires to the island, which

were received by No. 249 Squadron upon landing.

flap and wing that prevented the flaps to

close and in this rather primitive manner

assured some 25 degrees setting. Once

Spitfire was safely airborne, the pilot fully

dropped the flaps for a moment and the

shims fell off. After that he retracted the

flaps and continued in cruising flight.

The first fifteen Spitfires were delivered to

Malta on March 7 as a part of the Operation

Spotter. Two weeks later another nine

Spitfires followed (Operation Picket I).

In order to increase the transportation

capacity, the American aircraft carrier

USS Wasp (CV-7) was on loan to the

Britons. As a part of the Operation

Calendar further 48 Spitfires were

delivered to Malta. However, very few of

the freshly delivered aircraft survived

more than several weeks, sometimes

they were lost in couple of days after the

landing and there were instances when

the aircraft was lost on the same day. The

intensity of the fighting was tremendous

and peaked during March–April 1942.

During this period, the tonnage of the

bombs dropped on Malta surpassed the

bombs tonnage dropped on London during

the Battle of Britain.

Keith Park in his personal Spitfire Mk.Vb at Safi

Airport on the occasion of the opening of the new

runway on May 15, 1943.

On May 9, during the following Operation

Bowery, another 61 Spitfires were safely

delivered. Immediately after the landing,

those were refueled, rearmed and took off

to counter the anticipated attacks. In the

following days the heaviest dogfighting

took place up until then and Spitfires

inflicted the heavy losses to the Axis

powers.

German obstinacy

Despite this, Kesselring was convinced

that the danger coming from Malta

defenders to German supply routes to

North Africa had been eliminated and

reported to the German High Command

that “there is nothing left to bomb”. The

invasion of the island was thus postponed,

and a substantial part of the Luftwaffe

was redeployed in the second half of May

to support Rommel’s offensive in Libya.

Any further air offensive was thus laying

primarily with the Italian Air Force.

The neutralization of Malta continued