Work starts on Aviation Museum hangar

Work has started on the building of a hangar which will form part of the Malta Aviation Museum and will be dedicated to exhibits on the Air Battle of Malta.

The hangar, bought from the UK, is to be set up next door to the museum at Ta' Qali, one of Malta's three main airfields during the war.

The Lm60,000 project - 60 per cent of which was funded through a grant scheme by the Malta Tourism Authority and the EU - will be inaugurated in style at the end of September when a vintage Spitfire VB and a Hurricane IIB will hold a flypast. However organisers have launched a fresh appeal for funds to make the return of the historic aircraft possible.

Some 700 war veterans are due to visit Malta for the event, which will also mark the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II.

Pride of place in the hangar will be given to a Spitfire IX and a Hurricane IIA, restored to non-flying condition by the Malta Aviation Museum Foundation.

Spitfires and Hurricanes bore the brunt of Malta's air defence but the island's only air defence in the first days of the war consisted solely of a few Gloster Gladiator bi-planes, immortalised as Faith, Hope and Charity.

Ray Polidano, general director of the museum, said efforts were being made for the surviving fuselage of Gladiator N5520, said to have been Faith, to be moved from the War Museum, in Valletta to the Aviation Museum. The Royal Air Force some months ago presented the foundation with a set of Gladiator wings which the foundation hopes to attach to Faith if it is transferred to Ta' Qali. There is no space for the Gladiator to be displayed with wings attached at the war museum.

The foundation will also restore a Swordfish torpedo bomber, which will also be displayed in the new hangar.

The return of a Spitfire and a Hurricane to the skies over Malta is an initiative of a group of people and organisations in the UK in association with the British aviation magazine Flypast and the Malta Aviation Museum Foundation.

The campaign, called Merlins over Malta after the engines which powered both fighters, is being spearheaded by Clive, Linda and Glenn Denney who run Vintage Fabrics, a company specialising in the restoration of vintage aircraft and which had done some work for the Malta Aviation Museum.

The Spitfire and the Hurricane are both privately owned by the Historic Aircraft Collection of Duxford.

Bringing them to Malta is proving to be a Herculean task.

Mrs Denney said it had been decided that both aircraft would be flown to Malta, with several refuelling stops in France and Italy. It was found to be impractical, and more expensive, to ship them here by aircraft carrier or cargo vessel, not least because they would have to be dismantled and rebuilt, and it would be difficult to transport them from the harbour to the airport. Insurers have also discouraged the organisers from flying them on board a giant cargo aircraft.

The aircraft are scheduled to make two flights - one over Ta' Qali and one over the War Memorial, in Floriana.

The whole project is expected to cost some £100,000.

Mrs Denney complained that although there had been generous donations for the campaign in the UK the same could not be said in Malta. "We are appealing for corporate sponsors and individual donations. This will be a very important event for the collective memory of Malta and the war veterans. No Spitfire has flown over Malta since 1958 when the Malta Story was filmed" she said.

She said the historic aircraft could not carry corporate logos but could perform flights for sponsors.

The star of the Malta Story, Muriel Pavlow, who, as Maria, was the Maltese girlfriend of the Spitfire reconnaissance pilot featured in the film, is planning to visit Malta with the veterans.

The group is coming here on the initiative of Wing Commander Brian Essex after the National Lottery in the UK made funds available for war veterans to return to the countries where they served.

The Merlins over Malta campaign is also being assisted by James Holland, author of the book Fortress Malta: An Island Under Siege 1940-1943 (published by Orion Books Ltd of London; exclusive agents Progress Press).

The Hurricane will, coincidentally, carry the livery and markings HA-C of an aircraft which actually flew over Malta as part of 126 Squadron. That aircraft, unfortunately, was shot down over Qormi on March 10, 1942.

Anyone wishing to contribute to the Merlins over Malta campaign should contact Clive and Linda Denny at Rosemary Cottage, High Street, Stebbing, Essex CM6 3SQ, tel./fax 01376 550553 or via e-mail: atinfo@merlinsovermalta.com.

Contributions may also be made in Malta at HSBC account 027-045053-451.