Three Gladiators

In his article 'Malta's involvement in World War II' (The Sunday Times, August 26) Capt. J.M. Wismayer wrote that the naming of the three Gladiators was due to Flying Officer John Waters; names which he took from St Paul's second letter to the Corinthians.

I have always been under the impression that the name came from a young RAF corporal by the name of Harry Kirk who, when seeing them fly over Valletta compared the three biplanes to the three silver hearts on a brooch that once belonged to his mother.

The silver hearts were named 'Faith', 'Hope' and 'Charity', and on seeing the aircraft fly overhead remarked to a friend of his: "There goes Faith, Hope and Charity!" The name somehow stuck.

It would be interesting to know how, in fact, the three famous biplanes got their name.