Malta's wartime aerodromes

J.M. Wismayer's feature 'Malta's wartime aerodromes and air landing strips' (The Sunday Times, April 6) is, to say the least, extremely disappointing and begs correction in a number of ways.

A better choice as an introduction would have been the report commissioned by the Malta Legislative Assembly, on the initiative of Sir Gerald Strickland, backed by Sir Ugo Mifsud, in 1927. Sir Alan Cobham, grounded at Malta until his aircraft could be repaired after suffering extensive storm damage, drew up a report on the future of civil aviation in Malta by, among other suggestions, identifying a number of sites where new aerodromes could eventually be built. These included the sites where Ta' Qali, Luqa and even the modern Malta International Airport now stand. One sees very little significance in a study made by the Imperial Defence Committee of 1942 mainly concerned with the dangers of a possible aerial invasion of the island.

Now for the review of Malta's airports: for some obscure reason, Kalafrana has been completely left out. Considering its importance as a seaplane base, this is rather odd. Being a sea station does not disqualify it from being an 'aerodrome', since it could function in exactly the same way as a land base for aeroplanes that could only land and take-off from the sea. In fact it was Malta's cradle of aviation and was a very important station throughout World War II. Also, no mention is to be found of its satellite base at Mistra.

As for Ħal Far, it was not opened as a Royal Air Force Station in 1929 as stated, but simply upgraded to such status on March 29 of that year where a Station Flight could then be formed on the following April 1. The airfield had been inaugurated on January 15, 1923, by the Governor of Malta, Field Marshal Lord Plumer. Being a 'grass airfield' it had no runways, contrary to what Mr Wismayer stated, but landing and take-off paths. Its first paved runway (13/31) was opened shortly before the invasion of Sicily in July 1943 and consisted of an extension of a flight path from 900 to 1,830 metres. Work on a second runway (09/27) had also begun at around that time, this eventually being 1,500 metres long.

The length of the runways had nothing to do with wartime operations from Ħal Far, as stated. Fairey Swordfish and Albacores formed the main offensive element operating from that airfield and these biplanes had no difficulty in using Ħal Far. More importantly, the station was mainly used by Hurricane and Spitfire squadrons.

Although Ta' Qali had originally been intended as a civilian aerodrome when it opened in 1935 to ease congestion at Ħal Far, it was found to be completely inadequate for all-year round operations as it suffered from flooding after violent rainstorms. Ala Littoria and Imperial Airways could therefore make very little use of Ta' Qali and the aerodrome remained idle until November 1940, when it was taken over by the RAF. Considerable conversion work had to be done to bring it up to operational standards. As in the case of Ħal Far, work on Ta' Qali's paved runways only began towards the end of 1943.

What is carried about Luqa and the other smaller airfields is basically correct although extremely sketchy. Moreover no mention was made of how all these airfields operated, commanded from information gathered through several sources, including radar, which was filtered and carefully analysed at Lascaris, from where all aerial movements were co-ordinated.

Those interested in information about Malta's aerodromes, airports, seaplane bases and landing strips would do well to turn to the massive amount of highly researched information available in numerous books about the island's wartime history.

My humble contributions can be found in Malta George Cross - Victory in the Air (Modelaid International Publications, 1996) and L-Istorja ta' l-Avjazzjoni f'Malta (PIN, 2002).