Il-Busbesija, in the limits of Mosta, has been in the news on and off for some time. The area was built up as a 3.7-inch heavy anti-aircraft (HAA) static gun position just before the start of World War II or soon after. The planners made the basic mistake of having it built on the crest of a hill – a dangerous place to be in during a ground battle or when low-flying enemy aircraft are around.

After the war, most HAA gun sites were handed over to the Maltese government and then abandoned; anything useful for building purposes was promptly dismantled and removed by pilferers. Not so il-Busbesija: it was retained by the War Department first as an HAA training site and later for storage purposes. A third line of three huts was added, bringing the total number of huts to nine.

There was also another building – the officers’ mess – closer to the guns built to a higher standard than those built later.

I was the troop commander at il-Busbesija from April to September 1942. My unit was 2 HAA Regiment, Royal Malta Artillery. RHQ was at St Paul’s Bay and the batteries were at the time deployed as follows: 6th HAA Bty – Wied is-Sewda XHD 17 and Birguma XHD 23; 7th HAA Bty – Tarġa (il-Besbusija) XHD 18 and Nadur (Binġemma heights) XHD19; 9th HAA Bty –Wardija XHD 22 and Salina XHD 31. Each gun position had four guns.

This was a time when Hitler had personally decreed that Malta should be flattened instead of going for a bloody invasion as a solution. March, April and the first part of May that year were particularly difficult and included very heavy attacks on Ta’ Qali airfield to destroy the first batch of some 40 Spitfires arriving in Malta. We had a grandstand view of Ta’ Qali.

The four 3.7-inch heavy anti-aircraft guns at Luqa Barracks, which were donated to the National War Museum by Stan Fraser in 1992. Source: National War Museum/Heritage Malta

Two ferocious attacks remain very clear in my mind. In one very big raid, a Junker 88, lost its right wing some 6,000 feet above Ta’ Qali. A parachute opened but it was caught in the plane’s tail as it spiralled to its destruction.

Presumably they are still intact and ready to be rediscovered by historians

A few days later, another very heavy raid was coming to an end when the pilot of one of the last two bombers must have had second thoughts and decided not to go through the HAA barrage inferno. Instead, the two planes veered right and suddenly appeared at 1,000 feet right on top of our gun position. Before disappearing, one of them dropped a canister of anti-personnel bombs – butterfly bombs – which were scattered between the officers’ mess and the huts. No one was hurt but we had a long wait at our posts while the site was made safe by the experts.

By the time the next batch of 60 Spitfires arrived in mid-May, we had a new commander-in-chief – Viscount Lord Gort VC. Things started to move faster. The RAF made sure that the planes were individually met as soon as they landed, led to a pen where the plane started to be serviced immediately with a fresh pilot standing by in case enemy planes attacked and the plane had to take off again. The Luftwaffe’s plan to leave the destruction of the Spitfires on the ground until the next morning misfired.

It was a marvellous sight watching the planes taking off three abreast from our end of the runway, forming up over Valletta before flying north. The huge enemy sortie was met out at sea and the RAF had a field day. Air superiority over Malta passed, for the first time, to the RAF. The enemy never won it back.

Go plc decided to build a tall mast at the site’s highest point when the company became the occupier of il-Busbesija. However, in the area chosen, there were concrete emplacements, including the sleeping quarters of the crews, of the command post and of each of the four guns. It was decided to cover the whole lot with soil. So, presumably they are still intact and ready to be rediscovered by historians. A man who has lived in the area all his life told me this.

He was the nephew of two young girls who used to wave to us from a side window of their farmhouse as one gets to the first U-turn on the road to St Paul’s Bay. The emplacements are safe for the time being and the four 3.7-inch guns held by the AFM at Luqa Barracks would be a perfect fit .The guns were kindly donated by Stan Fraser who had served in HAA in Malta during the siege; he had found them in a UK scrapyard.

The base of the Go mast is most probably the exact spot where I used to stand during engagements.