Over 2,000 people descended on the Malta Aviation Museum in Ta' Qali over the weekend for a nostalgic journey through its extensive history of warplanes and memorabilia.

The museum's open weekend, which continues today between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., includes a display of military vehicles and scale models produced by the Society of Scale Modellers.

Ray Polidano, the museum's administrator, said it was encouraging to see the presence of so many Maltese, since usually these open weekends tended to attract more tourists.

Exhibits such as the restored Spitfire and Hurricane fighters were among the major attractions, as was a 1944 model of the Tiger Moth, which is in the process of being rebuilt with spruce wood wings.

Mr Polidano said the museum was trying to secure part of the old runway in Ta' Qali so that it could start these planes and taxi them around.

The area has been designated for a national park, but Mr Polidano hoped a compromise could be reached, because all they would be taking away from the project were a mere 100 metres.

Another charming crowd-puller is the 1935 Flying Flea designed by Frenchman Henri Mignet; the first introduction to the concept of microlighting.

An old manual dating back to that period quotes Mignet as saying, "the plane can be built in the bedroom for less than £70. Any man who can nail a lid on a packaging case could construct his own airplane and anyone can teach himself to fly the flea easily, quickly and safely".

However, the Flying Flea was not so easy to master and an old cartoon depicts people stuck in trees, a flying man attempting to read the manual, and a plane nose-diving into the sea.

Entrance to the museum today will be at a discounted price of €3 (Lm1.29), instead of the usual fee of €5 (Lm2.15).