On that fateful day, Gordon Russell Tweedale’s Spitfire was hit during an air raid by the Germans and fell to the ground in Lija, killing the pilot and one other person.On that fateful day, Gordon Russell Tweedale’s Spitfire was hit during an air raid by the Germans and fell to the ground in Lija, killing the pilot and one other person.

On May 9, 1942, an Australian pilot, Gordon Russell Tweedale, son of Edward Wellington and Isa Tweedale of Clayfield, Queensland, crashed his Spitfire (BR248, squadron 185) in a Lija street, while trying to fly the aircraft all the way from Grand Harbour to the Ta’ Qali base after being shot at and fatally wounded.

There was a heavy air attack on Grand Harbour that day and, after being hit by German warplanes, which swarmed the skies, the pilot, 24, did his utmost to manoeuvre the plane safely to its base. Luck was not on his side.

On the way there, the pilot, who was fighting with the Allied forces, died of his injuries in the cockpit and the plane nosedived in Lija, a few steps from the old parish church, killing one person on a bicycle – Serafin Cauchi, a gunner with the Malta Regiment. Pietru Pawl Galea was the district doctor at the time.

Carmel Mallia, who was then five years old, was playing outside his grandmother’s house in Lija. Still alive, he can remember her voice calling him for tea seconds before the plane fell to its fate.

“This event was forgotten,” says pensioner Saviour Sammut of Lija, who has been researching the event for the past two years and is planning to commemorate it. He is also busy building a model of a Spitfire out of papier mâché to hang in the street where the pilot crashed.

After being hit, the pilot, 24, did his utmost to manoeuvre the plane safely to its base. Luck was not on his side

Sammut has discovered that Tweedale had joined the Royal Australian Air Force  in 1940 (Service No. 404269) and started working on a cattle station at the age of 13 to help support his mother and brother Graham.

He played the violin and occasionally wrote poems. Later he signed up for a course at a small flying school in Australia, where he gained flight experience. Soon after he joined the RAAF, he was posted to England and then to Malta, where he first flew Hawker Hurricanes and then Spitfires.

Pilot Officer Gordon Russell TweedalePilot Officer Gordon Russell Tweedale

“This episode never left my mind,” says Sammut, who loves to read and write poetry. He cannot contain his excitement as he plans the commemoration in Lija to mark the event on Thursday.

“Wanting to find out more about Tweedale and his story, I first went to the cemetery of the military services in Mtarfa, where I spoke to a man who informed me that the pilot I was looking for was buried at the Naval Cemetery in Kalkara (Grave No. 101). So I went to Kalkara and gathered more information, after which I came up with the idea of organising a befiting commemoration to mark this day in Malta’s history.

“Help came from all corners of society, including shops and businesses in the vicinity. The local council, parish priest, clubs and individuals all came forward to lend a helping hand with the organisation. I also went to the Aviation Museum in Ta’ Qali, where I met aviation expert Frederick Galea, who was extremely helpful and also gave me a picture of Pilot Officer Tweedale.”

Saviour Sammut working on his papier-mâché Spitfire model, which he plans to hang in the street – where the Australian pilot died – during the commemoration.Saviour Sammut working on his papier-mâché Spitfire model, which he plans to hang in the street – where the Australian pilot died – during the commemoration.

The commemoration will be taking place a day later because of the feast of San Ġorġ Preca, which is being celebrated on Wednesday. It will start off at 5.55pm with the sound of a siren signalling an impending air raid. At 6pm the Mosta boy scouts will parade from Lija parish church, through Main, Bakery, Ugo Mifsud and Is-Salvatur streets.

The commemoration will end in front of the Old Church of the Transfiguration. During Mass there will be messages by Lija mayor Magda Magri Naudi, Canon Joe Cilia, St Pius X band club president Francis Portelli, St Andrew’s social club president Joe Portelli and Lija residents Carmel and Alfred Mallia. Bridget Scifo will read a poem by Sammut, written for the occasion.

The congregation will then solemnly gather at the spot where Tweedale’s Spitfire fell.

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