European Aviation History

 While the RAF's at times quixotic, almost always desperate, yet ultimately successful efforts to defend Malta have captured the imagination and attention of the media, novelists and film-makers, the RAF's contributions to Allied offensive operations in the Mediterranean theatre are often overlooked yet were arguably far more important -- possibly game changing. Operating from the "unsinkable aircraft carrier" of Malta, the RAF undertook a wide range of roles, requiring a surprising array of different aircraft and crews trained for different missions. The number, type and mix of aircraft deployed on Malta was constantly changing and varied not only from month to month but day to day, depending on the overall strategic situation, aircraft and crew availability. To summarize, however, Malta was responsible for reconnaissance, sub-hunting, providing air cover to allied supply convoys, interdicting Axis supply lines to North Africa, attacking Axis ports and air bases in ...

  While the British had questioned if Malta could be held in the pre-war period, by the time the Italians attacked on 11 June 1940, opinion had shifted. The value of the island both for the defense of Egypt and the vital Suez Canal and as a base for offensive operations had been recognized. The decision was made to not only to try to hold on to Malta but to increase its air assets to such an extent that it could perform all the tasks envisaged for it. Yet Malta would only be able to fulfill its role of defending Allied convoys and attacking Axis assets, if it was itself safe from air attack. That meant sufficient numbers of fighter aircraft, pilots, fuel and munition. Maintaining that defensive capability was to prove extremely challenging. Although Hurricanes from Egypt operated temporarily from Malta starting 28 June, it was not until 2 July that a senior RAF staff officer argued that basing four modern fighter squadrons (instead of four obsolete Gladiators) on Malta could turn i...

  The Battle for Malta is too often dismissed in post-war literature as an irrelevant "prestige" campaign of no real significance to the outcome of the war. Such a judgement is facile and presumptuous.  Allied control of Malta was vital to control of the Mediterranean and with it the Suez Canal and access to Near Eastern oil. Had the Axis Powers seized control of the Suez Canal and the oil fields of the Middle East, they would have dealt a crippling blow to Britain and the Allied cause. The decision to defend Malta was militarily astute and the nearly three year struggle that ensued was marked by courage and audacity that earned the island the only collective George Cross in history.  (Below: King George VI salutes Malta on his arrival June 20, 1943)   The history of Malta stretches back beyond the age of the Pharaohs and is characterized by layers of conquest, settlement, and control -- from Egypt, the Middle East (Phoenicia), Greece (Ancient and Byzantine), and Ita...

  The Italian invasion of Greece on 28. October 1940 put the UK in a difficult situation. The Blitz of London was raging and the RAF still licking its wounds from the Battle of Britain. The Royal Navy had not recovered from the losses at Dunkirk and the Battle of the Atlantic was ramping up. Thus although Britain immediately pledged its support for Greece, Britain lacked the resources for a major campaign. The Greeks' greatest weakness was in the air, however, and the British made at least an effort to provide aid. It was too little and the equipment too old to turn the tide of the war, but it was greatly appreciated by the Greeks. It also gave the RAF its highest scoring ace: Squadron Leader "Pat" Pattle.   “Pat” Pattle was born 3 July 1914 in South Africa, the son of British South Africans, and named after his paternal grandfather Marmaduke Thomas. As a boy he went by “Tom.” His grandfather had been a captain in the Royal Horse Artillery before emigrating to South A...