DEFENDING MALTA 100 YEARS OF THE ROYAL AIR FORCE
March 2018 FLYPAST 67“The attack was made at sea-level
and we were fortunate in catching
several ’88s on the circuit which were
promptly dealt with. Unfortunately,
Fg Off Woodger was shot down but
made a safe landing and is now a
prisoner of war. Gp Capt Churchill
was shot down by flak and killed.”
The final Italo-German offensive
against Malta began on October 11.
Raids were almost invariably carried
out by small formations of bombers
with a heavy escort. After seven days,
during which both sides suffered
substantial losses, the enemy resorted
to attacks by fighters and fighter-
bombers.
By mid-October it was clear that the
latest Axis effort to neutralise Malta
had failed. On the 16th O’Brien
wrote: “‘A’ Flight scrambled for a
70-plus and intercepted them north
of the Grand Harbour. The squadron
dived on the ’88s which were about
5,000ft below and forced them to
jettison their bombs in the sea.
“They turned around and fled
for home. Sgt Gore shot a ’109 off
the Wing Co’s tail and damaged it.
Len Reid got a probable ’88, Keith
Kuhlmann damaged an ’88 and
O’Brien also. We were travelling at
such a hell of a speed that we nearly
all blacked out and got split up. Sgt
Tarbuck also damaged a ’109 but did
not claim.”
In Egypt, a successful Allied
offensive at El Alamein was
followed, on November 8, by Anglo-
American landings in French North
Africa, prompting the diversion
of Axis resources in Sicily to those
battlefronts. For a while, attacks on
Malta continued, but never with the
same tenacity as before.
On October 30, an unidentified
diarist noted glumly: “This last week
has been dull.”
The main problem now was a
shortage of provisions, although the
situation was alleviated somewhat by
supply runs undertaken by individual
ships and submarines. It was not
until November 20 that the siege was
finally lifted with the arrival of all
four merchantmen during Operation
‘Stoneage’.BORING, ISN’T IT?
In May 1943, the Afrika Korps
surrendered in Tunisia. As Axis
efforts scaled down, Malta-based
fighters were again able to take the
battle to the enemy. Offensive sorties
clearly lacked the heady excitement
of defensive operations and this isreflected in the sometimes all
too brief diary entries. Often,
diarists omitted to record events
altogether.
On May 21 the Luftwaffe
put in a rare appearance over
Malta. Canadian Plt Off Duncan
Sinclair recorded: “Well at 6:30
this morning ‘Jerry’ gave us a real
surprise by coming over with
36-plus [Focke-Wulf ] 190s and
’109s and dive-bombed Hal Far
from about 15,000ft down to about
five feet.
“They were engaged by ‘Spits’ from
other squadrons but not before they
had dropped six on Hal Far destroying
three [Fairey] Albacores, a Spitfire
and damaging another. One ’190
was destroyed and several aircraft
damaged. Two naval chaps were
injured, one seriously.
“One 1,000lb bomb landed
unexploded on the wall of a pen. It
was soon taken care of.
“More raids came in during the day
but no more bombs. Our boys had
to be content with convoy and islandpatrol. Later on, the first of our Mk.
IXs came in from Africa. At last we
may get above the ‘Hun’.”
On June 5, after having been
based for two years at Hal Far, the
squadron relocated to nearby Qrendi
aerodrome. Sinclair’s diary entry for
August 22 says it all: “Practice flying
again. (Boring, isn’t it?)”ITALIAN LANDING
Three brigades of British and
Canadian infantry of the Eighth
Army landed north of Reggio
di Calabria in southern Italy on
September 3. Italy capitulated five
days later.
After the Allied landings at Salerno
on September 9 the Germans
withdrew to defensive positions north
of Naples. Allied units continued
to arrive in Italy where both sides
became bogged down in a drawn-out
battle of attrition.
In early 1944 detachments of 185Squadron operated out of Italy in the
Taranto area and carried out attacks
across the Adriatic in Albania. At the
end of July, 185 Squadron departed
Malta for Italy, undertaking fighter-
bomber sorties in support of the
Allied armies. The last diary entry
is dated April 10, 1945, and records
mainly bombing and strafing attacks.
Four months later, at Campoformido
in northern Italy, the squadron was
disbanded.
The unit was given another lease of
life when it was resurrected at Hal Far
in September 1951, operating this
time with de Havilland Vampires.
The squadron was finally disbanded
in Iraq on May 1, 1953.All images via
author. Anthony
Rogers has edited
185: The Malta
Squadron, published
by The History Press
at £17.99. More
details :
http://www.thehistorypress.co.ukjettison their bombs in the sea. from about 15,000ft down to about
All images via
author. Anthony
Rogers has edited
185: The Malta
Squadron
by The History Press
at £17.99.
details :
http://www.thehistorypress.co.ukTop left
‘A’ Flight of 185
Squadron in mid-1942.
Sitting on the spinner:
F/Sgt J W ‘Slim’ Yarra
(Australia). On the
wing: F/Sgt Peter C
Terry. Standing left to
right: Plt Off J W Paul
Baril (Canada), Fg Off
J R Stoop, Sgt Len S
Reid (Australia), Plt
Off C ‘Ernie’ Broad, F/
Sgt M W ‘Tex’ Vineyard
(USA), Plt Off C A ‘Cy’
King (Canada), F/Sgt
Haydn ‘Vic’ Haggas, Fg
Off Jones (adjutant),
Sqn Ldr K A ‘Lawrie’
Lawrence (NZ), Flt Lt
Ron West, F/Sgt R J
‘Bob’ Sim (NZ), F/Sgt
J E ‘Mac’ MacNamara
(Canada), probably Plt
Off James (Rhodesia),
Sgt Ken R Mitchell
(Australia), Plt Off Gray
Stenborg (NZ).Left centre
Hurricane Z4941
landing at Hal Far.
This particular
aircraft was
operational with both
the RAF and the Royal
Navy before it was
struck off charge in
late April 1945.Left
Hurricane Z2421
after Burton’s fl ying
accident on June 11,
1941.Left
A poor quality but
historically signifi cant
image of the fi rst
Spitfi re to land at Hal
Far, on May 9, 1942.