Everyone knows the legend of the three Gloster Sea Gladiators, named Faith, Hope and Charity, which held the line in Malta. But what’s the real story behind them? New research reveals it to be a rather different tale, but one in which the outmoded biplane fighters still played a crucial role
Faith, Hope and Charity — undoubtedly the most famous of all Gladiators, even if the legend involves a good deal of myth alongside the fact. These three Sea Gladiators of the Hal Far Fighter Flight, photographed in June 1940, are N5520, N5531 and N5519.
On 3 September 1943, Air Vice Marshal Keith Park, hero of the Battles of Britain and Malta, delivered a speech on Palace Square, Valletta. Across from him, in the middle of the square, sat the skeletal remains of an aeroplane. It had no wings, no tyres, and most of its cowling panels were missing. Park, on behalf of the Royal Air Force, was presenting this near wreck to the people of Malta.
He said, “In May 1940, Malta possessed no fighter defences and the AOC obtained from C-in-C Mediterranean four Gladiators belonging to the Fleet Air Arm, which were lying in store at Kalafrana. As there were no fighter pilots in Malta, six RAF pilots volunteered to form a small fighter flight, which was formed at Hal Far on 4 June 1940. Italy declared war on 11 June, and, at 06.45hrs of that day a flight of three Gladiators took off to intercept a formation of 10 Italian bombers that attempted to attack the dockyard and Hal Far aerodrome. The enemy formation was driven off, and, during the evening the Gladiators were again despatched to intercept a formation of 25 enemy bombers. Three of the Gladiators were christened Faith, Hope and Charity. For 18 days following the Italian declaration of war, three Gladiators were airborne daily and intercepted a total of 144 Italian bombers and fighter escort. During that period, the Gladiators destroyed or badly damaged five enemy aircraft without loss to themselves and succeeded in turning away many formations of bombers.” He introduced the aircraft as Faith, one of the first four Malta Gladiators, and concluded, “The defence of Malta can justifiably be included among the epics of this war, and Faith has earned a place of honour in the armour of Malta.”
Park’s speech was summarised in the HMSO booklet The Air Battle of Malta, published in early 1944. Both did much to cement the myth of the Gladiators Faith, Hope and Charity, but it was a myth already in widespread circulation. Soon afterwards, Gloster used the story in advertising, proudly claiming, “The official record reports that in ‘the Battle of Malta’ there were available in 1940 four Gloster Gladiators in crates! These, uncrated and assembled, were flown by four flying boat pilots who were complete strangers to fighters! One machine was shot down but the remaining three, christened Faith, Hope and Charity, defended the Island against all that Italy could produce for two long months.”
In recent times, the story has been questioned and aspects of it ascribed to wartime mythmaking and symbolism. Important questions remain. How did a strategically important site like Malta come to lack fighter defence until a shoestring operation was cobbled together on the eve of war? Did a few obsolete biplanes really hold the line for up to two months? And how did they come by their names? The story has at its heart a kernel of truth, but the facts are rather more complicated. Indeed, most sources are contradictory. The full truth may never be pinned down with certainty.
“At a time of rearmament, Malta always fell too far down the list of priorities ”
Malta was an important site for British forces in the inter-war period due to the dockyard and anchorage it provided for the Royal Navy located between the strategic ports of Gibraltar and Alexandria. Fears over its security grew in the mid-1930s with the Italian invasion of Ethiopia and the international tensions it caused. The island had no fighter defences, and only a handful of anti-aircraft guns. At a time of rearmament, Malta always fell too far down the list of priorities. In the summer of 1939, the Admiralty was highly concerned and asked the Joint Overseas and Home Defence Committee to examine the matter of its air defences. The committee could reach no agreement and passed the matter to the Committee of Imperial Defence (CID), suggesting two schemes: ‘A’, which included 64 AA guns and one fighter squadron, and ‘B’ with 172 AA guns and four fighter squadrons. In July 1939, the CID decided on scheme ‘B’ but considered that ministerial approval was needed. Final approval was not received until February 1940, with much of the work “At a low order of priority, when other more important needs had been satisfied.”
The Sea Gladiators attached to 806 Squadron in October 1940 prepare for flight from the deck of HMS Illustrious, following the launch of the more numerous Fulmars which are visible in the background. The nearest is N5549, while behind are N5513 and an unidentified example. N5549 and N5513 were used to shoot down a Cant Z501 on 8 November, the latter being flown by RN ace ‘Jackie’ Sewell.
Sea Gladiator N5520 was used in the initial skirmishes over Malta on 11-12 June 1940, flown by Fg Off J. L. Waters. It was later fitted with a Mercury VIII engine and Hamilton propeller from a Blenheim in order to keep it serviceable.
RAF Hal Far photographed from the air in May 1941.
Throughout the first part of 1940, those conditions were mostly not met. Some progress was made with AA batteries, and a mobile radar unit was provided, but not even a single fighter squadron had been established by April 1940. The lack of infrastructure and personnel was a bar to establishing fighter defences on Malta. It was not enough simply to provide the fighters and their pilots — maintenance personnel, spares, accommodation and equipment were also required. There were only three airfields on Malta, and they had neither the space nor the facilities to support the planned-for squadrons.
And yet something had to be done. Malta, less than 100 miles from enemy airfields, could not go into war with Italy defenceless against air attack. If time were to run out, these shortcomings had to be circumvented somehow. In the spring of 1940, time appeared to be running out.
A Sea Gladiator of 806 Squadron crashed on deck aboard HMS Illustrious in 1940. This unit contributed to the defence of Malta when Illustrious was severely damaged in January 1941.
Found fighters
Malta’s Air Officer Commanding (AOC) RAF Mediterranean, Air Cdre Forster Maynard, famously decided to take matters into his own hands. There had been fighters on Malta for a year, but not RAF machines, and not for the defence of the island. A year earlier, on 30 April 1939, 24 Gloster Sea Gladiators in packing cases arrived on SS Nailsea Court. Most of these were intended for 802 Squadron, part of HMS Glorious’s air group, plus a 100 per cent reserve, but six were added as a general reserve for the FAA in the region. Nine of the fighters were assembled and embarked on HMS Glorious, the rest remaining crated at Kalafrana.
Glorious disembarked 802 Squadron in Egypt in October 1939 to go hunting raiders in the Atlantic, the squadron returning to Malta in January 1940 as the carrier returned for a refit at the Malta dockyard.
In April, she was about to begin post-refit work-up trials with HMS Ark Royal when the invasion of Norway by German forces led to her immediate recall. At this time, 802 Squadron seems to have taken the opportunity to exchange some of its aircraft for unused ones still in storage. The new machines were assembled and test-flown at Hal Far, and the aircraft they replaced presumably struck down and crated up. Nine Sea Gladiators of 802 Squadron embarked on 11 April, and the carrier set out for northern waters. ❖
It is likely that by this time, Maynard was aware that there were additional Sea Gladiators at Kalafrana. He sought, and gained, approval from the commander-in-chief of the Mediterranean Fleet, Vice-Admiral Andrew Cunningham, to use four of the aircraft for a small fighter flight he intended to form at Hal Far. This left two still in their crates at the seaplane station.
The Sea Gladiators were not ‘found’ or ‘discovered’ as is often stated, although this framing was used even at the time. They were stored aircraft constituting part of the Fleet Air Arm’s fighter reserve for the Mediterranean, and a very slender reserve it was too. In April, six of the crated aircraft were taken up by the Fleet Air Arm to be shipped to Alexandria for HMS Eagle, as the small carrier had no fighter defence of its own — 813 Squadron was to operate three Sea Gladiators as a fighter flight.
The RAF and the Air Ministry presented the situation as if the aircraft were lying around forgotten, though they would have known this was not the case; in June the commander-in-chief of RAF Middle East referred to the Malta Gladiators “discovered there in packing cases”. Maynard, as AOC Malta, on the other hand, would almost certainly have been aware of the fighters as they were deposited at one of the stations under his command, the seaplane base at Kalafrana.
The Hal Far Headquarters Flight had been absorbed into No 3 Anti-Aircraft Co-operation Unit in March. Wg Cdr O’Sullivan took over command of Hal Far from Sqn Ldr Holbrook, who assumed command of No 3 AACU, while Sqn Ldr A. C. ‘Jock’ Martin was appointed station adjutant. Martin insisted on taking command of the newly minted and entirely unofficial Hal Far Fighter Flight, which ‘formed’ on 19 April within No 3 AACU. The first four Gladiators to be allocated were N5519, N5520, N5522 and N5531. All but N5522 had previously operated with 802 Squadron, being among the aircraft it exchanged for new ones during Glorious’s refit, and if they had been disassembled and crated, this would have taken place between January and March. The first was apparently ready for a training exercise on 23 April.
“There is a hint that the Gladiators were not intended to face the enemy ”
The call for volunteer pilots went out and was immediately answered. The first to join were Flt Lt P. Keeble, Fg Off W. ‘Timber’ Woods (both formerly with the HQ Flight), Fg Off J. Waters, Flt Lt P. Hartley (both from No 3 AACU), and Flt Lt G. Burges (an aide to Maynard at HQ). There are hints that such a scheme had been dreamt of before it appears in the record — Waters had undergone a week’s training with 802 Squadron in early March, and as long ago as December and January, Burges had carried out a few flights on one of the naval squadron’s Sea Gladiators.
The flight now had four aircraft and six pilots. The story now commonly includes an interlude wherein the Gladiators were ordered back into their crates. Even the HMSO booklet notes, “The training was interrupted once when the aircraft were ordered back into their cases by a higher authority; but the Air Officer Commanding managed to obtain their release again”. Some accounts go as far as to suggest that the Fighter Flight was disbanded and all the aircraft packed up for shipment to Alexandria. This seems unlikely, as Cunningham had agreed their release and had sought approval to do so from the Chief of Naval Staff. The order, if it happened at all, may have been in error or misinterpreted, as it was at this time that several of the remaining aircraft in storage were shipped out for HMS Eagle.
The unit decided on a threeon, three-off rota, with one of the aircraft ‘resting’ during each operation. Three Gladiators practising interceptions and training with fighter controllers became a familiar sight during May.
The cipher messages
A series of cipher messages on Malta’s air defence policy that buzzed between the authorities on Malta and the Air Ministry, the Admiralty and the regional RAF command from May 1940 reveal official thinking about the Gladiators in the crucial days around the opening of hostilities. Far from the stout air defence of legend, the early performance of the Gladiators had the local leaders clamouring for better equipment, insisting that the biplanes were little better than nothing — if they were at all. Their perceived inadequacy even briefly persuaded some in the government to call for Malta’s complete abandonment as a lost cause.
There is a hint that the Gladiators were, at first, not intended to face the enemy at all, and were potentially employed for training purposes, in the expectation that more formal fighter defence arrangements would be in place by the time the shooting started.
On 4 May 1940, a cipher message from Mediterranean HQ to the Air Ministry made reference to normal training activities having, “Now ceased but agreement with local civil and air service authorities in order to devote all available resources to practice for local active air defence. These measures include fighter flight of four sea Gladiators taken from Fleet Air Arm Reserve by permission CinC Med and manned by improvised RAF crews now being trained in fighter duties and interception procedure.”
This hints that the Fighter Flight may have initially been established less as a last-ditch defensive measure and more to help train local personnel in the requisite procedures, in the expectation that dedicated fighter resources would arrive before they may be needed. Indeed, it was still days before the invasion of France and the Low Countries, and the realisation that UK might soon fight on alone in the Mediterranean in the event of war.
N5519, known — probably retrospectively — as Charity, at Hal Far in 1940. This was one of the initial four aircraft to be assembled for the Hal Far Fighter Flight, and wears FAA S1E colours with roundels and fin flash from June 1940. It has a threeblade Fairey Reed propeller while the Sea Gladiator adjacent has a twoblade Watts prop.
A Sea Gladiator in Egypt circa 1942, alongside a Blackburn Roc target tug. This is probably one of the aircraft shipped to Alexandria for HMS Eagle’s Fighter Flight in April 1940, and by now used only for second-line purposes.
On the day the German army launched Fall Gelb, its assault on the Western Front, the Admiralty sent a message to Cunningham expressing concern about the ‘borrowing’ of FAA aircraft for Malta’s defence. “The use of Sea Gladiators and Swordfish taken from FAA Reserves in Mediterranean for new first line duties manned by RAF must result in corresponding inability to replace casualties or wastage in Fleet Air Arm as shortage of Fleet aircraft is acute and existing commitments already cannot be met. Request your remarks”. Swordfish, incidentally, were also acquired for maritime patrol and anti-submarine and surface vessel warfare. Cunningham’s response is not recorded, but he was firmly behind the Gladiator scheme and later supported Malta’s efforts to build up fighter defence against Air Ministry intransigence.
This was not a petty point on the part of the Admiralty. The question of reserves for carrier-based aircraft was critical. Unlike aircraft on the home front, losses were not easy to replace, and the FAA relied on its in-situ reserves to maintain operational squadrons. The loss of the remaining Sea Gladiators at Kalafrana could have had serious implications for the ability of the FAA’s carriers in the theatre to defend themselves against air attack.
“The Gladiator pilots threw themselves into the forlorn task ”
Fall Gelb on 10 May threatened to change the picture dramatically. Within a few days, the Allies were hard-pressed on the Western Front as Belgium and the Netherlands fell, and French defences collapsed. By the 19th, German forces had pushed the defenders back to the Channel coast. That day, information reached the UK government that Germany might be planning an equally massive assault in the Mediterranean. Unconfirmed sightings of German troop-carrying aircraft were reported in Italy. The following day, the Admiralty noted that the report came from, “An official German source” and added, “Reports a combined German and Italian plan of attack on Balearics, Malta, Gibraltar, Greece, etc.”
The British government now believed that it was inevitable that Italy would enter the war, and the only question was when. Preparations began against the possibility of a “hostile act” committed against Malta by Italy before an official declaration of war. This brought the matter of Malta’s air defence to critical importance. If there was any question that the Gladiator flight would actually be required for combat, it was now all but answered. The trouble was, the Gladiator flight was causing complications and making it difficult to ‘clear the decks’ to put Malta on a war footing. The RN suggested the flight of de Havilland Queen Bee pilotless target drones be transferred out of harm’s way. Maynard sent a message to Cunningham on 29 May 1940 stating, “Cannot recommend transfer this flight to Egypt under existing conditions here since removal of Queen Bees involves moving marking Swordfish as well and personnel concerned with both now employed on improvised air defence operational duties for provision of Gladiator fighter flight[,] sea reconnaissance and anti-submarine patrols.”
The Air Ministry resisted putting further resources into the island’s defence, but was convinced of the inadequacy of the existing arrangements. On 30 May, Wg Cdr N. V. Moreton, of the flying operations staff, wrote to Albert Durston, the director of operations (naval co-operation) recommending no less than complete withdrawal from Malta. As for the Sea Gladiators, Moreton considered that even they might be more use elsewhere. ❖
“If we go to war with Italy it appears to me to be out of the question to expect the garrison of Malta to do much good with only 4 Sea Gladiators and a few guns”, Moreton wrote. “Malta with its puny garrison would probably not be able to hold out for any length of time and in any case can only be regarded as a target for the Italian aircraft. The garrison would probably become a total loss to us eventually and the question is, whether the personnel and their equipment would not be more good elsewhere and whether they would not inflict more casualties on the enemy if employed on a less forlorn task. I personally think we ought to abandon Malta and leave booby traps mixed up with all the immovable equipment so that we might not only denied its use to the Italians but might blow up a good many of them with it. The signals suggest there is a Fleet Air Arm reserve of aircraft there. We don’t know what that might consist of but Gladiators would come in handy in Egypt or perhaps in Crete. Do you agree, and if so do you think it worth while sounding the Navy to see whether they would reconsider their desire to hold on to Malta.”
Cunningham was no more sanguine about the current state of Malta’s air defence, but instead of admitting defeat, he pressed for the island’s fighter strength to be bolstered. On 5 June 1940, five days before Italy declared war, he sent an impassioned signal to the Admiralty: “I much regret to add to your anxiety nor do I wish to be unduly alarmist but I am seriously concerned about Malta in event of war with Italy”. He went on, “I am […] of the opinion that if Malta was heavily bombed and then invaded from the air while Garrison was engaged in dealing with panic and disorder caused among civil population it might well fall without fleet being able to lift a finger to prevent it. I am only too well aware how difficult it would be to spare fighter aircraft for defence of islands but […] it might well be considered wise to send even one fighter squadron to Malta at expense of some other commitment.”
A scene that has been described as showing the remains of a Sea Gladiator, formerly operated by the Hal Far Fighter Flight and then No 261 Squadron, RAF, sitting on the airfield at Ta’Qali with Hurricane I W9133 of No 261 Squadron in the background. However, it seems it was actually taken at Mersa Matruh, Egypt.
The First Sea Lord replied, “Your anxiety is fully appreciated. At the moment, with the decisive battle on the Western Front, now in progress, the fighter aircraft available cannot meet the immediate requirements.”
‘Too fast for Gladiators’
On the evening of the 10th, Italy declared war on the UK and France. Fears of a ‘sneak attack’ proved unfounded, but even with warning, there was little Malta’s forces could do to fully prepare. The next morning the first air raids took place on Malta. The Gladiator pilots threw themselves into their forlorn task, but it was immediately apparent that the fighters were too few and, more importantly, too slow.
Malta’s solitary radar unit detected a raid inbound just before 07.00hrs on 11 June. Thirty Savoia- Marchetti SM79s were on their way to bomb Hal Far, with a second wave of 15 of the bombers aiming for the dockyard and a further 10 going for Kalafrana. The three fighter pilots on duty were Sqn Ldr Martin, Flt Lt Burges and Fg Off Woods. The Gladiators were still climbing when the bombers were overhead their targets. Burges saw a formation of SM79s turning back for Sicily and was able to cut the corner, diving on the last as it passed. He reported scoring some hits, but the aircraft betrayed no damage and soon drew out of range.
Eight raids took place that day, though only the last of the succeeding attacks was on the same scale as the first. The Gladiator pilots did what they could, but several of the raids went unopposed. In the last raid of the day, Woods got into a dogfight with an escorting Macchi MC200 — each claimed the other shot down, while in fact little damage was done to either aircraft — and one bomber was attacked, again with little result.
After the first combats, Burges reported his findings to Maynard, noting, “As soon as I opened up, the Italians poured on the coal and the Gladiator just could not catch up with them”. Maynard promised he would see if more speed could be extracted from the biplanes. Away from his pilots, however, Maynard appeared convinced that the Gladiators were simply inadequate. Malta needed Hurricanes.
Judging from its condition, this abandoned Sea Gladiator is surely N5520 Faith, dumped near Luqa airfield.
In fact, HQ Malta had been informed that five Hurricanes would be staging through the island on their way to Egypt on 13 July. The day after the first raids, the weather was cloudy and no air attacks could be made. The brief respite gave the AOC time to make an impassioned plea to the Air Ministry to let him hold onto the Hurricanes. Maynard wrote, “Operations here on June one [sic] showed that [Savoia-Marchetti] S.81 too fast for Gladiators. Although interceptions effected and one EA [enemy aircraft] shot down by Gladiators, only short fleeting attacks possible with this type fighter. Request you consider the possibility of allotting the five Hurricanes now Tunis to Malta in view of lack of defence here and probability of early successes against Italian aircraft which if obtained likely to have considerable and immediate deterrent and moral effect. Have seven pilots here efficient on Gladiator and fighter drill and procedure. Consider these fully capable after short practice of operating Hurricanes.”
Malta’s governor, Sir William Dobbie, weighed in. “Raids here yesterday show importance of fighter aircraft. The four Gladiators here though successful in bringing one plane down are too slow… Believe a few effective fighters would have a far reaching deterrent effect and produce very encouraging results”. In fact, the Gladiators had not even scored the single kill they were thought to have made. The damage from the raids was relatively minor, compared with what was to come, but the Gladiator flight had not been able to prevent 11 deaths as well as six army and six navy personnel killed, with 130 people injured, and numerous civilian buildings damaged.
As well as Maynard and Dobbie, Admiral Cunningham and the commander-in-chief of RAF Middle East, Sir Arthur Longmore, begged the Air Ministry to let the Hurricanes stay on Malta. The War Office and the Air Ministry were implacable in their denial. “Your position fully realised but regret that with resources available it is impossible for fighter aircraft to be allotted”, was the terse reply from the War Office on 12 June.
“The Air Ministry insisted the Gladiators should be adequate ”
The Air Ministry now insisted that the Gladiators should be adequate. It signalled, “Fully appreciate your request for Hurricanes but defence of Fleet at Alexandria and in Egypt must take the first priority. Hurricanes must therefore proceed to Egypt. With only four Gladiators your results are most encouraging and confirm our experience here and in Norway that Gladiators even though slower have proved a match for German Bombers faster than the S.81”. Perhaps here some confusion arose from the misidentification of the SM79s that had carried out the raids with the far slower SM81.
Maynard tried again at 22.00 that night. “Whatever experience elsewhere results here show that Sea Gladiator is markedly inferior in performance to Italian bomber types encountered and paucity of numbers is such that even this limited effort will soon exhaust itself. Apart from vital importance of modern fighter aircraft as element of fortress defence morale of Maltese civilian population is bound to deteriorate unless far greater success over enemy bombers can be obtained than is the case so far.”
Civilian morale was uppermost in the minds of Dobbie and Maynard after the raids of 11 June. Many of those living near the dockyard had abandoned their homes and crammed the roads leading into the countryside. While the next two years of the siege would show the Maltese population to be unusually resilient, the first day definitely rang alarm bells.
On 13 June only nuisance raids took place, individual bombers appearing sporadically and unloading their bombs before attempting to scurry away before interception. The Gladiators managed to catch one, Fg Off Waters piloting N5520 claiming it shot down, but in reality it escaped with little damage.
At around midday, two of the expected Hurricanes landed at Luqa, accompanied by a Hudson, but after a brief rest they took off for Mersa Matruh in Egypt. Seeing the modern fighters come and then go undoubtedly prompted disappointment to many on the island, potentially exacerbating the morale difficulties the local authorities were so concerned about. The following day, Dobbie wrote to Cunningham asking for his support in requesting better fighters. “Malta has had numerous bombing attacks in the last few days, and numerous civilian casualties caused”. He confided his concerns that civilian morale would not hold up for long, saying, “a few modern fighters here would give much greater reassurance to the population. They would probably destroy some enemy aircraft and act as effective deterrent to attack. This is borne out by unwillingness of enemy to face even our slow Gladiators.”
Longmore was technically in charge of aircraft deployment in the Middle East and Mediterranean, but thus far had been kept out of the loop and overruled. On 15 June, he attempted to clarify matters. “I am not at all clear as to Air Ministry policy regarding fighter defence at Malta”, he wrote. “Position seems to be that Malta had no authorised Fighter defence but has shown initiative and enterprise in improvising a flight of inferior performance Sea Gladiators which were discovered there in packing cases and the success achieved by these Gladiators against one or two Italian bombers presumably influenced AOC to ask for the allotment of five Hurricanes en route Egypt… I firmly believe that in this initial phase of the war with Italy if Malta were given even 6 high performance fighters results out of all proportion could be achieved against irresolute enemy formations and most important also would encourage Maltese population to endure.”
There were to be no Hurricanes yet, but two more Gladiators, N5524 and N5529, were unpacked and assembled. The pilots elected to wait on stand-by in the cockpit rather than waiting on deckchairs — Burges considered that the time gained was worth 2,000 vital feet of altitude by the time the enemy bombers arrived. ❖
Occasional interceptions were made on 14-15 June, though the Gladiators still failed to destroy or even seriously damage any Axis aircraft. The pressure on Malta eased slightly over the next week as Italian bombers concentrated on targets in French Tunisia in retaliation for raids on Sicily.
The bombers returned on the 20th, when the floating dock was sunk in Grand Harbour. While taking off to intercept a raid the following day, Sqn Ldr Martin crashed and wrote off N5522, though he was unhurt, and later that day the same fate befell Hartley in N5524. The station engineers rebuilt the latter from the wrecks of both Gladiators, so the flight would gain one fighter back in time, but it was a sobering episode. There were no more Gladiators to be had. On the day war broke out, Moreton had noted, “Confirmed by Cdr Stanley Robinson that there are no other FAA aircraft in reserve at Malta”. The Air Ministry had little choice but to allow Malta’s defences to be boosted with a few Hurricanes, and the next handful that had been intended for Egypt were permitted to stay.
France surrendered on 22 June, but this blow was softened somewhat by the delivery, finally, of Hurricanes — two had arrived from Bizerta the day before, and four more that day — while the Gladiators claimed a scalp. Burges, in N5519, with Woods effected a successful interception of a single SM79 from the 216a Squadriglia conducting a reconnaissance flight in the afternoon. The bomber caught fire “Right over Sliema and Valletta”, according to Burges, “and caused quite a stir”. Burges followed up his success by downing an MC200 on the 23rd, though Woods damaged N5531 on landing.
The fuselage of N5520 in Valletta’s Palace Square, on the occasion of its presentation to the people of Malta by the AOC Air Headquarters Malta, Air Marshal Sir Keith Park, on 3 September 1943.
‘AND NOW ABIDETH FAITH, HOPE, CHARITY…’
Between May 1940 and October 1941, the Malta Gladiators gained their iconic names — iconic in the much over-used modern sense, but also in the traditional vein of an image for religious devotion. Exactly when the names arose, and who coined them, is shrouded in confusion. A study by the Journal of Maltese History identified five separate ‘origin stories’. There is a degree of confusion over whether they were generically applied to three Gladiators or specifically to individual aircraft. It is clear, however, that the names arose during the siege, and were applied to individual airframes while they were still in operation, though this may have been long after their heyday.
When, and by whom, the names were applied is subject to contradictory recollections by those who were present at the time. Waters claimed to have come up with them shortly after the first raids, while Burges said that while the aircraft were operational, “None of us ever heard the aircraft referred to as Faith, Hope and Charity”. He added that the oft-cited formation of three Gladiators only applied to the pre-war period when the Fighter Flight was training, and the first few days of combat. Thereafter, losses and serviceability tended to mean the Gladiators flew in pairs or singly, so the image of three-ships had little time to become established. In fact, flights of three Gladiators did appear sporadically thereafter — on 31 July and 7 September, for example.
Faith in December 1946. Handwritten notes on the reverse of the prints state that the location is “Valetta War Museum, in the Palace, Malta” though the corrugated metal and timber suggest that this was during repairs to the building following wartime damage. The sign says parts were “removed for inclusion in the British War Museum [in] South Kensington”. As worn at this time, the name Faith was in a different font to the one currently seen on the aeroplane.
VIA MATTHEW WILLIS
Maynard’s recollections were similar, noting that he did not hear the names until he returned to the UK in 1941. An RAF corporal, Harry Kirk, was claimed to have coined them on the first day of the raids, while others attribute them to a journalist.
Plt Off John Pain arrived in Malta at the end of January 1941, and an entry in his diary for 4 February notes that N5531 had just been destroyed in an air raid. He names this aircraft as Hope, and adds that N5519 Charity had been lost the previous July. It’s not clear whether this diary entry was written at the time or later. In Pain’s account, the names seem to have been applied to three of the four original Sea Gladiators of the Hal Far Fighter Flight — N5522 was lost somewhat unceremoniously in a landing accident nine days after the first raids. The application of names to these early aircraft would suggest the names were in use from no later than 20 June. If they were applied later than 31 July, then N5519, which was lost on that day, would surely not have been one of the three named machines. The application of names this early, however, contradicts the recollections put forward by Burges and Maynard.
An alternative explanation is that the names were applied retrospectively, to the most active three of the original four. If Pain’s account was written at the time, this would indicate that any retrospective naming had been done by the turn of 1941.
The earliest definite recorded reference to the names is in the Times of Malta of 25 October 1941, transcribing a speech given by Wg Cdr Robert Grant-Ferris MP. Interestingly, this reinforces Maynard’s suggestion that the origin of the names may have been in the UK rather than Malta. The following month, Plt Off Palliser recorded in his logbook a flight in Faith. He notes no serial, but this must have been N5520, the last of the flying Gladiators by that point.
‘…But the greatest of these is Faith’
One Malta Gladiator survives. N5520 Faith has pride of place in Malta’s National War Museum at Fort Saint Elmo. Or does it?
By the time the remains of the Gladiator were recovered from the site where N5520 was dumped, the siege had been lifted. The war was far from won, but Malta was no longer in the front line. RAF fitters recovered the airframe languishing in the quarry. They conducted a very limited refurbishment —a Mercury engine was found and installed, and the tail surfaces were stripped of their shredded fabric and re-covered. There were no materials for anything more comprehensive. It was in this condition that AVM Park presented the Gladiator to Malta in September that year.
The armoury of the Grand Masters’ Palace in Valletta contained a collection of weaponry from the 16th-18th centuries, and it was decided to place the remains of the Gladiator in their midst, further cementing the historic status of the fighter. The palace had, however, suffered damage and it would be some time before the Armoury was repaired. Photographs taken in December 1946 noted as having been taken in the Palace show the Gladiator in an apparently temporary structure of timber-framed corrugated iron. The name Faith can be seen written on one of the remaining aluminium panels under the cockpit. It is not clear exactly when the Gladiator moved into the armoury, but there it remained until 1960.
That year was the 20th anniversary of both the Battle of Britain and the beginning of the Battle of Malta. The RAF was staging an airshow at Ta’Qali to commemorate both events and asked if Faith could be included in a static display, offering to refurbish the airframe. This was accepted and Faith was partially dismantled in order to extricate it through a first-floor window. The refurbishment was carried out at RAF Safi by No 103 Maintenance Unit, and included covering the rear fuselage in aluminium doped fabric, with the serial N5520 applied, as well as a fin flash on the tail. After the display, the Gladiator was carefully manhandled back through an upstairs window. In the 1970s, plans for a dedicated war museum at Fort Saint Elmo promised a new home for the Gladiator, in more relevant surroundings.
Faith’s return to the Palace Armoury following a period of display at the Ta’Qali airshow in 1960.
VIA MATTHEW WILLIS
The mid-1970s restoration by the RAF was more comprehensive, replacing many missing parts and returning the airframe to an authentic Fleet Air Arm colour scheme. As such, N5520 is displayed in the revamped National War Museum.
NWM
Before it could open, in 1974 the RAF requested the loan of Faith for a ceremony to mark the departure of Gp Capt Mike Armitage as station commander. Once again, the service offered to refurbish the airframe, and this time a more comprehensive job was done. Repairs were made to the structure, many missing components were replaced with scratch-built items using available materials, and the airframe was skinned then repainted in an authentic 1940 ‘S1E’ Fleet Air Arm colour scheme, in which it has appeared ever since.
During this restoration, the number ‘5520’ was discovered written on the fairings aft of the tailwheel. This went a small way to confirming that the airframe was what everyone believed it to be. In fact, there is a small chance it might not be N5520. Although the history of the airframe seems fairly complete, it is not beyond question that the aircraft was a different machine such as N5522, or even a non-flier that had been cannibalised for parts and left in the same disused quarry as N5520. The greatest likelihood is that it is N5520, but in any event, its history from 1943 alone makes it part of the legend of Malta’s victory.
In 2021, a project to partner N5520 with a second — complete — Sea Gladiator began. The Malta Sea Gladiator Project at the Malta Aviation Museum’s workshop in Ta’Qali is aiming to re-create a Sea Gladiator to flying standard, incorporating some parts of N5519 that were recovered off Zonker Point, using that aircraft’s identity. Regular updates are posted on Facebook at facebook.com/maltaseagladiator.
Malta’s leaders still worried. Earnest British efforts on the 24th and 27th to persuade French naval forces in North African ports to disarm failed. Dobbie signalled the War Office on the 29th, warning, “The French developments, especially in North Africa, have naturally brought Malta into greater prominence and increased attention from Italy may result… At present I have only four Hurricanes and two Gladiators and latter are fast wearing out”.
However, far from being a drain on the morale of the people of Malta as Dobbie feared, the Gladiators were having the opposite effect.
Sharing the glory
Much of the attention given to the Gladiators focuses on that time when they alone were the defenders of Malta. However, they remained in the fighter defences for considerably longer, operating alongside Hurricanes — the last was not retired from front-line duties until mid-1941.
Within a couple of days of the first Hurricane arrival there were eight of the monoplane fighters on Malta. This was considered to be more than the island needed, and with Egypt still considered vulnerable, three flew off on 24 June. The surviving Sea Gladiators were therefore still important to the defence of the island, even given the lack of confidence in them expressed by the AOC, the governor and the Air Ministry. The biplanes held the line solely until the beginning of July, when the locally based pilots were sufficiently trained on the Hurricane to carry out operational flights with them. The biplanes continued to fly out against air raids, and along with the Hurricanes the occasional kill was achieved, delighting the civilian population whenever an enemy aircraft was brought down on the island.
For the first 10 or 11 days of July, most if not all fighter sorties were carried out with Hurricanes, but as the inevitable damage and wear asserted itself, the Gladiators were brought back into action. N5524 took part in an interception in Burges’s hands on the 12th, alongside a Hurricane.
“As damage and wear asserted itself, the Gladiators were brought back into action ”
A period Gloster advertisement published in The Aeroplane shows how the manufacturer exploited the Gladiator’s employment in
Burges had by now been credited with three aerial victories and three probables, some of them scored with the Gladiator and others with Hurricanes, and the day after his latest the Times of Malta announced he had been awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. The newspaper coverage was a hit with the population and Burges’s photograph was soon to be seen all over the island. Although Burges was flying both types at the time, his fame seems to have become particularly associated with the Gladiator. Indeed, by 17 July, the Hurricanes were mostly unserviceable and the burden of fighter defence once again fell chiefly to the biplanes. Gladiators took part in interceptions for the final five days of the month, culminating on the 31st, when the first of them was shot down.
While there had been fighter escorts from the first day of raids, these had become stronger as Malta’s fighter defences chipped away, and on the last day of July a single reconnaissance SM79 appeared with nine Fiat CR42s in support. Three Gladiators, flown by Flt Lt Hartley, Fg Off Woods and Fg Off Taylor, successfully drove the SM79 off but were set upon by the fighters. N5519, piloted by Hartley, was hit in the fuel tank. The aircraft burst into flames and crashed in the sea. Hartley bailed out, but was badly burned. HQ signalled the Air Ministry’s casualty section, “Gladiator N5519 Luqa. In sea off Zonker Point Malta 31/7. Approx 1015 local time. 37364 F/Lt P.W. Hartley seriously injured, multiple burns of moderate severity”. Emphasising the still-unofficial nature of the Fighter Flight, the casualty verification sheet notes, “Ledger gives 3 AACU Med HQ Malta” as his unit.
Hartley’s fate hung in the balance as he lay in Imtarfa hospital, with “extensive burns legs, hands, forehead”. It was not until two weeks after his crash that HQ Malta signalled that he appeared “to be out of immediate danger”. The nearloss of Hartley, as one of the original four members of the flight, was a serious blow. The loss of N5519 was serious too. The Fighter Flight was now down to one Hurricane and two Gladiators serviceable. ❖
By now the Air Ministry was alive to the need for proper fighter defences, and took steps resulting in the formation of No 261 Squadron. On 2 August, 12 Hurricanes of No 418 Flight were flown off HMS Argus and reached Malta a few hours later. As the new arrivals were prepared for operations, the Gladiators continued to hold the fort. Then, for a short time, a three-flight structure was set up allowing for the rotation of pilots, with six aircraft on standby every day, four Hurricanes and two Gladiators.
Ten days after No 418 Flight arrived, it was effectively combined with the Hal Far Fighter Flight — though the latter still had no official footing — to form No 261 Squadron, RAF. Sqn Ldr Martin stood down and the ad hoc arrangements made back in May finally came to an end.
In October 1940 the three remaining serviceable Gladiators were used more rather than less frequently. There were never enough Hurricanes to retire them completely, and in contrast to the fears expressed in June, they continued to prove useful. N5529 had its engine replaced with a unit from a written-off Blenheim, a Mercury XV fitted with a variablepitch propeller and capable of using higher-octane fuel than the original powerplant. It proved successful so N5520 and N5531 were similarly modified.
The surviving Sea Gladiators continued to operate throughout the autumn and winter of 1940 and into the new year, first as part of No 261 Squadron and then reverting to the Fleet Air Arm when 806 Squadron arrived. The naval unit transferred ashore from HMS Illustrious, which had suffered severe damage at the hands of the Luftwaffe in January 1941. Its usual equipment was the Fairey Fulmar two-seat fighter, but it had operated a few Sea Gladiators too, and Fulmar losses meant the old Malta Gladiators were transferred to keep its numbers up. There were four in service at the end of January, possibly including N5513, which had been one of the aircraft taken from Kalafrana for HMS Eagle back in April 1940.
Numbers are slightly unclear thereafter. In the middle of February, part of 806 Squadron left for Crete, evidently taking at least one of its original Sea Gladiators, and the rest of the squadron embarked HMS Formidable in March. Plt Off John Pain’s account (see boxed item on page 40) suggests when N5531 was wrecked in an air raid in February 1941, only N5520 remained, though a different story notes a Gladiator being destroyed in an air raid on Hal Far in March. In any event, only N5520 was complete by September 1941, having possibly remained with the FAA contingent at Hal Far. By then it had been unserviceable for some time. It was refurbished by No 185 Squadron and used for meteorological reconnaissance.
In February 1942, N5520 was wrecked, first by being turned over on landing by Sgt Jolly, then by damage from a bomb while it was in a dispersal pen. The engine and wings were removed for salvage and the stripped fuselage removed to a disused quarry, so as to be out of the way. There it remained until August 1943. Its significance recognised, the wrecked, incomplete aircraft was gifted to the people of Malta and has been on display since shortly afterwards.
Legacy
Malta’s Sea Gladiators have a complex legacy. It is often considered today that their importance was overstated in early accounts — even when AVM Park presented N5520, he seemed aware of this and was careful not to challenge the legend of the famous biplanes. He fudged the nature of their contribution slightly, by rolling in their achievements with those of Hurricanes in the early months of the conflict. Nevertheless, it was a story that the RAF was happy to play on when Malta’s safety was secured. The signals that betrayed the utter lack of confidence in them displayed by Air Cdre Maynard and Sir William Dobbie, and the truculent refusal of the Air Ministry to reinforce them, were kept safely out of public view until 1972. By this time the ‘great epic’ of Malta was well and truly established.
“A TERRIER YAPPING AT A MASTIFF”
It was one of the Sea Gladiators that disembarked from HMS Illustrious in January 1941 that made the type’s final claim over Malta. On 24 January, Lt Jackie Sewell of 806 Squadron was airborne on a weather reconnaissance when he noticed tracer fire passing his wing. He spotted a Junkers Ju 88 diving towards Hal Far airfield and followed it down, witnessed by the squadron’s senior observer, Lt Vincent-Jones: “From the ground it gave the impression of a terrier yapping at the heels of a mastiff!” Sewell closed on the intruder — probably Uffz Ulrich’s mount, coded L1+HM, from 4./LG 1 — and shot it down off the coast for his fifth confirmed victory.
Lt Jackie Sewell brought down a Ju 88 on 24 January 1941 for the last Gladiator kill in Malta.
VIA CHRISTOPHER F. SHORES
“The Gladiators did not fade away after Hurricanes arrived ”
It is true that the Gladiators did not experience any significant success while they held the line alone, and only scored their initial victory after the first Hurricanes had arrived. Once the monoplanes were present, the Gladiators formed a diminishing part of the island’s defence.
Yet the Gladiators did not fade away after Hurricanes arrived, and there were times in the early months when they held the line virtually alone again. They continued to engage and occasionally shoot down raiding Italian and German aircraft for the rest of 1940 and even into 1941. At least six were used, yet only one was shot down. The lack of extravagant success is unsurprising considering the pilots had no formal training in fighter operations, and they were learning as they went, along with the fighter control personnel they worked with. Given those circumstances, the concrete successes they did achieve were remarkable.
And whether or not the successes were significant, the effect the small party of biplanes and their pilots and ground crew had on the morale of the island’s population, military and civilian, was tangible and substantial. It is difficult to conclude that the legend of the Malta Gladiators is undese