What to see in Malta?

Theres always the canberra at the main airport ATC you should see it on landing depending on runway direction

Thats a great site, will be on my must visit list next trip. For a small island Malta has amazing number of interesting places to visit.

What to see in Malta.

Nice Pics. Thanks

For those who know Birzebbuga / Birzie or Pretty Bay. You can go to my Site that I built over the past three years and you’ll see many old photos of the seaside village and nearby locations plus Kalafrana.

My father was in charge of the Power Station at the RAF base and later c1946 an RN base HMS Falcon. You can see a photo of him by the big diesel engines. I think they were Ruston or Blackstone engines. He was there from 1933 to 1953.

Some nice photos and stories here

http://malta-prettybay.blogspot.com/

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Fort Rinella with its 100 ton muzzle loading cannon,the worlds biggest, is brilliant

for a small donation you can fire something a bit smaller,

loads to see, the old Qrendi airstrip, now a road,

and of course the wonderful museum

What to see in Malta

Hi Slicer
Thanks for the photos. I copied the first 3. I’m happy to see the one showing the two buildings / Quarters at the rear of the quarry. Today my brother in law lives in a house only a stone throw from that quarry and in front of his house there’s still another old quarry that’s been disused since the 1930’s. It was said a man hanged himself in that quarry before WW2 and he used to haunt the quarry and the road.

On my last visit June 2010 I met two ex Kalafrana bus drivers. Had a beer with them. One is 96yrs of age and the other is 89 yrs of age used to drive bus number 3289 named WARSPITE. As you know, every bus had a special name.

They’re a happy lot down there.

I last went to Malta in the 1980’s and i remember all the buses were green and all went to Valleta sooner or later.

I saw the George cross in the Museum and saw ‘faith’ as well, But the people of Malta definately still had a distate for their former Axis foes as they used to take the German’s towels off the sunbeds:D

curlyboy

Last call for those buses October this year! New bus company coming up with completely new buses; all the others still working will probably be stored and later become part of a transport museum. No conductors on the buses for ages!

RJC

Arriva, the British subsidiary of Germany´s DB have won the contract and their new Chinese buses plus 57 old bendy buses kicked out of London by Boris are scheduled to takeover from 3rd July 2011 not October.
Only 3 longnose buses have been confirmed to be retained by Heritage Malta with a contract to crush a large number being taken out with a scrap metal company

The Malta Air Museum is superb ,worth a visit each trip to Malta and it is a joy to get up close and personal with the exhibits without the UK´s elf and safetee ropes spoiling things……….

This bus is an ex Navy Bedford from 1967

Well Sandman, as you liked those, just a few more memory joggers…as you say, the married quarters were very substantial, and cool, stone houses on the hill above Kalafrana. Ours was the one on the left of the group..our neighbour was Lt Cdr Peter “Lofty” Wreford, CO of 728, and I believe the last RN pilot to land a Swordfish on a carrier. The buses, of course, are never to be forgotten. The disbandment flypast is of 728 FRU Meteors accompanied by 3 Buccaneers and a Sea Vixen from Hermes (I think) which was visiting Malta at the time. I have memories of watching Buccaneers practising toss bombing of Filfla, a small island just off the cliffs near HalFar, that was used as a target.
And a postcard from Birze!

What to see in Malta

Nice to see the four pics.

The building that is shown in the Gladiator in quarry was the RAF CO quarters as stated. It was a very nice villa.

During 1945, I worked there as a Page Boy for eight months. About 20 to 30 RAF Officers were housed there. One of them Flt Lt Jack Cornelius is still alive today in Wales. He is about 96 yrs of age. During 1946 the Co was Wing Cmdr Bathurst if my memory is correct. The kitchen staff were all Maltese and two Page Boys were employed. Used to sleep there when doing an afternoon shift.

The Officers used to arrange parties, dancing etc every fortnight and they used to invite English servicewomen. The place used to be all lit up.

I remember the CO used to drive an American Ford Mercury c1942 model.

Some pictures to add to the thread for those who may recall the places shown…the Gladiator fuselage is pictured in the quarry on the HalFar road, and is taken from the HMSO book, The Air Battle of Malta (pub 1944). The buildings behind are some of the married quarters used by HalFar officers..the large one behind the Gladiator was occupied by the RAF CO of HalFar when we were in residence. We kids would swim off the slips shown in the picture of Kalafrana, and the Meteors are those of 728 FRU Squadron following a flypast on the occassion of the Squadron disbandment. What a great place it was, still miss it!

[QUOTE=Moggy C;1545546]I suppose all of us have to visit the remains of Gloster Gladiator ‘Faith’ the rest of the museum rates ok, not spectacular.

Remains is the right word, as there’s little left of it and it’s deteriorating fast. Our hardheaded ‘Heritage’ institution who is running the War Museum will not release the remains for a complete restoration at the Malta Aviation Museum, where a set of wings, rudder and other parts have been waiting forover 16 years. The guys at the MAM are now really expert in major restorations, the Tigert Moth that’s flying in Malta now is but one example.

It’s a shame and I’m ashamed of our self-appointed Heritage ‘experts’ who are happy with just dabbing a bit of paint on it and cleaning it externally. Internal corrosion is spreading fast, the canvas covering is moulded internally and breaking up. Unless a concrete effort is made in pushing these guys to their senses we’ll be picking up the pieces in buckets in the not too distant future.

G’day Bill ! Welcome to the forum.
Very interesting to read of your trip ‘down memory lane’.

A reminder of the time when the UK really had an air force…

What to see in Malta

Hi all

Just went through this thread, both pages.
Noticed your’e all old timers, posts wise. This is my 1st post.

Well, I was born there and left for Aussie 1951, only 60 yrs back.

Been back four times since 1992. The place has changed a lot. I love the little Island. Last visit spent 3 months at Pretty Bay Birzebbuga during summer last year 2010. Was brought up at that seaside village and we lived not far from the quarry in Hal Far Road where the skeleton of the famous Gladiator was dumped there c1942. My self a few mates / kids used to go and play and jump all over it. We used to look for ball bearings to make a scooter but there were none on the Gladiator.

In another thread I read about the Napier Sea Lions engines. Well, just after the war ended I got a job with the RAF 137MU at the huge underground workshops at Tal Handaq Valley, In Maltese the valley is called Wied il – Kbir / means Big Valley but was always called Tal Handaq. The RN had a School for many years but that was situated at the top on the side of the town of Qormi.

I was only 15 yr and the only teenager that worked at this RAF workshops. They used to overhaul the Napier Sea Lions engines there. Seen them with my own eyes. About 200 civilians worked there plus about 100 to 150 RAF servicemen, Maltese and UK men.

On my last visit last year June 2010, I made up my mind to visit the Tal Handaq valley and look for the workshops. I got there OK on a very hot day. My heart was beating like a a jack hammer. Brought so many memories.

The place is in private hands now and I was told it is a mushroom farm. Said to myself ” What a great place to grow mushrooms”. The workshop has about 12 large bays and still air ventilated. I could not go inside. Maybe I should have asked. Anyway, I took a lot of pics and you see them here:

http://malta-visitor.webs.com/Tal-Handaq.html

Spent over an hour there and right opposite the entrance there is a sort of a small transport shed. Some men were there watching me take pics so I walked over and had a chat with them. They were amazed when I told them I worked there 64 yrs back.

Yes, I’ve been to all military Museums in Malta. Had a great time. Before I left Malta 1951 I worked with REME at St Andrews Workshops and before that, 18 months on the Sliema buses as an auto elect.

So many memories. Hope I make it one more time,

Bill.

Looks like old vehicle Mecca- The Wolfrace wheels on that Zodiac are far shinier than the ones on my MG 😮

Thanks Firebex for the advice ,very helpful.

Anthing left in the scrap yards or at Hal Far anymore? Years back (late 1970’s) I remember a couple of big Douglas propliners in a farmers field just near hal Far? What ever happened to the connie bar which burned down, any bits or pieces salvaged from that aircraft post fire?

The DC3 went to Taqali as did the Beech c45 .The engines and props off the connies also went to Taqali. The yard on the hill with the two DC3 fuselages and canberra wings was cleared some years ago.The aircraft around Hal Far have also gone. Mr Paolo out near Kalafran still has some oddments and a radial from Ted Whites Harvard on his wall.

The yard EN199 came from is still inactive and full of all sorts of gems but not open for anyone to visit.Information via Aviation Museum.
The waters around Malta are full of wrecks as would be expected and all protected.There is no point bringing them up if you cant start work on them as they will be useless in no time. The Hurricane took 2 years from finding off Blue Grotto to raising the end result is mind blowing.

Malta

If you go to Malta

Go into the war museum in fort St Elmo and ask for contact with Frederick galea he is /was the secretary and I have been present when relatives etc have been helped by frederick who is very knowledgable.

You must also go to the Malta aviation Museum at Taqali right next to the national football stadium. In the short period of years since 1993 when we helped them get started with the rebuild for them of EN199 it has gone in leeps and bounds to a major collection .The Hurricane we got up in 97 has been transformed into a ground running taxiable beuty.

Ray or David Polidano at the museum will look after you and anyone else who wants to visit.they are open 7 days a week. Tel;00-356-21-416095
Ray can even put you in touch with Frederick as he works with the museum.
Anyone doing serious research or looking for parts will find very helpfull people to deal with.

visit their museum web site.

Everything already mentioned is well worth a look,everywhere i turned some traces of OUR BRITISH MOTORISED HERITAGE and indeed I went inside 2 scrapyards, no planes but there were ex-military trucks amongst 1950s and 1960s stuff.Plenty of 1960s and 1970s British AEC,Leyland,Ford and Dodge trucks to be seen away from Valetta and all kinds of old cars from BMC and Ford including a green Austin A30 without front doors which is usually parked outside a radiator workshop along the line of the no 8 bus from the airport.
I can also add that amongst the buses are 34 ex-London Transport AEC Swifts built 1969-71 still in front line service,by far the longest serving built for London singledeckers ever and not far short of the Routemaster record.
I talked with bus drivers and car owners and even a back street mechanic -the old British stuff that Maltese cherish is a joy to see and its a pleasure to get an insight into the owner´s pride in vehicles which have often been in their family for 2 or 3 generations
I have just been to Malta with Easyjet last month, incredibly cheap trip with a very nice hotel b&b for £9 per night so theres no reason to stay at home in the snow and ice!
And here is one of those old London Transport AECs that ran around Lewisham on route 160 early 1970s,on the 268 from Golders Green -Hampstead mid 1970s and ending up finally in the summer of 1980 in the burbs of Ealing & Hillingdon on the 195 and 273.

ZRX61

Cannot recognise the parade ground from that photo. Slanting roofs and chimney tops not quite part of the Malta scene… neither the high trees in the background. Must be somewhere else.

This is the parade ground as it appeared in 1878 (Illustrated London News – detail)

RJC

The Malta Aviation Museum bought the wings, engines and undercart of the Connie, all that survived the arson attack, so I guess they’re at Ta’Qali. We were in the bar in October ’88 and when we tried to go again a few days later it was closed, I believe permanently. One of the owners told us the plan was to move it to Ta’Qali which didn’t seem feasible. I suppose he partly got his wish.