Malta Aviation museum pics

Here´s a picture of the Malta´s restored Hurricane cockpit I once took. If someone might be interested.
Herbert

…and you know? I’ve felt guilty all this time 😀

I have to admit fulfilling a lifetime ambition in that museum, middle of the afternoon, baking hot with no-one around and Mary Rose just sitting there canopy back and door open. Well it was just crying out for sitting in wasn’t it?

Apologies to any museum staff reading, I just couldn’t resist the temptation. (I didn’t break anything honest. I was really careful :diablo: )

Hey, dont worry about it… they dont mind fulfilling dreams….

OK, Newbie alert.

Great photos BTW. I went there about 4 years ago, great to see it’s improved a bit since then.

I have to admit fulfilling a lifetime ambition in that museum, middle of the afternoon, baking hot with no-one around and Mary Rose just sitting there canopy back and door open. Well it was just crying out for sitting in wasn’t it?

Apologies to any museum staff reading, I just couldn’t resist the temptation. (I didn’t break anything honest. I was really careful :diablo: )

Firstly to you all, thank you for your comments, im glad the pictures were liked. 🙂

Merlin70 – the pic at the end is of the current Market. (Also thank for posting your picture.)

Ian – Im not sure if the room that the Cessna was in was a store room or not? It was full with old aircraft bits, mainly bits for the cessna, but there were other things too. Outside there was a *hitload of spare parts – engines, wings etc.

Did they let you have a snoop around the store room to the rear of the museum, it’s like an Aladdin’s cave of aircraft bit’s and pieces from both sides. A great museum, the present MRSEN830 and I hope to be there in September.

What a great place, thanks for posting! 😉

In terms of making much from little, these guys amust be somewhere near the top. Hats off! Thanks for sharing the pics.

Something NOT mentioned so far is that they have a set of Gladiator wings and parts, and will (in due course) be taking over the Sea Gladiator ‘Faith’ currently on display at the War Museum, at which point they will give it a full complete (and looking at the Spitfire & Hurricane) excellent restoration. Again, high achievers!

See thread entitled Swordfish HS491 to Malta, currently on page two of this forum.

I visited the museum earlier this year, very good. One of the helpful visitor guides said they were hopeful of acquiring a Swordfish. Does anybody know any more about this?

Greta photos. The museum has really progressed. I was there in 1996 and found only one building with an a/c in, that being EN199.

Is the photo at the end the buildings where the museum is housed or the market. My Father in Law was stationed there in 1956. His billet is at the far end on the left of the building used by the market.

Meteor F8 and Takali buildings 1956. EN199 in 1996.

Last few odd pics:

Pic was taken at the crafts village just down the road, which is on the old site of Tq Qali airfield – as you can see most of the huts/shelters are used as the craft shops today.

Hope you enjoyed the pics. 🙂

A few more of the DC-3(C-47)

(Conditions were a little cramped around by the DC-3 and Beech 18, so i appologise for the quality)

Beech 18S:

The aircraft started life as 52-10958 with the United States Air Force. The serial denotes that it was ordered as part of the Fiscal Year 1952 Budget, which means it service shortly afterwards. After military service, the registration N8176H was reserved for it but never used. It became N3114G and then N114G in June 1963 owned by David B. Stewart. N114G was operated by LAVCO (Libyan Aviation Company) from at January 1965. It was re-registered N495F in the late 60’s. At the end of the 1970’s the aircraft found itself at a scrap yard in Birzebbugia, in the south eastern corner of Malta. In the Summer of 1996, Museum members towed the aircraft to Ta’ Qali for eventual restoration.

Fiar G-91:

The Fiat G.91 carries military serial MM.6377, while the code painted on the aircraft is 2-11. In the Italian Air Force’s post-war coding system, the 2 in this case represents the 2° Stormo (wing) to which the aircraft was attached and the 11 was the individual aircraft code number. MM6377 formed part of the last batch of single seaters delivered by Fiat to the Italian Air Force from 1964. The aircraft last flew from Treviso Saint Angelo in 1989 (Noth East Italy). It was presented to the Malta Aviation Museum by the Italian Government in 1998 following the kind intervention of Colonel Alberto Zucchi, Commander of the M.I.A.T.M. (Missione Italiana Assistenza Tecnico Militare – Italian Military Mission in Malta).

EE Lightning F.M2:

A new addition to the museum’s exhibits is the entire nose section of an EE Lightning that includes the nose undercarriage and cockpit (reg – XN769). This exhibit was donated to the museum by Mr. Russell Carpenter of Eltham, England, who apparently visited the museum for the first time last year (2003).

DH Vampire T.11:

WZ550 was bought by the Malta Aviation Society and arrived from the United Kingdom in container on 24 October 1996. In the Summer of 2000, the aircraft was overhauled and re-sprayed by Museum members. It now wears the colour scheme of a Hal Far (H.M.S. Falcon) based No.750 Fleet Air Arm Squadron, T.22 trainer.

Flying Flea:

Built locally from original plans in 1996, the Museum’s single-seat Le Pou du Ciel H.M.14 is a replica of the 14th Model of the famous aircraft. Powered by a Citroen 2CV Engine!

Another shot of the Spitfire included here. 🙂

Hawker Hurricane IIa:

Discovered in 1993 by a Diver, by the name of David Schembri, a few miles from the coast of Wied Iz-Zurrieq at a depth of 40 Meters. It was salvaged two years later, on Thursday 19 September 1995. Z3035 (no.46 sqn) was thought to have taken off Safi Strip in 1941, and for some unknown reason (though now thought to be an engine fire), crashed soon after into the sea, killing the pilot (Sgt. Thomas Hackston). The aircraft, one of forty-two Hurricanes delivered to Malta (Operation Rocket) had flown off the carrier H.M.S. Ark Royal, barely a month earlier.

Cessna L-19E Bird Dog:

9H-ACB on permanent loan at the Malta Aviation Museum from the AFM Air Squadron, wears the original Italian (adopted also by the Maltese) colour scheme. Efforts are being made to return the Cessna to the air.

DC-3 Dakota (C-47):

Currently undergoing restoration in the Museum, this C-47 was built in 1944 and served with the USAF for 10 years. The aircraft was donated to the Museum by National Tourism Organisation Malta on 26th April 1996, after having been in storage at the Fire Fighting School Hal Far for the past 10 years.