Malta's Gloster Gladiator

[gdenney]

As you may be aware, located at the War Museum on Malta is one of the most historic airframes around - The fuselage of one of the original Gloster Gladiators that was used to defend Malta during the early years of the Second World War. The Gladiator sits without its wings and has done since it was donated to the people of Malta during the war.

The Malta Aviation Museum - http://www.maltaaviationmuseum.com are trying to get the fuselage of the Gladiator "Faith" moved to their Museum at Ta'Qali where it restored complete with wings where it will live along side restored examples of a Spitfire, a Hurricane and a Swordfish.

There is an online poll on the front page of the Times of Malta website. Please could you show your support for the museum and vote to get the aircraft moved?

Vote here - The Times of Malta website http://www.timesofmalta.com/core/index.php

More information can be found here - http://www.timesofmalta.com/core/article.php?id=257759&hilite=gladiator

Thanks

Glenn

[henry]

i think what is happening here is a little out of our league. the questions being asked here seem to me to be none of our buisness.

i don't think we have the right to influence the vote on what should happen to another country's national/cultural heritage. (aka i will not vote on this poll). to me the gladiator in question, seems to have surpassed its status as just a rare aircraft, through it's historic assocation with the island and it's display in the war museum, i imagine it has become a cultural icon, part of the story of and the heritage of the place.

also i saw no mention of ownership if the aircraft was moved, a most important question when dealing with heritage items.

from a quick look at MAM's site they have the skill and dedication to restore, care for and display the aircraft to a very high standard but is it in the general malteese publics interest to remove the plane from thier war museum to a museum dedicated specificaly to aircraft (ie appealing to a smaller audience).

i know that i would think at least twice before voting to have an aircraft on display at the AWM moved to one of the non profit organisations here in australia. there may be some cases where i would vote for it but on straight face value i would automaticaly say no.

just some thoughts.

henry.

[Forgotten Field]

Is this one of the original three? Also, which one was replaced due to a crash?

[Mike]

i don't think we have the right to influence the vote on what should happen to another country's national/cultural heritage.

.......unless it happens to be in PNG, perhaps?

[Mike]

Is this one of the original three? Also, which one was replaced due to a crash?

There never were just three, and the myth about them being named 'Faith', 'Hope' and 'Charity' during the early days of the seige of Malta probably grew up after the event. There were 6 (IIRC) Sea Gladiators available on Malta, of which usually around 3 were servicable at any one time.

It should be remembered that the true defenders of Malta were the Hurricanes and, later, Spitfires - the few days that the island was defended only by Gladiators being something of a sideshow to the main events.

The excellent Aviation Museum on Malta is somewhat remote (to say the least) - it would be nice if a way could be found to fully restore the Gladiator and keep it on display in the capital, Valletta IMHO.

[k5083]

I agree with Henry, there is so much more information needed before I, at least, could even pretend to have a valid opinion on the subject.

I wouldn't worry about the poll being taken seriously. It is obviously less valid than the voting on "American Idol" -- er, sorry, "Pop Idol" for you folks who invented it -- and the only risk is that one side or the other will misuse the results and pretend they actually mean something.

August

[tom d. friedman]

it's ironic that the same controversy can be related to swamp ghost on the other side of the planet.