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A visit to the Aviation Museum by the Form 3 students

Educational Outing

Thu 15 May 2008

On Thursday 15th May 2008 the Form 3 students visited the Malta Aviation Museum at Ta’ Qali. They were accompanied by Ms Joan Ellul, Ms Michelle Sant, Ms Phillys Debono, Mr Silvan Ciscaldi and Ms Graziella Tully.

When we arrived we saw the cockpit of a BAC 1-11. On the left of it there was a Douglas Dakota C47 exhibited on the few last remaining patches of the World War II runway.
 
We entered a large hangar which had a souvenir shop and as we turned we saw le Pou du Ciel (the flying flea) which is a very small aircraft with a simple motor cycle engine with a rudder attached to a wooden frame covered with canvas.  This was one of the first planes that were available for transportation. It had only a driver’s seat.  Next to this small aircraft was a large Jet called the Hawker Sea Hawk FGA.6 WV826 which was powered by a huge Rolls Royce Nene Mk 103 turbojet.  This aeroplane had foldable wings so it could be transported, stored and launched from an aircraft carrier.  We then  walked to a room which had a real old German link trainer which was the work shop where pilots trained using simulations of an aircraft. On the right of the sea hawk was a  De Havilland Vampire T 11 WZ550 which was also a plane used for training new pilots. 

We passed to a new hangar called the Air battle of Malta memorial hangar. Inside this hangar there were two beautifully restored planes one of which was the crown jewel of the whole museum - the Supermarine Spitfire MkIV;  the other was a Hawker Hurricane MkIIA Z3055.  In the entrance of this hangar was a Hispano Suiza 20mm cannon which was used to fire at the spitfire; and an anti-aircraft gun emplacement which was connected to its original truck.  We continued advancing to the hurricane and to the left of it were some tractors, jeeps and a very small car called the Fiat Topolino.  We exited the hangar and the guide Mr Joe Grima  led us into the cockpit of the BAC 1-11 and showed us the basic controls.

This was an enjoyable and beneficial visit. A heartfelt word of thanks goes to Mr Grima who explained the exhibits in detail.

Meldon Karl Borg
Form 3A