Very interesting thread. Worth looking out for second hand copies of "Malta Spitfire", which recounts the exploits of George "Screwball" Beurling, one of the RAF's most unorthodox fighter aces (he was killed in a crash at Rome after the war whilst ferrying aircraft for Israel's nascent air force). Does anyone know, by the way, whether the Gladiators that defended the island before the Spitfires arrived were really called Faith, Hope and Charity, or whether, as I have seen suggested, this was a propaganda tale spread by the Air Ministry soon after the event.