Battle Over Malta: Aircraft Losses & Crash Sites 1940-42 By Anthony Rogers

From 1940 to 1942, supremacy of the skies over Malta was bitterly contested by the RAF, the Regia Aeronautica and the Luftwaffe. Victory was eventually achieved, but at great cost, by the RAF together with Malta-based ground forces, the Royal Navy and the Mercantile Marine. The desperate air battles have since passed into legend, epitomized by the early exploits of a few Royal Navy Sea Gladiator biplane fighters, taken over by the RAF and immortalized as Faith, Hope and Charity. More than a thousand aircraft of all types were lost before the fighting was over. Many crashed into the Mediterranean, and others fell on Malta itself. Anthony Rogers has painstakingly researched the background to nearly 200 of these crashes, interviewing eyewitnesses and surviving aircrew, to provide a unique record of events