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The Malta Aviation Museum is
located in City of Ta’ Qali, Malta,
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Hours: The Museum is open daily
from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. Closed Good Friday, Easter Sunday Aug 15th,
Christmas and New Years Day.
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Value: Excellent!
Highly recommended, especially if in one is visiting Malta.
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The museum is located
on a former RAF airfield of TA’QALI “Takali” as
it was known by the RAF. Prior
to being an RAF airfield, it was Malta’s first civilian airfield.
The museum was undergoing expansion at the time of my visit on
September 28th, and at the present it has two main exhibit areas;
one is the Air Battle of Malta Memorial Hangar and the other is
the main building.
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The undergoing
expansion will eventually cover Malta’s connection with
Aviation up to the present. At the museum I was met by Ray Polidano,
Director General and by Anthony Spiteri, who graciously explained
the stories behind the aircraft displayed in Air Battle of Malta
Memorial Hangar housing two very significant aircraft: the Hawker
Hurricane MkIIA (close to being airworthy) and the Vickers Supermarine
Spitfire Mk IX (static display). This hangar also displays a
Bofors 40mm AA gun, and several period motorcycles and four wheeled
vehicles. |
The main building houses the rest of the collection,
including: several piston driven engines and jet engines,
aircraft waiting for restoration such as the Fairey Swordfish,
DC-3 Dakota, Beechcraft Expeditor, Cessna Bird Dog, and
a de Havilland Sea Venom. Also static displays such as
the de Havilland Vampire T Mk 11, Armstrong Whitmore Meteor,
Hawker Seahawk Mk 6, and Fiat G.91R that one can sit in
its cockpit. There are uniforms, Squadron Crests and scale
models of aircraft. There is also a restored de Havilland
Tiger Moth that flew during the air show, although it was
not present on the grounds while I was there.
I noticed the lack of Axis aircraft on display, there
are only photos of Italian and German aircraft exhibited
from the WWII era. While The Malta Aviation Museum is
not a very large one, and it has a limited budget, it
is certainly well worth the visit for any aviation enthusiast.
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I would like to thank Ray Polidano,
and Anthony Spiteri for their time and generous hospitality, and
Lt. Commander P. Webb, USN, for bringing this gem of a museum to
my attention. |
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