My father's Spitfire squadron leader, Canadian Wally McLeod, died in aerial combat on my father's 25th Birthday, September 27th ,1944 . He practically worshipped this guy. When McLeod came back to Canada to assemble a Spitfire squadron from Hurricane pilots ,he was already a fighter ACE from (gun camera confirmed) plane - kills over MALTA .

@colinvannurden3090

4 ай бұрын

RIP.

@justintime1307

4 ай бұрын

We owe so much to those men. I often wonder what they would think of our world today. As I'm in Scotland I'd always thought of a Scotland ruling our own nation. Being a British army vet I wonder what my grandparents would think of oir petty governments breaking up the UK or indeed the Tyranny of the canadian government today. I never understood why our grandparents refused to talk about the war until I'd been deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan. Those men of your fathers day were the real heroes, non of us are today

@Spiritofaconure

4 ай бұрын

Who was your father?

@brucemcnair8887

3 ай бұрын

Our Fathers may have been friends. My Dad’s name was Buck McNair. He flew during the Siege. Malta remained a significant part of his life. A classic tale of good destroying evil through commitment, guts and never giving up. 👍🏻

@davidbaggs2273

3 ай бұрын

Those men were all Heros!!!

No mention of the Common wealth pilots who flew 3 obsolete aircraft early in the war to defend the island. Faith, Hope, and Charity were names given to the planes. Against unbelievable odds, they held off the Italian Air Force.

@davidpope3943

4 ай бұрын

These were Sea Gladiators and there were actually more than three of them, they just tried to keep three airworthy. As they were naval aircraft, the airspeed was calibrated in knots instead of mph and of course they had the heavy and to them useless arrestor hook. They were modified during their use, replacing the original wooden two blade prop with three bladed metal props, the engines ended up being replaced with spare engines from the Blenheim bombers on the island ~ which required quite a bit of work blanking off the functionality for the Blenheim that wasn’t needed on the Gladiators. As they were so slow, the pilots on alert had to sit in the cockpit in the blistering sun ~ there’s a great photo of one of them sitting with an umbrella sticking out the cockpit as a sunshade. Even when they were replaced by Hurricanes the Gladiators were still used when necessary. One was modified by the head of the RAF engineering team ~ a team who rarely get the huge respect they deserve ~ with two extra machine guns mounted in the top wing. The idea was to fly at low-level around Grand Harbour ~ the main target apart from the airfields ~ and catch German dive-bombers as they were brought out of their dive by auto-pilot when the enemy pilot could well have greyed or even blacked out, presenting an easy target. Unfortunately, after all the work put into this plan, the Gladiator ~ which they’d rechristened ‘The Bloodiator’ was quickly ’spitchered’ on the ground in a strafing attack. The fuselage of Sea Gladiator N3319, believed to be ‘Faith’ sits in the museum in Valletta. I’ve seen it a few times over the years when I’ve been to Malta. You can almost feel the history radiating off it.

@user-mq4vo3mk1s

4 ай бұрын

@@davidpope3943 I read there story many years back. I was rather disappointed when this podcast ignored them.

@michealhand1001

4 ай бұрын

More Woke Carp you can,t put everything into a documentary. People can google that info,,.

@davidbaggs2273

3 ай бұрын

There were definitely Hero’s!!

@minhthunguyendang9900

Ай бұрын

@@michealhand1001 just a few minutes of recalling of their sacrifice wouldn’t spoil the video.

Malta was an absolutely vital Allied base whose importance belies its tiny physical size. Nelson had known this. Napoleon had known this .Yet by WW2, it was left with totally inadequate defences, such as a scraped together ‘airforce’ consisting of a handful of obsolete biplane fighters that had to be scrounged off the Royal Navy and flown initially be a few volunteer pilots who weren’t even trained as fighter pilots. Indeed, in charge of this little band was Flight Lieutenant George Burges who until then had been a flying-boat captain. One typically grandiose Axis plan was for the Germans and the Italians to neutralise Malta, take Egypt and the Suez Canal and then continue through the Middle East to meet up with the Japanese who were supposed to take Burma, then India and head towards their Axis partners. The forces on Malta, by interdiction particularly on fuel supplies to the Africa Korps by plane and submarine attacks on German and Italian convoys, effectively crippled Rommel’s forces. It’s no coincidence that Rommel’s greatest successes occurred when Malta was placed under the greatest pressure, becoming the ‘most bombed place on the planet’ enduring over three thousand air raids. Plus Malta tied up vital Luftwaffe assets that could have been used to great effect in the Russian campaign. That brave little island, called the ‘unsinkable aircraft carrier’ has been credited as the key to Allied victory in Europe and truly deserved the award of the George Cross for the valour of the entire Maltese population. It’s another story that should never be forgotten.

“To honour her brave people I award the George Cross to the Island Fortress of Malta to bear witness to a heroism and devotion that will long be famous in history”. King George VI April 15, 1942 (Yes, the entire island rated the award)

@rickschlosser6793

4 ай бұрын

So, in response to receiving the award what did they do? They put the George Cross on their flag where it remains to this day.

@jesterm7597

4 ай бұрын

Delighted you posted this. Was going to do same.. A real oversight not to mention this in the film which is excellent 👍

@whitebeardedgnu

4 ай бұрын

⁠@@jesterm7597 credit, where credit is due. They suffered - and triumphed!

@lesliemartin7061

4 ай бұрын

That was what surprised me the most, that the King Awarding the entire island and population the George Cross wasn't mentioned.

@mikekelly6023

4 ай бұрын

Or say thank you to all the Canadians who died saving Malta from the Nazi’s ! Well done Canada 🇨🇦❤️💪

Thank god for Keith Park!

Informative program, not bad considering it's only 45 minutes. It's also great we can still interview eyewitnesses of these events because they're still alive today. I just looked it up, here in USA; 119K WWII veterans are still with us as of 2023, amazing! What a life they all of experienced!!!!

I've seen this video before, but it is STILL an Excellent documentary! Well worth watching!

Kiwi AVM Keith Park, sidelined along with his boss, Hugh Dowding, after the Battle of Britain, showed how good a strategist and tactician he really was! And after this he was sent to SE Asia Command to win the air war in Burma! Outstanding - and still remembered in his home in Thames, New Zealand!

It was a wonderful historical coverage video about the strategic position of Malta 🇲🇹 Island in the intermediate of Mediterranean sea

The hurricane was always the workhorse and very understated regardless of more battles than the spitfires

Amazing documentary. I wish I'd known more about this before my three trips to Malta. In those days 40 years ago my interest in history was zero but as I've got older these things fascinate me. Such bravery by all involved. What never ceases to amaze me is how young the pilots were - really just boys.

It was never mentioned that the people of MALTA ISLAND received the GEORGE CROSS for their defense of MALTA .

Big ups to y'all for this fascinating presentation.

Interesting historical narrative of the battle of Malta during WWII.

George "Buzz" Beurling ..........a Canadian hero of malta

Ok this kind of documentary is not text Must skip much But Gives visual sense General context And emotional connection Very high quality documentary

Germany did send paratroopers to Crete, having high losses. Mussolini could have easily made the same with Malta, but as usual Italian generals did have a lot of cheap talk and colourful uniforms, surely a good salary, but did not want to leave their comfort zone. Big luck for Malta !

Jika kita tarik waktu ke belakang maka kita akan mengerti begitu dasyatnya sejarah peperangan,, salam dari indonesia

10:45 I love veterans, this is a stoic man, how brave he is telling this story and still able to smile and laugh, I can tell he has found peace in all the horrible things that have happened, he is a lucky man,wish I could shake his hand and thank him

Norm Christie is one of the best presenters / historians on WW2 by far. Passionate, articulate and knowledgeable.

You missed so many details. How did the squadron make it to Malta? How were they supplied? Ultra secret? A good story however you are missing the horrific reality. Billy Bishop? Welcome to the hornets nest. Low on fuel, how did they get resupplied? Thank you for sharing this part of history.

@robertdelacruz2951

4 ай бұрын

There are several excellent documentaries about the Malta campaign. I suspect you know them well. 😁

@kurotsuki7427

4 ай бұрын

Well for me it was at least a nice overview of a location that is so rarely talked about and gives me things to look up.

@user-mq4vo3mk1s

4 ай бұрын

Winston Churchill made the comment about how a Hornet stings twice.

@davidpope3943

4 ай бұрын

@@user-mq4vo3mk1s He actually said ‘Who said a Hornet couldn’t sting twice?’ I think he got his insects mixed up and was thinking of a bee that can only sting once.

@Phalanx.Digital

2 ай бұрын

They have roughly 45 minutes to tell a story that’s both informational but also engaging. I’d do some extended research on your own time to answer your remaining questions!

I have heard of this grinding battle. The US Marines and Naval flyers developed a stratagy called, 'Thatch and Weave' (?). I wonder if a similar method was developed here?

@brucebutcher7642

3 ай бұрын

Thatch weave. Named after an American Pacific ace. It involved a pilot and his wingman acting together in such a fashion as to cover visual blindspots, work in tandem to engage enemy planes and such. I could google it but I'm lazy.

My dad was in the RAF in the siege of Malta. He said the hardest part was the starvation.

@eddiecalderone

3 ай бұрын

Imagine today we complain if our Amazon package is late? My grandfather was in the Royal Navy like two of his brothers, the other two were in the merchant navy…. We are from Valletta, every single able man served in the Royal Navy or merchant navy from the Crimean war till the suez crisis…

If the Axis would have invaded Malta, could have secured a supply line to North Africa. I think this would have delayed the Allied victory in North Africa

Was sir Keith park involved 🇳🇿

thank you

The folk of Malta were amazing brave people , true heroes all .

I like this guys documentaries that I have watched, I wish there were more modern wars covered also though, but they get some good footage of locations affected by ww2

You forgot to mention the bi-planes who fought before the hurricanes arrived.

Prufs History Prugram thanks 🚀🎲🚀🚀🚀🌎

Damnit

Air-Marshal Keith Park a Commonwealth New Zealander, The Savior of 🇬🇧 in 1940, was sent to Malta 🇲🇹 to save the island. And he did it again.

HEROES 1 & ALL.

what most people dont understand is the simple fact that britain does not surrender....never has and never will !!!!

@brucebutcher7642

3 ай бұрын

Singapore?

@Flintlockon

3 ай бұрын

​@@brucebutcher7642Battle's can be won and lost but Britain never surrendered to the Axis forces and won the war.

I agree God sent Keith park to save Malta. Also the several Malta convoy s

I saw this video 10 years ago ? It IS NOT an unbiased documentary.

The small force of anti air craft gunners - commanded by an Abela - and supposed hopeless force of 4,000 men, who were 'written off,' is all it took to win WW2... :)

funny how all diving/falling aircraft have jerico horn sounds like a stuka.... just simply false !!!

First!😊

malta and laos the two most bombed countries

Turned the war in Africa

Just because the ship was American and called the Ohio doesn’t mean the yanks had much to do with anything “the saviour Santa Maria America “ what the F😡