Faith, Hope and Charity: The Defence of Malta

This is a book devoted in its entirety to the subject of the Gloster Sea Gladiator biplanes in which I thought I could get some firm and documented specifics about this historic event defending Malta with antiquated gladiator biplanes ALONE against the entire Italian air force (55 Italian bombers and 21 fighters) during World War II.I found discrepancies on the number of biplanes, the number of pilots, and the length of time the biplanes defended Malta before the Hurricanes arrived. This is critical information given that this is a non-fiction account of being greatly outnumbered by the Italian air force in an apparent suicide mission.Poolman states several times there were only 4 biplanes with no spare parts, while almost every other source I read said there were more planes in crates which were kept as spare parts. One source said one plane was shot down, badly burned, and another plane was put together to replace that plane. I read several places that there were initially 18 biplanes in crates and 12 were kept on Malta but only 6 were assembled. The discrepancies on reporting this extremely unique, fascinating, and heroic defense is maddening.Poolman offers more specific, technical information about these planes than any other source however, even including conversations between pilots (every reader wants first hand accounts!), so he presumably had sources. This is a fascinating book which offers more details about the planes and the experience of being the pilot of one of these gladiator planes than any of the other books I read. Poolman himself was a World War II veteran.This book is written in the style of literary fiction, with poetic language, sometimes difficult to wade through. Poolman is a very talented writer, but this style of writing in a non-fiction book I find annoying when I am searching for facts (unless the facts are imparted rather than a subjective interpretation of events. Rick Atkinson, for example, is very good at imparting facts while writing in an engaging style).Part of the problem may be that something gets on the internet and it gets repeated over and over as the truth (or until it becomes the truth in everyone’s mind) instead of going to the original documents.Although I give 4 stars for the unique perspective (deep point-of-view), in the end I give 3 stars for the accuracy discrepancies. Of course, in the end Poolman could be right and all the others wrong but what makes the most common sense to me given all the sources I read is :I found 3, 4, 6, 12, and 18 biplanes in the literature. Seriously, I did. The famous 3 planes were “Faith, Hope, and Charity”. What makes the most sense to me is that 12 Gloster Sea Gladiator biplanes were found in crates. 10 were assembled and 2 were kept for parts. The reason only 3 planes were referred to (Faith, Hope, and Charity) is, for the period from June 10 – June 21, 1940 there were only 7 volunteer pilots (or 8, according to James Holland)! Obviously these 7 pilots couldn’t fly 24 hours every day, they had to fly in shifts. So the decision was made to fly 3 gladiators at a time (a suicide mission at best against the entire Italian air force of 55 Italian bombers and 21 fighters!), then the next shift of 3 would go up. (If there were 8 pilots as Holland says and the shifts were 8 hours, that would be 3-3-2. Arghhh! The discrepancies abound) They had to sleep sometime. The people of Malta named the 3 planes they always saw in the sky as “Faith, Hope, and Charity”. If there were only 2 planes, why would the Maltese have 3 names?? At least one of the biplanes was gunned down and replaced.If my conclusion is accurate, this is 3 gladiator biplanes against 55 Italian bombers and 21 fighters at any given time. And the Malta pilots were inexperienced compared to the Italian fliers! Astonishing. There are not many books on this amazing feat and I’m glad to have this book, though I’m left wondering if we know the true story.

The is the true story of three Gloucester Gladiator biplanes of pre-WW2 vintage which played a pivotal, yet almost unbelievable, part of the heroic defence of Malta during the Second World War. In the hope of putting this aircraft type into perspective; only four navies operated aircraft carriers at the beginning of WW2. Leaving aside France - which only possessed the aging Béarn and which spent most the war interned at Martinique, they were the Royal Navy, US Navy and Imperial Japanese Navy. The United States and Japan, however, operated modern fighter aircraft with foldable wings allowing them to carry far more aircraft at sea than the British - who were still operating fixed-wing biplanes. The disadvantages of being so out-of-date in the face of modern technology soon became very apparent - but that is a review for another book.In the meantime, three old Stringbags called; Faith, Hope and Charity were, as already mentioned based at Malta. Manned by a small number of volunteer pilots, these aircraft fought valiantly against the more advanced air forces of Axis Europe – mostly against the Italian Regia Aeronautica and formed the ‘only’ aerial defence for Malta during the critical months of June-October 1940.Struggling to keep them airborne, servicemen and civilians machined and manufactured whatever spares were needed whilst others kept the runway in useable condition. No sooner had each aircraft returned from one sortie, it was a quick change of crew coupled with refuelling and rearming before they returned to the fray.As I have mentioned in other reviews - if only because it is often overlooked, the London Blitz lasted for 57 days whereas the blitz on Malta continued for 157 days. Had Malta capitulated, the war in North Africa would have been lost. Add to this the simple fact that the Greater London area is a far larger target than Valletta - where the attacks were largely concentrated on the relatively confined harbour complex, and the role of these three aircraft takes on an even greater significance.The siege of Malta during WW2 was an heroic siege and the story behind the part played by these three aircraft is well told in this fascinating work.NM

Concise account of life in Malta covering the ingenuity of pre war RAF personnel, how the train, ingenuity, perseverance and determination to stand up to fascism against extremely long odd's.I found the ability to keep aircraft operational with extremely limited spares, safe environments to service and maintain the equipment and the pilot's ability to take off and land on a very limited area and the sheer exhaustion they must have faced to continue the aerial defence, reconnaissance and offensive operations inspiring.The support the Maltese personnel gave the military personnel from all walks of life explains why Malta was awarded the George Cross which was richly deserved.Interesting too see the "cooperation which developed regarding ownership"between RAF and RN at senior levels, especially the fact that the Gladiators were Sea Gladiators! Common sense prevailed fortunately.

A short narrative that depicts the events during world unrest and how vital Malta was to the war. An amazing story about courage, stamina and wits. I was able to understand what my family would have lived through during the world war. I'm glad I read this. I even bought a copy for a veteran to read. He was amazed at what the pilots and the mechanics did to keep these aircraft up in the air.

Came in perfect condition

QUICK HISTORY, FEW NAMES OR HEROES CITED, BUT GIVES THE OVERALL STORY OF THE DEFENCE OF MALTA. I WOULD LIKE TO FIND A MORE DETAILED ACCOUNT TO REALLY GET INTO IT.

Good book, but a little old (first edition in the 1950s) and some info in it is no longer up to date