Biggles stopped by Malta to refuel during his pursuit of the drug smuggling ship in Biggles' Combined Operation. He was flying an Otter amphibian, it is unlikely that he landed at the R.A.F. seaplane base at Calafrana. Although the base was still used by the R.A.F. in the late 1950s when he arrived, it stopped receiving marine aircraft in 1946. It is more likely that Biggles would have used the civil airport, then known as Luqa Airport now also known as Malta International Airport.
In Sergeant Bigglesworth C.I.D., Algy and Bertie transited Malta enroute to Bahrein in a Mosquito. Most likely they would have landed at Luqa.
Malta International Airport was first planned as a military airfield in 1935 when the R.A.F. felt that it needed an all-weather airfield as a supplement to the existing seaplane base at Calafrana and the airstrips at Hal-Far and Ta' Qali. Work started in 1939 and Luqa became the first airfield in Malta to have a paved runway. The original airfield had 4 runways, the existing 06/24 and 14/32 (which have since been lengthened) and 18/36 and 09/27 which are no longer in use although traces of them remain as roads or taxiways.
Luqa played an important role during World War 2, hosting several R.A.F. squadrons. Fighter squadrons at Luqa defended Malta against attacks from the Luftwaffe and the Italian Air Force while squadrons of Wellington bombers and strike aircraft such as Beauforts and Beaufighters ensured Allied control of the Mediterranean sea lanes, interdicting Axis convoys attempting to resupply Rommel in the North African desert.
The R.A.F. continued to operate an air base at Luqa after the war, basing squadrons of Meteors, Lancasters and Shackletons there. The R.A.F. presence at Luqa would continue until 1978.
After World War 2, Malta's civil air traffic began to focus on Luqa, with an apron (Park 8) being devoted to civil aircraft. In the early days, the civil air terminal shared the facilities of the R.A.F. terminal but as passenger traffic grew, the need for a separate terminal became apparent. The government financed a civil air terminal in 1956 and this was opened in 1958 at Apron 8. Biggles would certainl have seen the R.A.F. terminal, and may have seen the 1956 terminal, depending on when he visited Malta.
Following Malta's independence in 1964, the Maltese government began to plan for the expansion of Luqa to accommodate the latest passenger jet aircraft. in 1972 work was begun to extend runway 13/31. The works which more than doubled the runway length to its present-day size were completed in 1977 and made the airport capable of accommodating the largest B747 aircraft. In 1989 work began on a new passenger terminal at Apron 9 and this was completed in 1992.[2] The new terminal was state of the art and since that time Malta has frequently won awards. In 2013 for example, Malta was in the Skytrax Top 10 World's Best Airports (in the Airports under 5 million passengers a year category).
This chart shows the modern day layout of Luqa but the two runways would have been familiar to Biggles. In his time, the two runways intersected. More recently, runway 13 (was 14) has been extended southwards and the threshold moved south so that the two now do not intersect. The apron with the terminal building is apron 9, where the main passenger activity now takes place. The cargo terminal was the old terminal built in 1956 and stands on apron 8. Near the threshold of runway 24 (was 23) (where you see the number "232.6" is the location of the old RAF terminal and old control tower. Not to be used for actual navigation.
Images of the airside buildings at Luqa are rare. This image comes from the X-plane 11 flight simulator with scenery for Luqa Airport LMML provided by Justsim. This is the RAF terminal which Biggles would have seen at the threshold of runway 24. The building is still there and is between aprons 1 and 2, which are now used for general aviation.
Also from the X-plane 11 flight simulator is this airside shot of apron 8, today the cargo terminal. This was the old passenger terminal built in 1956. Most tourists won't see this today because they would go to apron 9 where the new terminal is located.
References[]
- ↑ Malta AIP
- ↑ Maltese History & Heritage: Airfields - an excellent history of aviation and airfields in Malta, a project that is part of the Vassallomalta.com website. Archive URL
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