A visit to the Aviation Museum at Ta' Qali last year by the owner of an airworthy Fairey Swordfish Mk II has set the museum on the path to get one of these famous and rare WWII aircraft.
Canadian Bob Spence, who still flies his own Fairey Swordfish, one of the only four remaining airworthy ones, has agreed to sell to the museum a Fairey Swordfish that Mr Spence had bought to cannibalise for his Swordfish.
The plane will cost the museum Lm13,000, excluding transport costs from Ontario.
Museum director general Ray Polidano said the Swordfish would be another long-term restoration project - like the Hurricane project - that will pull aviation enthusiasts from all over the world.
"People interested in aviation history will be lured to come to Malta instead of going elsewhere to see the Swordfish. Only 12 survive, eight of them in museums in the UK and Canada.
"We are looking for donations to raise the amount needed to buy the plane and start restoring it."
The Swordfish was a cumbersome plane which was already obsolete by the second world war. They are closely linked to Malta because they were operational here as early as 1935.
During WWII pilots flying Swordfish distinguished themselves attacking enemy shipping.
The spoils of war of Swordfish aircraft included the crippling of the Italian Fleet at Taranto and the damaging of the steering gear of the feared German battleship, the Bismarck, that effectively spelt the end of that awesome war machine.
In a bid to assist the Aviation Museum to raise money for the purchase of the Swordfish, the late Charles Pugliesevich, consul for Malta in Canada had given the museum a 1982 Cadillac Seville Saloon.
This sleek car would appeal to collectors and to firms offering car hire for weddings. It can be viewed at the Gasan showroom in Mriehel.
The car, still in its original spray and in good working condition, will go to the highest bidder. Bids are to be passed on to the Aviation Museum at Ta' Qali, RBT 13, tel. 2141 6095, email: aviation@digigate.net.
The Swordfish was extremely easy to fly and easy to land on a carrier deck. Although the Swordfish was stable around all axes, it could make remarkably short turns.
It could dive vertically to very close to the sea surface, and suddenly make an abrupt pull-out.
Fairey Swordfish Mk II was equipped with a 750hp Bristol Pegasus 30 radial engine. It had a wing span of 13.92m, a length of 11.12m, height of 3.93m and a wing area of 56.39 square metres.
The armament included one fixed forward-firing Browning .303 machine-gun and one .303 Vickers K gun in the rear cockpit. An 18-inch 731kg torpedo, a 681kg mine, bombs, or four depth charges could be carried. There were racks under the wings for eight 3-inch rockets.