Gladiator 'Faith'

I refer to the letter by Victor J. Debono (January 2) entitled An Appeal To The Cabinet, on the failure to rebuild the opera house. I would like to point out that another case which seems to have fallen victim of the syndrome adequately described by Mr Debono is the Gloster Gladiator "Faith", the fuselage of which is currently exhibited at the National War Museum at Fort St Elmo.

The Malta Aviation Museum Foundation, which as far as I am concerned is one of Malta's best and most professionally run museums, has been campaigning for a long time with the concerned authorities for the Gladiator fuselage to be handed over to it for complete restoration and eventual appropriate display in the Museum's purposely constructed Air Battle of Malta hangar.

A handful of Gloster Gladiators flown by valiant British airmen of the Royal Air Force and backed on the ground by Maltese and British servicemen alike were responsible for destroying and keeping enemy bombers at bay in the early days of the Siege of Malta during WWII. The Gladiator Faith symbolises Malta's struggle and final victory over Fascism and Nazism and is a proud monument to those who fell in Malta's defence.

This aircraft, therefore, deserves to be restored to its original glory and to be displayed proudly next to the already restored Hurricane and Spitfire aircraft at the Aviation Museum at Ta' Qali rather than be left in its incomplete and inconspicuous state at the National War Museum. The Aviation Museum has even gone as far as to acquire a set of wings for the Gladiator but not even this fact has managed to convince the authorities to transfer the aircraft to the Museum's premises at Ta' Qali.

It seems therefore that someone may be using bureaucracy and delaying tactics as a method of concealing other reasons that may possibly exist for not having this aircraft properly displayed. These reasons could very well be similar to those identified by Mr Debono.

What a pity and what a shame!