Malta has been exposed to the relentless achievements of aviation since the first recorded flight from Grand Harbour on February 13, 1915.
Flying heavier-than-air machines represents an intrinsically hazardous activity, so it is no surprise that our islands had to suffer recurrent aircraft accidents, even in peacetime, due to engine failure, unforgiving weather, human error, fire, enemy action, collision or even sabotage.
Plenty of research has gone into documenting systematically literally hundreds of aviation incidents – see Colonel Mark Said’s Broken Wings, which meticulously records in all available detail these human and technological disasters, often tragedies.
I have neither the intention nor the competence to go over the same ground. I have trawled through my collections of early postcards and photographs to compile this short, and, hopefully, representative, sample of early airborne failure.
Every aviation accident that truncated a life deserves remembrance as nothing about violent death should ever be allowed to fade into forgettable routine. But I will mention only two flying incidents that stand out – for entirely different reasons.
The first concerns Sir Alan Cobham, one of the most legendary of aviators, a pioneer of long-distance flight and a staunch believer in the future of civil aviation. His long-planned circumnavigation of Africa in 1927 received a major setback in Malta when his huge and awkwardly manoeuvrable Short S.5 Singapore seaplane was caught in violent gales and heavily battered. He landed on November 24 to refuel but repairs lasted up to January 21 of the following year.
Closer to our times, the crash of the Vulcan bomber, right in the densely inhabited centre of Żabbar on October 15, 1975.
The two pilots managed to eject and survive the accident but all five members of the crew in the rear of the aircraft and one Żabbar resident, Vincenza Zammit, lost their lives, and the resulting damage to property was extensive.
All images from the author’s collection.