Faith, Hope and Charity Three Planes Against an Air Force
London: William Kimber and Co., 1954. Tall octavo, navy-blue cloth, 200 pp., eight additional pages of advertising by the publisher included at the end (unpaginated), frontispiece, endpapers illustrated with maps, five black-and-white plates included. Spine ends and edges of covers rubbed, spotting on edges of text block, foxing on endpapers and several leaves throughout, spine of dust-jacket faded, edges of dust-jacket worn and torn, inside of dust-jacket foxed; otherwise a very good copy. First edition. A vivid account of the incredible defence of Malta by three Sea-Gladiator biplanes manned not by fighter pilots, but by six brave Maltese flying-boat pilots who volunteered for the challenge. From mid-1940, these old planes — dubbed Faith, Hope and Charity by the islanders — and the resourceful men who flew them fought valiantly against numerous raids on the island made Italy's Air force. Against overwhelming odds, and with maintenance on the ground constantly patching up the planes, these three aircraft scored several wins. They were joined later by Hurricanes, and together they turned their defence into victory. Faith, the only surviving plane of the three, now stands in the Royal Palace of Valetta. Item #4692
Price (AUD): $95.00