Post by Frederick Galea on Facebook on the 28/04/2020
Times of Malta -Tuesday, March 29, 1949
Naval Air Crash at Delimara – Rescue Plane Driven Ashore
Our Services Reporter Lieutenant (1) M.D. Stanley, R.N., the pilot of a Mosquito aircraft which crashed into the sea off Delimara Point on Saturday morning, has still not been ‘found and is presumed to have sank with his aircraft. The crash occurred when the Mosquito, an aircraft of 728 Squadron, Hal Far, was on a mail run from Malta to Bone, signalled that the starboard engine was giving trouble and that it was returning to Hal Far after gaining height.
The aircraft hit the sea about half a mile from the coast, the force of the impact breaking both legs of the observer. Lieutenant (A) R. Marshall. He managed to escape from the aircraft, but nothing was seen of the pilot. A Sea Otter amphibian aircraft piloted by Lieutenant (A) C.H. Wines made a gallant attempt to land on the heavy swell and pick up the observer who was endeavouring to swim to the shore, but on touching the sea the starboard wingtip struck the surface thereby preventing the Sea Otter from taking off. Lieutenant Wines and his observer A.R.E.H. Barker abandoned the aircraft which was being swept on to the rocks off Delimara. An RAF air-sea rescue launch appeared on the scene at high speed and picked up the observer of the Mosquito who was by this time in a semi-conscious condition. The destroyer H.M.S. Volage arrived soon afterwards and picked up the crew of the damaged Sea Otter, another Sea Otter and a naval Seafire fighter circling in the vicinity of the crash searching for the missing pilot. The Sea Otter was eventually driven ashore on the rocks at Delimara, and when investigations were made yesterday, could be seen resting on the sea bottom. The wreckage of the Mosquito cannot so far be found. The observer of the Mosquito, Lieutenant (A) R. Marshall, is at present in Bighi Naval Hospital.
NOTE: Today, in place is Maltese legislation protecting underwater cultural heritage.