Posted by Mr Frederick Galea on Facebook on the 19/05/2023
In 1947, the Air Scouts of Malta were presented with a complete Mk IX Spitfire, EN199. Sadly over the years it fell into disuse and also victim of souvenir hunters, vandals, etc. By 1976, little was left of the aircraft, and that was recovered by the National War Museum Association members, stored, then moved to Lower Fort St Elmo. When the Fort’s parade ground was cleared for filming puposes, all ended up in a scrap yard in Fgura.
In 1992, Ray Polidano, with help from friends, recovered parts of EN199 from the said scrap yard, and this was to be the start of its reconstruction. Early days work commenced in his own garage, later moving out to larger premises. Interest in the project led to the forming of the Malta Aviation Museum Foundation in 1994, with its ultimate aim to set up an aviation museum at Malta.
Many vital parts of the Spitfire were missing therefore a search was on to obtain these, searching both high and low. Ray, manually, made several aluminium parts, however, other heavier pieces had to be sourced, and us members had to resort to collecting known Spitfire aircraft wreckage from the shallow seabed around our island’s coast.
One of the first items to be recovered was a main-spar known to be lying on the Dragonara’s outer reef. Although completely encrusted with sea growth, to the trained eye, one could see a pair of undercarriage legs, complete with pintles…worth their weight in gold!
NOTE: Today, in place is Maltese legislation protecting underwater cultural heritage.