Royal Air Force Ta Kali was a

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...

fighter operations base located on the island of

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

, which started life in 1940 as a diversion airstrip for the main operating bases such as

RAF Luqa Royal Air Force Luqa was a Royal Air Force station located on the island of Malta, now developed into the Malta International Airport. It hosted aircraft of Air Headquarters Malta (AHQ Malta) during the Second World War. Particularly during ...

. Other diversion airstrips similar in function to Ta Kali were located at

RAF Hal Far The RAF Hal Far airfield was the first permanent airfield to be built on Malta. It was opened on 1 April 1929 as HMS ''Falcon'', a Royal Navy stone frigate, and was used by Fleet Air Arm crews. It was transferred to the Maltese Government and ...

and on Malta's second island of Gozo at

Xewkija Xewkija ( mt, Ix-Xewkija, it, Casal Xeuchia, pronounced and written as Casal Sceuchia) is an administrative unit of Malta, on the island of Gozo. The population of Xewkija is 3,300 as of March 2014. History Xewkija, which is situated between ...

airfield. The base's name reflects an anglicised corruption of the correct Maltese spelling of

Ta' Qali Ta' Qali is a wide open space in the limits of Attard and Mosta in central and northern Malta respectively, which contains the national football stadium, the Malta Fairs & Conventions Centre, Ta' Qali National Park, a crafts village, and a natio ...

, other phonetic variants of the correct name also appear regularly.

History

Pre-War Use

Ta' Qali originally had an unpaved airstrip before the outbreak of hostilities in 1939. The original airfield was built on a dried lake bed in the interior of the island on reasonably featureless plain situated between Rabat and Valletta. Before the war it was used by civil aircraft, but its runway surface became unusable in heavy rain and so it was improved somewhat by the RAF.

Second World War

The former civil aviation facility was renamed RAF Station Ta Kali on 8 November 1940. RAF Ta Kali was developed at a time when Malta was under intense aerial bombardment and Malta's Air Command needed to have alternative diversion airstrips on Malta, as the RAF's main operating bases were being bombed. Airfield improvements started in 1940 and for the next three years the RAF base was heavily developed. The following fighter squadrons were based at RAF Ta Kali: * 261 Squadron RAF being the first unit relocated from RAF Luqa on 20 November 1940. * 249 Squadron RAF arrived from the UK to replace 261 Sqadron in May 1941. 249 Squadron would be one of the most successful RAF fighter units on Malta. * 272 Squadron RAF equipped with Bristol Beaufighter Mark VIFs were occasionally diverted to Ta' Qali. * The RAF Regiment formed a unit at RAF Ta Kali in 1942. RAF Ta Kali remained a target for

Axis An axis (plural ''axes'') is an imaginary line around which an object rotates or is symmetrical. Axis may also refer to: Mathematics * Axis of rotation: see rotation around a fixed axis * Axis (mathematics), a designator for a Cartesian-coordinat ...

aircraft attacks during the height of the

siege A siege is a military blockade of a city, or fortress, with the intent of conquering by attrition, or a well-prepared assault. This derives from la, sedere, lit=to sit. Siege warfare is a form of constant, low-intensity conflict characteriz ...

Post war

Control of the airfield would transfer to the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

Fleet Air Arm The Fleet Air Arm (FAA) is one of the five fighting arms of the Royal Navy and is responsible for the delivery of naval air power both from land and at sea. The Fleet Air Arm operates the F-35 Lightning II for maritime strike, the AW159 Wil ...

in 1945 as a

shore establishment A stone frigate is a naval establishment on land. "Stone frigate" is an informal term that has its origin in Britain's Royal Navy after its use of Diamond Rock, an island off Martinique, as a 'sloop of war' to harass the French in 1803–04. ...

known as HMS Goldfinch, event subsequently it was be returned to RAF ownership in 1953. It was closed as an active RAF base in 1968. In 1952 RAF

Gloster Meteor The Gloster Meteor was the first British jet fighter and the Allies of World War II, Allies' only jet aircraft to engage in combat operations during the Second World War. The Meteor's development was heavily reliant on its ground-breaking turb ...

T7s were based at Ta' Qali. 601, 609 and 613 Royal Auxiliary Air Force Squadrons RAF all deployed to Ta' Qali with their Gloster Meteor and de Havilland Vampire fighter aircraft during annual summer training camps in the early 1950s. The base was handed over to the Maltese Government in 1968.

Current use

The former Ta' Qali airbase now hosts the

Malta Aviation Museum Malta Aviation Museum is an aircraft museum situated on the site of the former Royal Air Force airfield in the village of Ta'Qali, on the island of Malta. The museum, based in three hangars, covers the history of aviation on the island with exhi ...

, a highly popular venue for aviation and military history enthusiasts. Part of the site hosts the

Malta Fairs & Conventions Centre The Malta Fairs & Conventions Centre (also known as MFCC) is a multi-purpose venue located in Ta' Qali, Attard, Malta. The centre can be used for concerts, exhibitions, trade fairs, examinations, conferences, galas and weddings. After its expansion ...

. There is also a craft village in some of the airfield's WW2-vintage support buildings.

References

External links

Malta's Wartime AirfieldsRAF Luqa RememberedMalta Aviation Museum
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ta Kali, RAF Defunct airports Military installations of Malta World War II sites in Malta Attard Royal Air Force stations in Europe Airports in Malta Malta–United Kingdom military relations