Royal Air Force Luqa was a

Royal Air Force station The Royal Air Force (RAF) operates several stations throughout the United Kingdom and overseas. This includes front-line and training air bases, support, administrative and training stations with no flying activity, unmanned airfields used fo ...

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 ...

, now developed into the Malta International Airport. It hosted aircraft of Air Headquarters Malta (AHQ Malta) during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. Particularly during the Siege of Malta from 1941 to 1943, RAF Luqa was a very important base for

British Commonwealth The Commonwealth of Nations, simply referred to as the Commonwealth, is a political association of 56 member states, the vast majority of which are former territories of the British Empire. The chief institutions of the organisation are the C ...

forces fighting against

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

and

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

for naval control of the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on th ...

and for ground control of North

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

. Air combat over and near Malta was some of the most ferocious of the war, and a series of airfields were built on the small, rocky island: at Luqa, Ta' Qali, and Hal Far, plus satellite fields at Safi,

Qrendi Qrendi ( mt, Il-Qrendi) is a village in the Southern Region, Malta, Southern Region of Malta, with a population of 2752 people as of March 2014. It is located close to Mqabba, Żurrieq and Siggiewi. Within its boundaries are two well-known Neo ...

and on Malta's second island of

Gozo Gozo (, ), Maltese: ''Għawdex'' () and in antiquity known as Gaulos ( xpu, 𐤂𐤅𐤋, ; grc, Γαῦλος, Gaúlos), is an island in the Maltese archipelago in the Mediterranean Sea. The island is part of the Republic of Malta. After t ...

History

Second World War

No. 1435 (Night Fighter) Flight was first formed at Malta as a night fighter unit on 4 December 1941, by re-designating the Malta Night Fighter Unit. In July 1942, personnel from No. 603 Squadron were equipped with the Spitfire V to form the unit. After a brief period as No. 1435 (Fighter) Flight, at Luqa, due to its size it was raised to No. 1435 Squadron RAF on 2 August 1942 still at Luqa. RAFWeb writes that the original Malta "photographic reconnaissance unit was No. 69 Squadron RAF." "B" Flight, No. 69 Squadron RAF was formed into

No. 683 Squadron RAF No. 683 Squadron RAF was a photo-reconnaissance squadron of the Royal Air Force during the Second World War and from August 1950 to November 1953. History Formation and World War II 683 squadron was formed out of 'B' Flight of No. 69 Squadron ...

on 8 February 1943. No. 683 Squadron flew

Supermarine Spitfire The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft used by the Royal Air Force and other Allies of World War II, Allied countries before, during, and after World War II. Many variants of the Spitfire were built, from the Mk 1 ...

Mark IVs, Mark XIs and later Mark XIXs. Just over eight months later, in November 1943, No. 683 Squadron moved to Tunisia.

Post war

After the war, Luqa remained an important RAF base, serving during the

Suez Crisis The Suez Crisis, or the Second Arab–Israeli war, also called the Tripartite Aggression ( ar, العدوان الثلاثي, Al-ʿUdwān aṯ-Ṯulāṯiyy) in the Arab world and the Sinai War in Israel,Also known as the Suez War or 1956 Wa ...

of 1956, but also served as Malta's main civilian

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surfa ...

. No. 37 Squadron RAF, which had arrived from Palestine in 1948, left Luqa for RAF Khormaksar in Aden in July 1957. While four Avro Shackleton aircraft and the squadron's identity were transferred to Aden, two aircraft were left to join

No. 38 Squadron RAF No. 38 Squadron of the Royal Air Force was a bomber (and later maritime reconnaissance) squadron formed in 1916 and was disbanded most recently in 1967. World War I No.38 Squadron Royal Flying Corps was originally formed at Thetford in early 19 ...

, still at Luqa. No. 13 Squadron RAF began a long association, equipped with

English Electric Canberra The English Electric Canberra is a British first-generation, jet-powered medium bomber. It was developed by English Electric during the mid- to late 1940s in response to a 1944 Air Ministry requirement for a successor to the wartime de Havil ...

, moving to Malta in 1965 and remained in Malta until transferring to Wyton in 1978.

No. 203 Squadron RAF No. 203 Squadron RAF was originally formed as No. 3 Squadron Royal Naval Air Service. It was renumbered No. 203 when the Royal Air Force was formed on 1 April 1918. History First World War The squadron can be traced to The Eastchurch Squadron, wh ...

disbanded on 31 December 1977 at Luqa, by which time it was part of No. 18 Group within RAF Strike Command. It had been flying BAe Nimrod maritime patrol aircraft. The RAF left in 1979 following a British government decision not to renew the lease on the station from the Maltese. The payments demanded were several times the previous payments under the previous lease. A No. 120 Squadron RAF Nimrod made the last flight out of Luqa on the morning of 1 April 1979. Luqa airfield Malta aerial photo 1941

Current use

Nowadays, the location has been developed into the main entry point of the modern, independent country of Malta, under the name Malta International Airport. It is sometimes still referred to as "Luqa Airport" or "Valletta Airport".

References

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External links