Royal Air Force Luqa (or more simply RAF Luqa) is a former

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

station located on the island of

Malta Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...

, 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 (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

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

British Commonwealth The Commonwealth of Nations, often referred to as the British Commonwealth or simply the Commonwealth, is an international association of 56 member states, the vast majority of which are former territories of the British Empire The B ...

forces fighting against

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

and

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

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 east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

and for ground control of North

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

. 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 Luqa ( , ) is a town located in the Southern Region of Malta, 4.3 km away from the capital Valletta. With a population of 5,945 as of March 2014, it is a small but densely populated settlement which is typical of Malta's older towns and vi ...

, Ta' Qali, and Hal Far, plus satellite fields at Safi,

Qrendi Qrendi () is a village in the Western Region, Malta, Western Region of Malta, with a population of 3,148 people as of October 2021. It is located close to Mqabba, Żurrieq and Siġġiewi. Within its boundaries are the two Neolithic temples of ...

and on Malta's second island of

Gozo Gozo ( ), known in classical antiquity, antiquity as Gaulos, is an island in the Malta#The Maltese archipelago, Maltese archipelago in the Mediterranean Sea. The island is part of the Republic of Malta. After the Malta Island, island of Malta ...

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 on 8 February 1943. No. 683 Squadron flew Spitfire 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, also known as the Second Arab–Israeli War, the Tripartite Aggression in the Arab world and the Sinai War in Israel, was a British–French–Israeli invasion of Egypt in 1956. Israel invaded on 29 October, having done so w ...

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

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

. 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, 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 Havilla ...

, moving to Malta in 1965 and remained in Malta until transferring to

RAF Wyton Royal Air Force Wyton or more simply RAF Wyton is a Royal Air Force List of Royal Air Force stations, station near St Ives, Cambridgeshire, St Ives, Cambridgeshire, England. The airfield is decommissioned and the station is now under the comm ...

in 1978. No. 203 Squadron RAF disbanded on 31 December 1977 at Luqa, by which time it was part of No. 18 Group within

RAF Strike Command The Royal Air Force's Strike Command was the military formation which controlled the majority of the United Kingdom's bomber and fighter aircraft from 1968 until 2007 when it merged with Personnel and Training Command to form the single Air ...

. 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 for a lease extension were several times higher than the 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 as the main entry point for air traffic into 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

RAF Luqa Remembered
{{DEFAULTSORT:Luqa Airports in Malta Military installations of Malta