I never was aware of this little nugget of cool info.
n February 1942 Sqn/Ldr Stan Turner, veteran of the Battle of France and Douglas Bader’s 242 Squadron, arrived to take over No. 249 Squadron on Malta. Remaining under Axis siege since the summer of 1940, Malta was now in desperate straits. The February convoy from Alexandria had failed to reach the island due to intense bombardment from German aircraft stationed in Crete. The inhabitants, under constant bombardment, were facing acute shortages of everything: food, ammunition, fuel, spare parts, aircraft. Upon arrival, Turner quickly realized that the defences faced unacceptable odds flying Hurricanes against the German Bf 109F’s and Italian Macchi C.202′s. He urgently required the delivery of Spitfires for the Malta squadrons and his request was approved. These were to be the first Spitfire fighters to be deployed outside Britain.
As delivery onboard a convoy or over land was out of the question, the only option remained to fly the Spitfires off an aircraft carrier. Contrary to what has been suggested elsewhere, this method of delivery was already well established; during 1941 more than 300 Hurricanes had been delivered to Malta this way. Now came the turn for the Spitfire, and with it a number of problems had to be solved. Firstly, the initial plan envisaged the use of HMS Eagle and HMS Argus for the delivery, code-named Operation Spotter. Unfortunately, the elevators on Argus were too small for fixed-wing Spitfires, leaving HMS Eagle as the only feasible option. During the first attempt for delivery from the Eagle on February 28 a technical fault with the 90-gallon slipper tanks was discovered preventing their use and the operation had to be abandoned. The entire task force returned to Gibraltar.
Operation Bowery was an Anglo-American operation in World War II to deliver Spitfire fighter aircraft to Malta ("Club Runs"). The aircraft were desperately needed to bolster the island's defence against strong Axis air raids.
he operation was substantially a repeat of the earlier Operation Calendar, in which the American aircraft carrier USS Wasp had flown off 48 British Spitfire fighters to Malta to bolster its air defences. Aircraft, support personnel and airfields were inadequately prepared, however, and the enemy were forewarned of the aircraft's arrival. The aircraft had, consequently, been destroyed by heavy air attacks after their arrival on Malta. A repeat delivery (Operation Bowery) had been planned and its success had become even more critical.
Wasp and her escorting force (Force W) sailed from Scapa Flow on 3 May. A further 17 Spitfires, delayed from previous "Club Runs", were transported by HMS Eagle, which joined Force W on 7/8 May from Gibraltar. On 9 May 1942, 64 Spitfires were flown off USS Wasp and HMS Eagle (61 arrived). One aircraft and its pilot was lost on takeoff. Another mistakenly dropped its auxiliary fuel tank after takeoff and, now incapable of reaching friendly territory, returned to Wasp.
The Royal Navy had their own version of the Spitfire named Seafire.
