Story of the Targa Gap Beaufighter

摘要

I remember very clearly that some 60 years ago, while driving past the Civil Defence Headquarters and Training Centre at Malta's Targa Gap, an engineless Bristol Beaufighter, RD867, stood at the gate on top of the cliff, a memorable sight for a young boy. Sometime later it was removed and little was known of its fate. Up to 20 years after the type entered service, a couple of survivors were soldiering on in Malta and at Singapore. At Ta' Qali, four TT.10s were flying with the Malta Communications and Target Towing Squadron in the late 1950s. RD867 was one of these, along with RD850, RD788 and SR919, the last Beaufighter to be built. In the mid-1960s, when RAF personnel were combing the globe for aircraft to include in the RAF Museum, our Beaufighter was dismantled and taken to St Athan in Wales. Shortly after, a second 'Beau' was located in Portugal. This aircraft, TF.X RD253 (BF-13), had been transferred to the Lisbon Technical Institute after retirement from the Portuguese Air Force.