On 3 September 1943,Air Vice Marshal Keith Park, hero of the Battles of Britain and Malta, delivered a speech on Palace Square, Valletta. Across from him, in the middle of the square, sat the skeletal remains of an aeroplane. It had no wings, no tyres, and most of its cowling panels were missing. Park, on behalf of the Royal Air Force, was presenting this near-wreck to the people of Malta.He said, "In May 1940, Malta possessed no fighter defences and the AOC obtained from C-in-C Mediterranean four Gladiators belonging to the Fleet Air Arm, which were lying in store at Kalafrana. As there were no fighter pilots in Malta, six RAF pilots volunteered to form a small fighter flight, which was formed at Hal Far on 4 June 1940. Italy declared war on 11 June, and, at 06.45hrs of that day a flight of three Gladiators took off to intercept a formation of 10 Italian bombers that attempted to attack the dockyard and Hal Far aerodrome. The enemy formation was driven off, and, during the evening the Gladiators were again despatched to intercept a formation of 25 enemy bombers. Three of the Gladiators were christened Faith, Hope and Charity. For 18 days following the Italian declaration of war, three Gladiators were airborne daily and intercepted a total of 144 Italian bombers and fighter escort. During that period, the Gladiators destroyed or badly damaged five enemy aircraft without loss to themselves and succeeded in turning away many formations of bombers." He introduced the aircraft as Faith, one of the first four Malta Gladiators, and concluded, "The defence of Malta can justifiably be included among the epics of this war, and Faith has earned a place of honour in the armour of Malta."
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