How a wooden block changed the course of Spitfire operations over Malta

Sergeant Bob Middlemiss

In June 1942, 20-year-old Canadian pilot Robert George “Bob” Middlemiss was selected to serve with a team of Spitfire pilots posted in Malta.

Bob had served at RAF Westhampnett – now RAF Goodwood, home of Spitfires.com – with the 41 Squadron on the Mk V Spitfire.

But while he flew one of the most advanced and iconic aircraft of the age, Bob’s operations were made successful by something a little more primitive – a simple wooden block.

The siege of Malta, 1940-1942

The story of air operations in Malta began some years before Bob arrived on the scene, though he played a crucial role in bringing the conflict to an end.

Malta was a very important strategic island for Allied forces. That’s because it served as a forward base from which they could disrupt German and Italian supply lines to Axis armies in North Africa.

Since 1940, the Royal Navy had been supplying Malta with replacement aircraft, including Swordfish, Hurricanes and Fairey Albacores. And the very fact that Britain was reassigning fighter aircraft from home defence is a testament to Malta’s importance.

But the Axis forces weren’t prepared to allow Allied operations in Malta to continue unchallenged. So they began a campaign to bomb, blockade and starve the British-held island into surrender.

By 1942, the situation on the besieged Mediterranean island had become dire.

German and Italian forces were attacking the island incessantly. And it became one of the most intensely bombed locations in the entirety of World War II.

There were acute shortages of everything, including pilots and aircraft. And while Hawker Hurricane pilots bravely defended the island, they did so until their last breath. Their aircraft were simply too far outclassed by the Luftwaffe Bf 109Fs.

Attacks on the airfields and losses in combat are thought to have brought the number of serviceable Hurricanes to as few as 12.

In late February 1942, Squadron Leader Stan Turner, a Canadian veteran of the Battle of Britain now serving as the Commanding Officer of 249 Squadron on Malta, even told Air Vice Marshall Hugh Lloyd: “Either, sir, we get Spitfires here within days, not weeks, or we’re done. That’s it.”

Operation Spotter: A failed attempt to provide air support

That same February, the Royal Navy was tasked with ferrying the first 15 Mk Vb Spitfires from Gibraltar to Malta on board the aircraft carrier HMS Eagle. This was known as Operation Spotter.

But there was a problem.

The Spitfires – notoriously short-range fighters – had been fitted with long-range 90-gallon slipper tanks to extend their range from the carrier to Malta.

But on the first launch, several aircraft suffered fuel feed failures. So the initial sortie had to be abandoned, and the Spitfires returned to Gibraltar.

Here, engineers quickly fixed the defects and ensured the tanks worked properly. The follow-up mission, Operation Spotter II, was ready to proceed.

However, it soon became clear that troublesome fuel tanks weren’t the only obstacle to defending Malta from Axis aircraft.

Operation Spotter II: Launching Spitfires into Maltese skies

To counter the dusty conditions of Malta, each Spitfire had been fitted with a large Vokes filter under the nose.

But this created more drag and severely hampered aircraft performance.

To take off from HMS Eagle’s short 660-foot long flight deck, the Spitfire needed a take-off flap that was set to 23 degrees.

Unfortunately, the Mk Vbs only had a pneumatically operated drag flap for landing, which was fixed at 85 degrees.

So any attempt to take off from the pitching, rolling and very short aircraft deck would have crashed the Spitfire straight into the sea.

The squadron aboard HMS Eagle were in possession of the war’s leading fighter aircraft, fast and powerful enough to contend with the Bf 109Fs terrorising Malta.

But with no way to enter the skies, their Spitfires were all but useless.

That is, until the pilots came up with a simple yet ingenious plan.

If they didn’t have 23-degree flaps, they would make them.

With nothing more than a little wooden wedge.

Placed within the landing flaps, these wedges forced the flaps to sit at 23 degrees. This gave the Spitfires enough lift to take off from the carrier deck.

But what about when they hit the skies?

Once safely airborne, the flaps could be lowered to drop the wedges, then quickly raised again to maintain flight.

Thanks to a small touch of engineering genius, the first 15 Spitfires all reached Malta safely.

How Sergeant Pilot Bob Middlemiss defended Malta

Wing Commander Bob Middlemiss DFC, CD in 2010

Future aircraft ferrying operations from Gibraltar to Malta – known informally as Club Runs – followed Spotter II to replace those that had been destroyed. This included Operation Bowery, the first Anglo-American operation.

Sergeant Pilot Bob Middlemiss was to be part of Operation Style.

31 Spitfire planes were loaded onto carriers and taken to within 700 miles of Malta. Using the wooden wedges, these aircraft made it into the sky. But only 28 made it to Malta, the other three being shot down by German fighters en route.

Bob described the briefings pilots were given and his experience of operating a Spitfire off the short carrier deck as follows:

“With the exception of the three pilots from Malta none of us had ever been on a carrier, never mind the traumatic experience of becoming airborne from one. We were given the sequence of take-off, safety precautions in the event of an abort and told that prior to take-off the carrier would be turned into wind and its speed increased to give us 30 knots over the deck. The length of the carrier being 169 yards (154m), there was some doubt that we could become airborne. The Spitfire flaps were either up or down so a method was devised so that we could acquire 23 degrees of flap with the use of wooden blocks, the optimum for maximum lift for take-off.

The briefings explained that when your turn came for take-off, you started the engine, dropped the flaps, then raised them - with the airmen inserting the wooden blocks, ran the engine up, checked the 90 gallon (410L) drop tank was feeding, back to the main tank (87 gallons/395L), again checking the revs, oil and hydraulic pressure instruments then waited for the signal to take-off. When the signal was given, full throttle, chocks away and off we went. There was no returning to the carrier as the Spitfire had no arrester hook for landing on a carrier.

On June 3rd when we were 1,000 miles (1,600K) from Malta, off the coast of Algiers the Spitfires were brought on deck from the hold by elevator among them AR377 which was mine. We were strapped in and our few personal items stowed away. The aircraft were then arranged on the deck. Now the briefing became a reality! We were as ready as we would ever be.

As we sailed along in the Mediterranean we were shadowed by JU-88s at low level on the horizon. On my take-off the JU-88s appeared overhead and as I was becoming airborne the navy escorts opened fire - I thought what a way to go - shot down by our own people or as we now call it "friendly fire". I kept going, dropping off over the bow of the carrier, gained flying speed, lowered the flaps, the wooden blocks falling away, raised the flaps and joined with the other three aircraft in our section and set off for the long flight to Malta.”

During his tour with the 249 Squadron on Malta, Bob shot down and destroyed three enemy aircraft and damaged two others before he was shot down and wounded.

Wing Commander Bob Middlemiss DFC, CD returned to RAF Westhampnett (now RAF Goodwood) in 2010 in the uniform of an Honorary Colonel of the Canadian Armed Forces.

The end of Club Runs

Within the remaining months of 1942, new iterations of the Supermarine Spitfire helped turn the tide of the siege of Malta.

Spitfire Mk Vcs were equipped with additional internal and external fuel tanks. And their weight was reduced by removing most of their armament. This allowed them to fly the 1,100 miles from Gibraltar to Malta, where the adaptations were reversed.

The improved flight capabilities made Club Runs redundant – and the legacy of the wooden block became history.

Recapture the spirit of WWII pilots with a two-seater Spitfire experience

When you take off from one of our many airbases across the country, you fly from a full-sized airstrip. So there’s no need for a wooden wedge to help you take to the skies.

But you can still experience the same thrilling aerial manoeuvres of Bob Middlemiss and his pilot comrades with your very own two-seater Spitfire flight experience.

Spitfires.com is the world’s first and only accredited Spitfire pilot training school. That’s why aviation enthusiasts worldwide come to us to experience flying a Spitfire first hand – no previous experience required!

Book a Spitfire flight experience today and put yourself in the pilot seat of the brave men who risked it all to defend Malta from Axis forces.