‘Flying high in an unfriendly sky’: How aviation changed Malta for good during the Second World War

Lecture by Mr Anthony Burgess, guest lecturer in Maritime Archaeology at the University of Malta.

The impact of aviation on Malta can be seen in many ways, from the obvious such as airports and anti-aircraft sites, to the less obvious or even invisible. In this presentation Mr Burgess will look at a number of ways in which aviation manifested itself in Malta, such as the airfields, air raid shelters and anti-aircraft sites, charting how they changed during the war, warping the physical landscape as they did so. Such dramatic effects to the physical landscape also affected the mental landscape for all those involved too, their minds attuned to the sounds and sights associated with the airscape unfolding above their heads. The end result is an island archipelago that is saturated with its effects, effects that continue to shape its physical and mental landscape today.

abstract