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USS Wasp launches Spitfires of 601 and 603 Squadrons towards
Malta in a desperate, but successful, attempt to defend the
beleaguered island, April 1942.
The besieged isle of Malta, the tiny fortress island so vital
to Allied strategy in the Mediterranean, was in April 1942,
the most heavily bombed place on earth. With some 600 fighters
and bombers based in Sicily, the Axis air forces were intent
on neutralizing the island, to gain total air and sea supremacy
in the region. Against this continual aerial onslaught, by
early April the RAF could muster just 6 serviceable fighters.
The vital naval dockyards and airfields were in danger of
annihilation.
Following an urgent cable from Winston Churchill to President
Roosevelt, the carrier USS Wasp embarked 52 Mk Vc Spitfires
of 601 and 603 Squadrons and, under Captain J. W. Reeves Jr.,
USN, sailed from Glasgow on 14 April. In the early hours of
19 April, escorted by the cruiser Renown and four British
and two American destroyers, the heavily laden carrier slipped
through the Straits of Gibraltar in darkness. “Operation
Calendar” began early the following day, when Wasp launched
11 of her F4F wildcat fighters to provide air cover while
the Spitfires started taking off. With the sun already up,
by 0645 all 47 serviceable fighters were dispatched.
Monitoring all this activity, Luftwaffe Me109s lay in wait,
attacking as the Spitfires made landfall. All but one landed
safely, and from their arrival the Spitfires began to dominate
the sky above the beleaguered island, and Malta was saved.
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Overall
print size: 30 1/4" wide x 22 3/4" high.
| Operation
Calendar by Simon Atack
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| 500 s/n prints. |
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Viewing the
carrier from the wake of one of her escort destroyers, Simon
Atack’s fine painting shows the USS Wasp launching Spitfires
early on the morning of 20 April, 1942. A dramatic and moving
scene from a vital moment in history.
Each print has been hand-signed in pencil
by Flight Lieutenant Ken Evans, one of the few surviving Aces
who flew Spitfires to Malta. Every copy has also been individually
signed by the artist Simon Atack.
 First
Lieutenant Ken Evans
DFC
Joining the RAF in 1939, Ken Evans was posted to 600 Squadron,
where he flew night operations. In September 1941 he was posted
to 130 Squadron to fly Spitfires, and in early 1942 was ordered
to Malta. Arriving in Gibraltar he joined the carrier HMS
Eagle. On 18 May he flew his Spitfire to Malta from the Eagle,
to join 126 Squadron. Seeing much action over the island in
June and July, in August he returned to Gibraltar to lead
a new flight back to Malta, this time embarking on the carrier
HMS Furious. One of 126 Squadron’s most successful pilots
on Malta, Ken was awarded the DFC, and credited with 5 destroyed,
3 probables and 3 damaged. Commissioned on Malta, he returned
to the UK, and in September 1943 was posted Squadron as a
flight commander.
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