Page 132 - Who Was Sapper Brown

last and best of the biplane fighters, introduced into the Fleet Air Arm in 1939).6 These Sea Gladiators
had been left ashore in crates in Malta ‘as boxed spares’ when HMS Glorious was summoned urgently

to the defence of Norway in April 1940, tragically to be sunk with her two escorts HMS Ardent and
HMS Acasta by the battlecruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau on 8 June after a valiant action during the

evacuation from Norway.

At the outbreak of war Malta had no resident fighters to protect her from the imminent onslaught from
the air. These boxed spares were discovered, hurriedly assembled, and just as hurriedly packed up again

when the Admiralty balked at the Royal Air Force appropriating its aircraft. When reason saw the light

of day, they were re-assembled, just in time to defend Malta when Italy entered the war on 10 June 1940.
Two were soon damaged irreparably and, with one kept as spares for the others, the remaining three bore

the gauntlet of the battle alone against Italy’s Regia Aeronautica between June and October 1940, when
they were augmented by Hurricanes. They were christened Faith, Hope and Charity by the grateful and

devout Maltese population.7 Faith was the only one to survive the war, she has been lovingly restored, and
now has pride of place in Malta’s National War Museum in the capital city, Valletta.8

HMS Glorious herself is still honoured in Malta – the National Maritime Museum in Vittoriosa proudly

displays a memorial plaque dedicated to the 40 Maltese seamen who lost their lives when she was sunk,9
and a wreath in memory of all who lost their lives on this occasion, both donated in 2008 by the GLARAC

Association.10

Memorial plaque at the National Maritime Museum, Vittoriosa, Malta GC

Poolman, Kenneth (2009), Faith, Hope and Charity (Manchester: Crecy Publishing Ltd).
6
7
1 Corinthians 13 ‘And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.’
8
Cull, Brian and Galea, Frederick (2008), Gladiators over Malta – The story of Faith, Hope and Charity (Malta: Wise Owl
Publications)

9 The 40 Maltese who lost their lives whilst serving on board HMS Glorious represent the greatest single loss of life suffered
by the Maltese who served with the Royal Navy in the Second World War.
10 The GLARAC Association was set up in 2001 with the aim of perpetuating the proud memory of the men serving in HM

Ships Glorious, Ardent and Acasta who lost their lives in the Norwegian Sea on 8 June 1940 and those who survived. www.
glarac.co.uk

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