RAF Krendi

RAF Krendi
Malta Near Qrendi
RAF Krendi Shown within Malta
Coordinates	35°50′5.5″N 014°26′5.96″E
Type	Diversion airfield then storage base
Site information
Owner	Now Government of Malta
Condition	Extensively developed as mixed use developments one runway now a road
Site history
Built	1940 (1940)
In use	1943–1945 (1945)

249 Squadron Supermarine Spitfires on Malta.

Squadron Leader Billy Drake, from June until November 1943 he led the Krendi fighter Wing in Malta, with whom he scored the last of his 20 confirmed victories

Squadron Leader J J Lynch, Commanding Officer of No. 249 Squadron RAF, sits in the cockpit of his Supermarine Spitfire Mark Vc at RAF Krendi, as an airman chalks "Malta's 1,000th" below his victory tally.

Royal Air Force Krendi, also known as RAF Qrendi, was a Royal Air Force base located on the island of Malta,^[1] near the town of Qrendi. The station was officially inaugurated in 1941 as a diversion airstrip for the main operating bases such as nearby RAF Luqa. Other diversion airstrips similar in function to Krendi were located at RAF Safi and on Malta's second island of Gozo. Later, in November 1942, the British began basing fighter squadrons at Krendi. These remained until late 1943. After the war, the airfield was used as a tracking station and vehicle park, before falling into disuse.

History

Second World War

RAF Krendi was constructed at a time when Malta was under intense aerial bombardment and Malta's Air Command needed to have alternative diversion airstrips on Malta, as the RAF's main operating bases were being bombed.^[2] During construction the airfield at Krendi was used as a decoy for other main bases on Malta, switching on runway lighting as enemy bombers approached.^[3]

The station opened on 10 November 1942 and received its first squadron of Spitfires a few months later.^[4][5]

The base was officially inaugurated by AOC Malta Sir Keith Park in 1941; it would remain operational throughout the war in the Mediterranean.^[6]

In February 1942, RAF Krendi appears to be acting as a decoy site for RAF Luqa.^[3] Although a shortage of materials, labour and transport delayed its development, in December 1942 one runway at Krendi came into use, and after this progress became more rapid.^[7]

Weblog entries from RAF veterans based at RAF Krendi quote the following RAF fighter squadrons as being based at the airfield:^[8]

• 185 (Fighter) Squadron RAF was equipped with the Supermarine Spitfire Mk. Vc (5 June 1943 – 23 September 1943)
• 229 (Fighter) Squadron RAF was equipped with the Supermarine Spitfire Mk. Vc (10 December 1942 – 25 September 1943)
• 249 (Fighter) Squadron RAF was equipped with the Supermarine Spitfire Mk. Vc and later Mk IX (23 November 1942 – 24 September 1943).^[9]

No more Spifires or other RAF fighters were based at RAF Krendi after Autumn 1943.^[5]

Post war

After the war, Krendi was one of a number of military facilities retained on Malta by the British due to the island's strategic location.^[10] Reduced in terms of operational functionality, in 1953 it would become a vehicle storage area for British Army units.^[5] The base would also remain a weather radiosonde tracking station in the 1960s.^[4] The RAF left in 1979 following a decision not to renew the lease on RAF Luqa.^[6]

Current use

Whilst RAF Krendi's concrete runways have long gone, the outline of the airfield is obvious from the air.^[5][11][12]

The runway is commonly used by vehicles heading towards Wied-iz-Zurrieq (Blue Grotto).

See also

• AHQ Malta
• Siege of Malta (World War II)
• Billy Drake
• Qrendi

References

1. "Stations-K RAF Krendi/Qrendi". www.rafweb.org. Retrieved 21 July 2017.
2. "The Royal Air Force And Malta (1918–1978)". Malta Independent. 1 May 2011. Retrieved 24 July 2017.
3. Kreis, John F. (1988). Air Warfare and Air Base Air Defense, 1914–1973: Malaya & Malta (PDF). Washington, D.C.: Office of Air Force History, U.S. Air Force. pp. 128–129. ISBN 0-912799-55-2. Retrieved 22 July 2017.
4. "Krendi (Qrendi) RAF Heraldry Trust". www.rafht.co.uk. Retrieved 21 July 2017.
5. "Qrendi". www.forgottenairfields.com. Retrieved 10 September 2020.
6. Allied, Newspapers (8 March 2017). "An evening of nostalgia for RAF base in Luqa". Times of Malta. Retrieved 20 July 2017.
7. Herington, John (1954). Air War Against Germany and Italy, 1939–1943. Australia in the War of 1939–1945. Series 3 – Air. Vol. III (1st ed.). Canberra: Australian War Memorial. p. 381. OCLC 3633363.
8. "RAF Krendi (Qrendi)". www.rafcommands.com. Retrieved 21 July 2017.
9. Cull, Brian; Galea, Frederick (2017). 249 at Malta: RAF's Top-Scoring Fighter Squadron Appendix 5. Fonthill Media. Retrieved 21 July 2017.
10. Rogers, Anthony (30 April 2017). Air Battle of Malta: Aircraft Losses and Crash Sites, 1940–1942. Barnsley, South Yorkshire: Greenhill Books. p. 5. ISBN 9781784381905.
11. "Naval & Military – Runway 13/31 at RAF Krendi – Tal-Ħandaq Nostalgia". www.talhandaqnostalgia.org. Retrieved 21 July 2017.
12. The, Aviation Magazine. "Malta International Airshow 2016 review by The Aviation Magazine". www.theaviationmagazine.com. Retrieved 21 July 2017.

External links

• RAF Luqa Remembered
• RAF Luqa
• Imperial War Museum Photographic Archive
• Safi Aviation Park Inaugurated
• Malta Aviation Museum