12. The remains of a Hawker Hurricane were found on the island of Malta in 2017
In 1942 the Hawker Hurricane was a workhorse fighter for the Royal Air Force, serving in all areas where the RAF was deployed, as well as with Soviet squadrons on the Eastern Front. During the fierce fighting over Malta and the surrounding Mediterranean Hurricanes did yeoman’s duty defending the British Empire. Many RAF pilots preferred the Hurricane over the Spitfire because the former was able to take more punishment and was less temperamental to fly. On Malta, 75 years after the event, a researcher learned of farmers being compensated for the damages to their fields caused by the crash of a Hurricane in 1942. Intrigued, he began a search for the remains of the aircraft.
What he found were several pieces of the airplane, the greater part of which had been removed from the site after the war. The pilot had been killed and removed for burial shortly after the crash. What was discovered in 2017 were pieces of aluminum and steel, cast iron, and other small items. An intake manifold for a Rolls Royce Merlin engine, used to power Hurricanes and Spitfires in 1942, was also discovered. War records proved that the airplane crashed in April, 1942, meaning that pieces of the machine were still lying at the spot they landed more than seven decades later. Other pieces of the airplane were located in nearby rubble walls, where they had been discarded after being found, and with no idea what they were, tossed away.
