BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//National Museum of World War II Aviation - ECPv6.16.2//NONSGML v1.0//EN
CALSCALE:GREGORIAN
METHOD:PUBLISH
X-WR-CALNAME:National Museum of World War II Aviation
X-ORIGINAL-URL:https://www.worldwariiaviation.org
X-WR-CALDESC:Events for National Museum of World War II Aviation
REFRESH-INTERVAL;VALUE=DURATION:PT1H
X-Robots-Tag:noindex
X-PUBLISHED-TTL:PT1H
BEGIN:VTIMEZONE
TZID:UTC
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:+0000
TZOFFSETTO:+0000
TZNAME:UTC
DTSTART:20230101T000000
END:STANDARD
END:VTIMEZONE
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20240217
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20240218
DTSTAMP:20260517T171111
CREATED:20240119T230344Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240119T230344Z
UID:22913-1708128000-1708214399@www.worldwariiaviation.org
SUMMARY:History Presentation  Siege of Malta
DESCRIPTION:The island of Malta in the Mediterranean lays south of Sicily and is astride the air and sea lanes between Europe and North Africa.  In June 1940\, Italian forces\, joined by German forces in 1941\, initiated a campaign to occupy North Africa and control the Suez Canal to gain access to the oil reach regions of the Middle East. Malta\, which was a strategic base for British air and sea forces that could attack Axis ships transporting supplies and reinforcements for the campaign\, had to be neutralized.  Winston Churchill called the island an “unsinkable aircraft carrier“. General Erwin Rommel\, in command of Axis forces in the region\, warned that “Without Malta the Axis will end by losing control of North Africa”. \nAxis military commanders resolved to bomb and starve Malta into submission.  The relentless attacks were designed to soften up the island’s defenses by destroying its ports\, towns and cities\, and blockading Allied shipping.  Malta was one of the most intensively bombed areas during the war.  Yet the Royal Air Force launched a valiant defense of the island fortress and by 1943 were able to go on the offensive\, sinking over two hundred Axis supply ships and downing untold numbers of Axis aircraft. \nOn February 17th\, retired U.S. Air Force and airline pilot Don Johnson will tell the story of the great siege of Malta.  One of the museum’s Lead Docents\, he will cover how the outnumbered fighter pilots of the RAF\, including a few American volunteers\, defended the island against the bombing campaign of the German and Italian air forces.  He will also tell the little-known story of how the British “borrowed” the U.S aircraft carrier Wasp to deliver RAF fighter planes to Malta under the noses of the Axis. \n  \nThere is no additional charge to attend this presentation.  Doors to the museum will open at 9am.  The presentation begins at 10am.
URL:https://www.worldwariiaviation.org/event/history-presentation-siege-of-malta
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR