One Of the Rarest Of Warbirds Comes From Canada

It was slow and ugly and... remarkably effective against German U-Boats. Not only that, but a British Faery Swordfish also crippled the pocket battleship Bismark, leading to its ultimate destruction at the hands of the Royal Navy.

Now, one of the 12 Swordfish still in existence has arrived at Malta, where it will be restored by volunteers over the next ten years.

"The museum is extremely grateful to its volunteers who carry out painstaking restoration which commercially costs about ($86.40) an hour," said Ray Polidano, director general of Malta's Aviation Museum Foundation. He was quoted in the Times of Malta.

This particular Swordfish, HS491, was purchased by the museum from Canadian Bob Spence. The aircraft was built in 1943 and commissioned by the Royal Canadian Air Force. The aircraft remained in Canadian service until it was scrapped in 1946. Spence bought it in the 1970s and cannibalized it to restore another Swordfish.

Polidano said Spence was moved to sell the remains of his Swordfish for less than US $40,000 after seeing the quality of the restoration work the museum had done on another project -- a Hawker Hurricane fished from the sea more than nine years ago.

When finished in 2014, the Swordfish will go on display at the yet-to-be-built Battle of Malta Memorial Hangar.

Among the other 11 Swordfish, one is flying in Canada. Two have been restored for the UK's Fleet Air Arm and one other is being restored there.

FMI: www.digigate.net/aviation/museum/index.asp