Graham Pitchfork recounts the experiences of a Spitfire reconnaissance pilot based in Malta
Flight Sergeant John ‘Joe’ Dalley flew Spitfires with 69 Squadron, Malta’s sole reconnaissance unit in World War Two. He conducted longrange operations to monitor activity on Axis airfields and ports, playing a crucial role in finding convoys of enemy ships resupplying Rommel’s panzers in North Africa.
During one period of intense activity, he completed four long-distance sorties in a 36-hour period in his unarmed, unheated Spitfire. On August 30, 1942, he sighted a small convoy of enemy ships trying to get vital supplies of fuel to the Afrika Korps. On receipt of Dalley’s sighting report, a strike by RAF Beaufighters was mounted and a 5,000-ton tanker was set ablaze and other vessels were damaged.
