Malta Story

LATE in the summer of 1941 two hundred fighter pilots landed on Malta, just as that courageous little fortress was on the verge of collapse. To gain time, both pilots and planes were expendable, and they went at the rate of one a day. Among these relief pilots were ten Americans, four of whom we get to know well: Pete Steele, little Eddie “Junior” “High Pockets” Streets, Don Tedford, and Howard Coffin—called Hody by his friends. Jimmie Towers, the red-headed WAAF whom the boys had met in London, supplies the romance and more than a touch of pathos and mystery. The writing is clean-cut and tough. But the engrossing story of how Malta held out against impossible odds dominates the slightly synthetic love story.