Commonwealth Air Forces Memorial: Floriana. Malta

In discussions concerning the site for a memorial to the airmen of the Commonwealth who died  in the Mediterranean area during World War II but who had no known grave, it was considered that Malta was the most suitable location. The Commonwealth Air Forces Memorial in Floriana, unvieled on 3 May 1954, was the result. It was designed by Sir Hubert Worthington and consists of a column of travertine marble, from the Tivoli area near Rome, fifty feet high, incised with a light reticulated pattern. The column stands on a circular base to which twenty large bronze panels are attached. Nineteen panels display the names of the 2,301 men who sacrificed their lives. On top of the column is a gilded bronze eagle 7 feet 9 inches high by the sculptor Charles Wheeler, sometime President of the Royal Academy, who exhibited this work at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition in 1953.