A British ex-RAF serviceman is seeking to restore a dilapidated RAF launch once used for search-and-rescue operations in Maltese waters, to honour the unit that had operated it.

The boat in question is the Range Safety Launch 1654 (RSL1654), and it had been used by the RAF’s 1151 Marine Craft Unit, which was established in Malta in 1918.

The 1151 MCU had been responsible for search-and-rescue operations in Maltese waters until its disbandment in 1978, when this responsibility was passed on to the Armed Forces of Malta. Between 1940 and 1943, the RAF’s air-sea rescue craft operating from Malta had rescued 369 downed airmen – 123 allied ones, 34 Germans and 212 Italians.

The RSL1654, was put into service in the 1950s. The 43-foot launch, built by Thornycroft, could accommodate four stretcher cases under cover and carry up to 30 passengers. Its Rolls Royce engines allowed it to maintain a continuous speed of 20 knots in coastal sea conditions, and the boat had a 200-mile range.

The launch was posted to the 1151 MCU in 1972, and when the unit was disbanded six years later, it was one of two RAF rescue launches presented to the AFM. In line with its naming conventions at the time, the AFM renamed it C20.

The C20 eventually ended up in private hands and was put to civilian use, but it has long been left disused, and has fallen into disrepair. Its present location is a private site in Marsaxlokk: coincidentally, this site is close to the 1151 MCU’s base.

Gloucester resident David Rose, who was based at RAF Luqa – the present-day AFM Luqa Barracks – between September 1972 and January 1974, is hoping to restore the boat and put in on permanent display, ideally not too far from its present location and past base.

But he is well aware that this will be no simple task: locating the boat’s present owner alone has proved to be challenging.

Tracking the owner

Mr Rose has fond memories of his experiences in Malta: one of his personal websites is dedicated to RAF Luqa.

He visited Malta last September, and came across the decaying launch while passing through the area where the 1151 MCU – and the RAF Malta Sailing Club, of which he was a regular patron, were.

The discovery has prompted him to seek to restore the boat as a monument to the 1151 MCU, for the services the unit had rendered in Malta and the surrounding seas.

Since Mr Rose lives in the UK, the amount of time he can spend in Malta is restricted. But he has been seeking to find a heritage and restoration group willing to restore it, and his efforts seem to be paying off. The Malta Historic Vehicles Trust – set up under the auspices of the Fondazzjoni Wirt Artna to acquire, restore and exhibit vehicles of historic or social significance – has confirmed its interest in the project.

Mr Rose sought to obtain as much information as he could about the launch – the above information is presented through his efforts – but he has been unable to determine who its civilian owners have been.

However, he came across a strong lead this week, when an appeal to locate the owner was published on Facebook page “Malta Dizastru Totali,” which has over 34,000 subscribers.

Mr Rose was subsequently contacted by someone who identified the boat’s owner as a certain Tony Gatt from Zejtun. The information provided corroborated with previous information Mr Rose had about the owner, suggesting that the owner is close to be traced.

The next steps

Should Mr Rose’s latest lead prove fruitful, the next immediate step – acquiring the boat – could actually be a considerably simple affair.

Another ex-RAF serviceman, Tony Coleman, had met the owner and spoken to him at length about the boat, although he did not seek any contact information, presumably because he did not expect that anyone would be prepared to restore the boat.

According to Mr Coleman, however, the owner was only too pleased to find someone who was interested in the boat. He was also willing to donate it to someone who would be able to restore it to its former glory, as his family was not interested in the boat and since he did not want it to go to waste.

The Malta Historic Vehicles Trust would then seek to assess the feasibility of restoring the boat and moving it to a permanent display site.

“Hopefully this will be in Marsaxlokk but lots of discussion, planning and hard work need to be carried out before we will realise this dream,” Mr Rose notes.

Raising the necessary funds will be vital – the Malta Historic Vehicle Trust itself relies on its sponsors – and Mr Rose acknowledges that a lot of fundraising is likely to be needed. But he is clearly undeterred by the challenge.

Mr Rose has launched a website - http://rsl1654.weebly.com/index.html - focusing on the boat and the planned restoration project, and can be contacted through the site.

After seeing the story online, Mr Richard J. Caruana sent us more photos of RAF vessels