Operation White

Part of the Battle of the Mediterranean of World War II

Skua fighter forced to crash-land on Sicily during Operation White

Date	17 November 1940
Location	Strait of Sicily, Mediterranean Sea Coordinates: 37°12′00″N 11°20′00″E / 37.20000°N 11.33333°E / 37.20000; 11.33333
Result	Italian victory

Belligerents

United Kingdom

Italy

Commanders and leaders

James Somerville

Inigo Campioni

Strength

2 aircraft carriers
1 battlecruiser
2 cruisers
7 destroyers

2 battleships
2 heavy cruisers
16 destroyers

Casualties and losses

9 aircraft lost
7 pilots missing
2 prisoners

None

Operation White was a British attempt to deliver 14 aircraft—12 Hawker Hurricane fighters and two Blackburn Skua dive bombers—to Malta from the aircraft carrier HMS Argus, on 17 November 1940. The operation was thwarted by the presence of the Italian Fleet at sea, which prompted a premature take-off of the fighters, and bad weather, with the result that only five aircraft reached Malta. White was one of several so-called "Club Runs" that supplied short-range fighters for the defence of Malta.

After the entry of Italy in the Second World War, British authorities designed a formal system of aircraft reinforcement to Malta, in order to build up a credible air defence and replace potential losses. Only two possible routes remained open after the fall of France: the most obvious, via North Africa, by shuttling the fighters through the Sahara or the Suez Canal to Egypt, and its alternative, by delivering them by carrier from the western Mediterranean. The first unit to be transferred by carrier was 418 Flight, a group composed by Navy and RAF pilots specially trained for deck operations. They accomplished a successful mission on 2 August 1940 from the old carrier HMS Argus, escorted by the fleet carrier HMS Ark Royal, three battleships, two cruisers and 10 destroyers. Three Italian Savoia-Marchetti SM.79 medium bombers attacked the convoy, but a group of Skuas from Ark Royal shot down one of the SM.79s and repulsed the surviving two. All the British fighters reached the airstrip of Luqa at Malta, although two planes crash-landed. The first engagement of the new arrived aircraft took place on the night of 13 August, when they shot down another SM.79. By 16 August 418 Flight and the original Malta units were merged into 261 Squadron.

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Wikipedia