I previously included some very brief information about the crest on the forum, but will here elaborate on this. Maybe someone will be interested and I'll be happy to supply more on the later history of Qrendi (my work place for over 3 years) if requested
Firstly I apologise for the rather poor resolution of the image - it's a small part of a larger photo . I took it around 1961 when based at Qrendi, when it was operating as a Radio Sonde station, a satellite of the main Met Office at nearby RAF Luqa. as described by my ex colleague Peter Davies on this RAF Commands forum on 26 Nov 2012. The main Met Office at RAF Luqa, Malta, which as well as serving the Civilian Airport, was responsible for meteorological services for the RAF station including Nos. 38 (Shackletons) and 39 (Canberras) Squadrons, as well as the population of the island as a whole.
The stone carved crest crest is clearly similar to that shown at
www.ronaldv.nl/abandoned/airfields/MTmalta.html see below, but the stone one is sporting a motto. From memory I would guess that the stone was slightly less than 2 feet high by 18 inches wide. Presumably the coloured crest came first, and a stonemason produced the 3 dimensional one from the local soft globigerina limestone. Would it have been commonplace for stations to have stone versions of their crest I wonder ?
There seemed to be a fair chance that the carved stone still exists, located at the Malta National War Museum at Fort St Elmo, Valletta, presumably after having been removed from Qrendi at the time of the station final closure around 1971. It had earlier been 'rescued' by Eric Harris from the re-building of the Office (which was being extended) to which it had been attached. Eric was the Head of the Radio Sonde station between ~1958-61 and died a few weeks ago at age 90 in December 2013, which may make me the last surviving UK member of staff who worked there.
The evidence for the stone's location at the Museum is strong, as in a Souvenir Handbook, revised November 1981, on p 18 under a photo of a display headed 'Axis Raids on Malta', there can clearly be seen, but only the top third of a similar carved stone crest, so the Maltese cross and firebird, the word 'Krendi' and the motto are absent. At first glance in the museum stone the letter spacing at the top above the tip of the cross appears not to correspond with that of the stone in my photo, but closer examination shows that the letters 'Fo' of 'Force' have since gone, and after accounting for this, the two illustrations show that those parts which can be seen are identical. Hopefully if someone in Malta reads this he or she can call in at the Museum to confirm that it is still there and that it is indeed the 'Krendi' stone. However, I don't see any signs of it on the illustrations of exhibits on the present National War Museum website, so maybe its gone to the Aviation Museum situated on the site of the former RAF Ta'Qali.
The photo in the 'abandoned airfields' collection with the Spitfires in front of the Qrendi 'Farmhouse'' looks remarkably like what was later to become the ops room and offices of the Radio Sonde station, which is slightly at odds with the caption that it was demolished to make place for new buildings for the Royal Navy. I have photos of the Radio Sonde staff and the (1960) building which in part supports my argument, although of course one Maltese square building looks much like any other. The next photo captioned 'Undated photo of the former RAF Station Krendi' is almost exactly how it would have looked as late as 1963 when I left. The most interesting feature is the two parallel lines of square dots on the western half of the east/west runway. Each is a group of individual bombs or shells, seemingly completely unguarded and presumably made safe for the high summer temperatures, but everyone seemed to give them a wide berth just in case. Particularly those who used the old runways as practice grounds for the rather unpredictable 'Hit or Miss' Maltese Driving Test.
from
www.ronaldv.nl/abandoned/airfields/MTmalta.html
In this photo I can identify the Radio Sonde Office, I think the image of the balloon shed, and the GLlll (Gun-laying 3) radar used for tracking upper winds. One item which appears to be missing from the scene is the 'CRDF hut (Cathode Ray Direction Finding) which with other stations was used to detect lightning strikes around the globe. This hut should be at the southerly tip of the isosceles triangle just to the south of the eastern half of east /west runway. That was definitely in position when I arrived in June 1960, so this puts the date of the photo to some time before that. If someone knows when the bombs were deposited that would narrow down the date further. Rather older is the cluster of objects due south of the aforementioned triangle, being the 5000 year old temples of Hagar Qim and that of Mnajdra to the west. They are still there whereas much of the airfield is gone - although the locations of the runways can still clearly be seen using GoogleEarth.
I leave it to you to decide to place any of the above before the forum members. It may be that its format does not correspond to the above type of narrative.
RAF Krendi (Qrendi)
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