AFM Commander meets MAS members

The Commander, AFM, was the distinguished guest at our meeting held on May 14, 2004 at our premises in Safi. The occasion was to honour the newly-appointed Brigadier Vassallo as the first 'winged' commander, having worked himself up the career ladder from a helicopter pilot to Officer Commanding of the Air Squadron going on to now becoming the new chief of Malta's armed forces. Accompanying the Commander were personnel from the Air Squadron who kicked off the meeting by landing a Bell 47-G2 smack in the middle of our parking area and after enjoying a lot of attention from the sizeable crowd of members present, departed to Park 7 at 2000hrs. The Commander was then shown around our premises and after a formal welcome speech by our president, Mr Ciliberti, signifying the beginning of the meeting, Godfrey Mangion, Hermann Buttigieg and Claude D'Amato gave a spectacular slide show featuring elements from the Air Squadron since very early days.

Drinks and some goodies followed and many new friendships were struck between pilots and technicians from the Air Squadron and Society members. The meeting was brought to a close by a thank-you speech by Brigadier C Vassallo and a short speech by Mr J. Ciliberti who invited the Armed Forces of Malta to adapt squadron motifs for the rotary and fixed-wing elements of the Air Squadron. The invitation was cemented by a presentation of two paintings by Society members Godfrey Mangion and Charles Stafrace depicting one Alouette and one Islander complete with squadron markings and all !!!