Spitfires fly off USS Wasp

20th April 1942: US carrier comes to the assistance of the Royal Navy as Britain desperately tries to reinforce the island of Malta, now under intense air attack

USS Wasp (CV-7). British Royal Air Force Spitfire V fighter takes off from the carrier, after a 200-foot run.

On the 20th April 1942 another attempt was made to fly in reinforcements to Malta, this time from the USS Wasp which had collected 47 Spitfires and their RAF pilots from Glasgow on the 13th April.

The USS Wasp, together with her Royal Navy escor…