In 1948, Grandview Heights in northeast Vancouver was developed as a sub-division to provide low rental housing for Veterans after the Second World War. Initially the streets were to be named after wildlife, but this was changed and the streets were named after personalities, battles and events from the two World Wars. The Chair of the Street Naming Sub-Committee was Alderman Halford Hal Wilson, who served as a Major during the Second World War.
During the Second World War, the tiny island of Malta, situated between Sicily and the coast of North Africa, provided a base of operations for the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force to conduct several raids against the convoys that supplied the German and Italian armies in North Africa. In October 1941, these units based in Malta had destroyed over 60 per cent of the German-Italian traffic bound for the north African ports of Tunis and Tripoli. As a result, the Germans assembled a force of 600 fighters and bombers in Sicily, 105 kilometers north of Malta, to destroy the base and airfields on Malta.
Although no Royal Canadian Air Force squadrons were based in Malta, 25 per cent of the pilots in Malta's Royal Air Force fighter and bomber squadrons were Canadians. Mark "Hilly" Brown, the youngest wing commander in the Royal Air Force, was sent to Malta in the summer of 1941 to direct all fighter operations. Other Veteran Canadian pilots followed, including Squadron Leaders Robert Barton and Stan Turner.
A new group of Veteran Canadian pilots arrived in Malta on 9 June 1942. They included Flight Commanders "Laddie" Lucas and R.W. "Buck" McNair and Flight Officers F.E. Jones, Al Yates, "Mac" MacLean, Chuck Ramsay, John Williams, C.S.G. de Nancrede, Basil Butler, Bob Middlemiss, "Rip" Mutch, Jean Paradis, Wally MacLeod, R.C. Fumerton, Pat Bing, and George "Buzz" Beurling.
Both Bing and Fumerton would win the Distinguished Flying Cross while in Malta. MacLeod downed 13 enemy planes in 18 weeks. Beurling scored 30 victories in the battles that raged over Malta during the summer and autumn of 1942.
Malta Avenue was named on March 23, 1948, in honour of those who fought at the Island of Malta.
