Operation Calendar was an Anglo–American operation in the Second World War to deliver 52 Supermarine Spitfire fighter aircraft to Malta in April 1942. Spitfires were necessary to challenge Axis air superiority over Malta because they had the performance that Hurricane fighters lacked. Aircraft carriers were necessary to get fighter aircraft to positions in the western Mediterranean from which they had the range to reach Malta but British aircraft carriers were busy elsewhere, under repair or too small to deliver enough Spitfires to be effective.

Club Run was an informal name for aircraft ferry operations from Gibraltar to Malta during the Siege of Malta from 1940 to 1942 during the Second World War. Malta was half-way between Gibraltar to Alexandria and had the only harbour controlled by the British in the area. Malta had docks, repair facilities, reserves and stores, which had been built up since the cession of the island to Britain in 1814. Malta had become an important staging post for aircraft and a base for air reconnaissance over the central Mediterranean.