"They didn't find anything and decided to head back, when their compasses started going haywire," says Schwartzman. "They didn't know it but they were heading away from Malta instead of towards it. They were running low on fuel when they saw the island of Lampedusa below them. At first they thought it was Malta but soon realised it wasn't. They saw a big runway so they had no option but to go in to land." Unknown to them, the Allies had been bombing the island extensively.