Gloster Gladiator

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Gladiator Sea Gladiator

Gloster Gladiator in pre-war RAF markings
Type	Fighter
Manufacturer	Gloster Aircraft Ltd
Designed by	H.P. Folland
Maiden flight	12 September 1934
Status	Out of service
Primary users	Royal Air Force Fleet Air Arm Finnish Air Force Royal Norwegian Air Force
Number built	756

The Gloster Gladiator (or Gloster SS.37) was a British-built biplane fighter, used by the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Royal Navy as well as a number of other air forces during the late 1930s. It was the RAF's last biplane fighter aircraft and was often pitted against more formidable foes during the early days of the Second World War.

1 Design and development
2 Operational history
3 Variants
4 Quotations
5 Operators
6 Specifications (Gloster Gladiator Mk.I)
7 References
8 External links
9 Related content

[edit] Design and development

The Gladiator was developed from the Gloster Gauntlet as a private venture by Gloster. The aircraft was designed by H.P. Folland's team during 1933 as a Gauntlet derivative to Specification F.7/30. It had an enclosed, single-seat cockpit, cantilever landing gear and a two-blade fixed-pitch propeller driven by a Bristol Mercury air-cooled engine.It first flew in 1934 and entered service in 1937. It was to be the last British biplane fighter and their first fighter with an enclosed cockpit. The Gladiator had a top speed of around 257mph (414 km/h) yet even as it was introduced, the design was being eclipsed by the new generation of monoplane fighters, such as the RAF's new Hurricanes and Spitfires and the Luftwaffe's Messerschmitt Bf 109.

Gladiators were also modified for carrier operations and flown by the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm (FAA) as the Sea Gladiator. A total of 756 airframes were built (480 RAF, 60 RN; 216 exported to 13 countries). Gladiators were sold to Belgium, China, Egypt, Finland, Free France, Greece, Iraq, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Portugal, South Africa and Sweden.

[edit] Operational history

The Gladiator was largely replaced in frontline service by the Hurricane and Spitfire at the outbreak of the Second World War, although two squadrons were used in the French and Norwegian campaigns. It would however see service in more peripheral campaigns during the Second World War. The classic biplane fighter was also one of Britain's biggest prewar export successes, seeing service in many countries.The Gloster Gladiator performed reasonably well in limited Finnish service against Soviet fighters during the Winter War, but was found to be outclassed by German fighters in other theatres. Carrier-based Sea Gladiators were more successful, since their slower speed made them more suitable for carrier operations and they were less likely to be facing more modern fighter opposition.

[edit] The Norwegian campaign

The Norwegian campaign saw both Norwegian and British Gladiators battling the Luftwaffe, with first the Norwegian Jagervingen fighting in the defence of Oslo on the first day of the invasion and then British examples trying to provide fighter cover for the allied reinforcements sent to the assistance of the Norwegian government.

[edit] Jagervingen

The Gladiator pilots of the Norwegian Jagervingen (fighter wing) at Fornebu Airport, having seven functional planes, managed to shoot down five German aircraft on 9 April 1940, the first day of Weserübung: two Messerschmitt Bf-110 fighters, two He-111 bombers and a Ju-52 transport. One Gladiator was shot down during the air battle, by the future Experte Helmut Lent, while two were destroyed on the ground, being strafed while refuelling and rearming at Fornebu airport. The four remaining fighters were ordered to land wherever they could away from their Fornebu base. The planes scattered, landing on frozen lakes around Oslo and never returned to battle, being abandoned by their pilots and then wrecked by souvenir searching civilians.^[1]

[edit] No. 263 Squadron

Gladiators were also used by No. 263 Squadron RAF during the remaining two months of the Norwegian campaign. The squadron, having arrived with the carrier HMS Glorious 24 April, first operated from a landing strip on the frozen lake Lesjaskogsvatnet in Oppland in central southern Norway. After less than a week, all the squadron's aircraft were unserviceable and it evacuated back to the UK.

No.263 Squadron resumed its Gladiator operations in Norway when having re-equipped in Britain, the squadron returned to the far north of Norway on 21 May flying from Bardufoss airfield near Narvik. At the Narvik front No. 263 was reinforced by No. 46 Squadron whose Hurricanes had arrived a few days later, using an airstrip at Skånland. Due to unsuitable ground at Skånland 46 Squadron moved so that both were operating from Bardufoss by 27 May. The squadrons had been ordered to defend the fleet anchorage at Skånland and the military base at Harstad on the island of Hinnøya, as well as the Narvik area after it was recaptured. The action was short but intense before the squadrons, due to the British government's response to the invasion of France were instructed on 2 June to prepare for evacuation.

By then, 263 Squadron had flown 249 sorties and claimed 26 enemy aircraft destroyed. No. 263 Squadron's ten surviving Gladiators were landed on HMS Glorious on 7 June. Glorious sailed for home but was intercepted by the German battlecruisers Gneisenau and Scharnhorst. Despite the valiant defence put up by her two escorting destroyers, HMS Acasta and HMS Ardent, she was sunk and along with the aircraft from four squadrons. 263 Squadron lost its CO, S/Ldr John W Donaldson, and F/Lt Alvin T Williams along with eight other pilots.^[2]^[3]^[4]^[5]^[6]

No Norwegian Army Air Service aircraft were able to evacuate after the 10 June surrender of the mainland Norwegian forces. Only the aircraft of the Royal Norwegian Navy Air Service (MF.11s and He 115s) had the range to fly all the way from their last bases in Northern Norway to the UK.

[edit] Campaigns in the Mediterranean

In the North African and Greek theatres, RAF Gladiators achieved some success against the Italian Regia Aeronautica, which was mainly equipped with Fiat CR.32 and Fiat CR.42 biplanes. It suffered heavier losses against the Fiat G.50 and Macchi C.200 monoplanes.^{[citation needed]}

During the siege of Malta, the entire island of Malta was protected by a small force of Gladiators, giving rise to a myth that only three Sea Gladiator aircraft, named Faith, Hope and Charity formed the entire fighter cover of the island.^{[citation needed]} In fact, more than three aircraft were operational, though not always at the same time; others were used for spare parts[1]. A stock of 18 aircraft from 802 Naval Air Squadron had remained at Malta after HMS Glorious was sunk in 1940. The three Sea Gladiators were part of the Hal Far Fighter Flight, which was comprised of both RAF and FAA personnel. (Hope was destroyed in an air raid on February 4, 1941. Charity was shot down on 29 July 1940 and its pilot, F/O P.W. Hartley RAF, was badly burned. The fuselage of Faith has been preserved in Malta.)

Greek Gladiators destroyed many Italian aircraft in the 1940-1941 Greco-Italian War, as well as some German aircraft during the 1941 Invasion.

[edit] Campaigns in Middle and Far East

In the Far East, the Gladiator fared little better against Japanese Imperial Japanese Army Air Service and Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service aircraft than it had against those of the Germans and the Italians. It played a part in the short-lived defence of Singapore^{[citation needed]}.

Iraqi Gladiators were used against British and Indian forces in the 1941 Anglo-Iraqi War. The Iraqis used them until 1949 for ground attack missions against the Kurds.

Chinese Gladiators scored several victories over Japanese aircraft between 1938-1940 during the Second Sino-Japanese War when they were used extensively before the start of 1940 by the 28th, 29th, and 32nd Squadrons of the 3rd Group. The Chinese pilots considered the Gladiator an excellent fighter of its class. In comparison to its major opponents of the time, such as the Mitsubishi A5M, the Gladiator was only a little slower and superior in all other aspects such as turning rate, etc. However, when newer Japanese aircraft such as the Mitsubishi A6M entered the battles, the Gladiators' days were numbered.

[edit] The Finnish Winter War

Swedish Gloster Gladiator from F19 at Kauhava, Finland

During the Winter War, the Finnish Air Force obtained 30 Mk II fighters from the UK. The aircraft, which arrived in January and February 1940 had been financed by South Africa and given to Finland. The Finnish Gladiators served until 1945, but they were outclassed by the more modern Soviet fighters during the Continuation War. The aircraft was mostly used for reconnaissance from 1941 onwards. The Finnish Air Force obtained 33 aerial victories with the aircraft type during the Winter War and one victory during the Continuation War. Two pilots became aces with this aircraft alone.

Besides the FAF Gladiators, the Swedish Voluntary Air Force, responsible for the air defence of northern Finland during the later part of the war, was also equipped with Gladiator fighters. The air squadron F19 arrived in Finnish Lapland on 10 January 1940, and remained there until the end of the hostilities. It fielded 12 Gladiator Mk I fighters and five Hawker Hart dive bombers, plus a Raab-Katzenstein RK-26 liaison aircraft and a Junkers F.13 transport plane. The aircraft belonged to and were crewed by the Swedish Air Force, but flew with Finnish nationality markings. The Swedish Gladiators scored eight aerial victories and destroyed a further four aircraft on the ground. (F19's executive officer Captain Björn Bjuggren wrote in his memoirs that the tracer rounds of the Gladiator's machine guns would not ignite the gasoline when penetrating the fuel tanks of Soviet bombers. Better ammunition would therefore have enabled the Swedish pilots to score several more kills.)

[edit] Operations elsewhere

Belgian Gladiators suffered heavy losses to the Germans in 1940. Irish Gladiators shot down several British barrage balloons that had broken from their moorings.

Gladiator in pre-Second World War RNoAF colours

[edit] Preserved Gladiators

Gladiators have been preserved at the Shuttleworth Collection, Gloucestershire Aviation Collection (in Bedfordshire, UK), National War Museum (in Fort St Elmo, Malta) and the RAF Museum (in Hendon and Cosford, UK). One Swedish Gladiator Mk.I is preserved in Winter War markings at Flygvapenmuseum in Malmslätt, Sweden.

[edit] Variants

SS.37 - Prototype.
Gladiator Mk I - Powered by a single 840 hp (627 kW) Bristol Mercury IX air-cooled radial piston engine. The aircraft was designated J 8 in Swedish Air Force service. Delivered 1937-38. 378 built.
Gladiator Mk II - Powered by a single Bristol Mercury VIIIA air-cooled radial piston engine. The aircraft was designated J 8A in Swedish Air Force service. 270 built.
Sea Gladiator - Single-seat fighter biplane for the Royal Navy. 98 built.

[edit] Quotations

“	Those old Gladiators aren't made of stressed steel like a Hurricane or a Spit. They have taut canvas wings, covered with magnificently inflammable dope, and underneath there are hundreds of small thin sticks, the kind you put under the logs for kindling, only these are drier and thinner. If a clever man said, 'I am going to build a big thing that will burn better and quicker than anything else in the world,' and if he applied himself diligently to his task, he would probably finish up by building something very like a Gladiator.	”
	— Roald Dahl, The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, page 205.