https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gloster_Gladiator
The Gloster Gladiator (or Gloster SS.37) was a British-built biplane fighter. It
was used by the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) (as the Sea
Gladiator variant) and was exported to a number of other air forces during the
late 1930s. It was the RAF's last biplane fighter aircraft and was rendered
obsolete by newer monoplane designs even as it was being introduced. Though
often pitted against more formidable foes during the early days of the Second
World War, it acquitted itself reasonably well in combat.
The Gladiator saw action in almost all theatres during the Second World War,
with a large number of air forces, some of them on the Axis side. The RAF used
it in France, Norway, Greece, the defence of Malta, the Middle East, and the
brief Anglo-Iraqi War (during which the Royal Iraqi Air Force was similarly
equipped). Other countries deploying the Gladiator included China against Japan,
beginning in 1938; Finland (along with Swedish volunteers) against the Soviet
Union in the Winter War and the Continuation War; Sweden as a neutral
non-combatant (although Swedish volunteers fought for Finland against USSR as
stated above); and Norway, Belgium, and Greece resisting Axis invasion of their
respective lands.
The South African pilot Marmaduke "Pat" Pattle was the top Gladiator ace with 15
victories.
Role
Fighter
Manufacturer
Gloster Aircraft Company, Ltd.
Designer
Henry Phillip Folland
First flight
12 September 1934
Introduction
23 February 1937
Retired
1953 (Portugal)
Primary users
Royal Air Force
Fleet Air Arm
Chinese Nationalist Air Force
Finnish Air Force
Norwegian Army Air Service
Number built
747
Developed from
Gloster Gauntlet
In October 1937, the Chinese Central Government ordered 36 Gladiator Is, which
were delivered in two crated batches to Guangzhou via Hong Kong. The Chinese
Gladiators used the American M1919 Browning machine gun to fire the American
.30-06 Springfield which was the main ammunition of the Chinese Nationalist Air
Force. By February 1938, these aircraft had been assembled into two squadrons
and the Chinese pilots familiarised themselves with them. The Gloster Gladiator
Chinese-American Capt John Wong Sun-Shui (nicknamed 'Buffalo') shot down an A5M
Claude navy fighter, a Gladiator's first victim. Wong is believed to have shot
down a second A5M, for the wrecks of two Japanese fighters were found. During
that clash, Chinese Gladiators lost two of their number.
Gladiators were used also by 263 Squadron during the remaining two months of the
Norwegian Campaign. Prior to the German invasion of Norway, Britain had prepared
this squadron for the conflict via low temperature environmental training. 263
Squadron arrived on the carrier HMS Glorious on 24 April, and first operated
from an improvised landing strip built by Norwegian volunteers on the frozen
lake Lesjaskogsvatnet in Oppland in central southern Norway. On 25 April, a pair
of Gladiators destroyed a Heinkel He 115 aircraft; Luftwaffe bombers carried out
numerous retaliatory attacks upon the runway that day, wounding several pilots
on the ground. By the end of the day, 10 Gladiators had been destroyed for the
loss of three German aircraft. After less than a week, all the squadron's
aircraft were unserviceable and the personnel was evacuated back to Britain.
Having re-equipped in Britain, 263 Squadron resumed its Gladiator operations in
Norway when it returned to the north of Norway on 21 May, flying from Bardufoss
airfield near Narvik. At the Narvik front, 263 Squadron was reinforced by
later. Numerous German aircraft were downed by Gladiators during this
Bardufoss and was operating from this base by 27 May. The squadrons had been
recaptured. In addition to air defence duties, in the last days of May ground
attack missions were also flown by the Gladiators, targeting railway stations,
enemy vehicles, and coastal vessels.
On 2 June, one Gladiator pilot, Louis Jacobsen, was credited with the
destruction of three Heinkel He 111s, along with the probable destruction of a
Junkers Ju 88 and an addition He 111 aircraft, during a single sortie. Overall,
British action in the theatre 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.
The Finnish Air Force was the last to use the Gloster biplane in combat. It was
under Finnish insignia that the Gladiator achieved its last air victory. During
the Continuation War, against the Soviets, Glosters supported the advance of the
LLv 16, during a reconnaissance mission along the Murmansk railway, between the
White Sea and the Lake Onega, spotted, on Karkijarvi, a Soviet Polikarpov R-5
taking off. Stromberg dived on it and shot it down into the forest near its
airfield with two bursts.
Specifications (Gloster Gladiator Mk I)
General characteristics
Crew: 1
Length: 27 ft 5 in (8.36 m)
Wingspan: 32 ft 3 in (9.83 m)
Height: 11 ft 9 in (3.58 m)
Wing area: 323 ft2 (30.0 m2)
Empty weight: 3,217 lb (1,462 kg)
Loaded weight: 4,594 lb (2,088 kg)
Performance
Maximum speed: 253 mph (220 knots, 407 km/h) at 14,500 ft (4,400 m)
Cruise speed: 210 mph
Stall speed: 53 mph (46 knots, 85 km/h)
Endurance: 2 hours
Service ceiling: 32,800 ft (10,000 m)
Rate of climb: 2,300 ft/min] (11.7 m/s)
Climb to 10,000 ft (3,050 m): 4.75 min
Armament
Guns:
Initially; Two synchronised .303 in Vickers machine guns in fuselage sides, two
.303 in Lewis machine guns; one beneath each lower wing.
Later aircraft; Four .303 calibre M1919 Browning machine guns; two synchronised
guns in fuselage sides and one beneath each lower wing.
In at least some Sea Gladiators, provision existed for a pair of Brownings to be
fitted under the upper wings as well, bringing the total to six. Official
service release trials were not completed before the Sea Gladiators were
the field, in particular in Malta.
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