(Gloster) Gladiator @·AIRCRAFTUBE

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  • Gloster Sea Gladiator Mk.I - Bristol Mercury engine - Hamilton prop - Malta 1940 Gloster Sea Gladiator Mk.I - Bristol Mercury engine - Hamilton prop - Malta 1940
    Gloster Sea Gladiator Mk.I - Bristol Mercury engine - Hamilton prop - Malta 1940
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    Gloster Gladiator

Gloster Gladiator

Designed by Henry Phillip Folland, the Gladiator was used by the Royal Air Force 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, although it acquitted itself well in combat. It saw action on almost all theatres of war during the Second World War and was used by a large number of air forces, including some belonging to the Axis forces. The last Gladiator was retired in 1953 in Portugal.

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 on 12 September 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 257 mph (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 747 airframes were built (483 RAF, 98 RN; 216 exported to 13 countries, some of them from the total allotted to the RAF). Gladiators were sold to Belgium, China, Egypt, Finland, Free France, Greece, Iraq, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Portugal, South Africa and Sweden.

Operational history

The Gladiator was largely replaced in front line RAF 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 early years of the Second World War. The classic biplane fighter was also one of Britain's biggest pre-war 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.

The Finnish Winter War

During the Winter War, the Finnish Air Force obtained 30 Mk.II fighters from the UK. Of the aircraft, which arrived between 18 January and 16 February 1940, 10 were donated to and 20 bought by the FAF. 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 45 aerial victories by 22 pilots with the aircraft type during the Winter War and one victory during the Continuation War. Twelve Gladiators were lost in combat during the Winter War and three during the Continuation War. Two pilots became aces with this aircraft alone. These were Oiva Tuominen (6.5 victories with Gladiators) and Paavo Berg (five victories).

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, designated as J8 ( Mk.I ) and J8A ( Mk.II ) by the Swedes. The Flying Regiment F 19 arrived in Finnish Lapland on 10 January 1940, and remained there until the end of the hostilities. It fielded 12 Gladiator Mk.II fighters, two of which were lost during the fighting, and five Hawker Hart dive bombers, plus a Raab-Katzenstein RK-26 liaison aircraft and a Junkers F 13 transport aircraft. 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. (F 19'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 could therefore have enabled the Swedish pilots to score several more kills.)

The Norwegian Campaign

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

Jagevingen

The Gladiator pilots of the Norwegian Jagevingen (or fighter flight) based at Fornebu Airport, having seven serviceable aircraft on the day, managed to shoot down five German aircraft on 9 April 1940, the first day of the invasion of Norway: two Messerschmitt Bf 110 fighters, two He 111 bombers and one Fallschirmjäger-laden 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 remaining four operational fighters were ordered to land wherever they could away from their Fornebu base. The Gladiators scattered, landing on frozen lakes around Oslo and never returned to battle, being abandoned by their pilots and then wrecked by souvenir searching civilians.

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 an improvised landing strip built by Norwegian volunteers 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 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.

No Norwegian Army Air Service aircraft were able to evacuate westwards before the 10 June surrender of the mainland Norwegian forces. Only the aircraft of the Royal Norwegian Navy Air Service (one M.F.11 and four He 115) had the range to fly all the way from their last bases in North Norway to the UK. Two Army Air Service Fokker C.V.Ds did however manage to escape eastwards to Finland before the surrender. Three M.F.11 also flew to Finland, landing on Lake Salmijärvi in Petsamo.

Mediterranean & Middle East

In the Mediterranean Theatre during 1940-41, Gladiators saw combat with four Allied air forces: the RAF, Royal Australian Air Force, South African Air Force and Ellinikí Vasilikí Aeroporía (Royal Greek Air Force) squadrons. These achieved some success against the Italian Regia Aeronautica, which was mainly equipped with Fiat CR.32 and CR.42 biplanes, and against Luftwaffe bombers. They suffered heavier losses against Fiat G.50 and Macchi C.200 monoplanes. The South African ace Marmaduke "Pat" Pattle (who served with the RAF), claimed 15 kills in Gladiators during the North African and Greek Campaigns, making him the highest-scoring RAF biplane ace of the Second World War.

The 1941 Anglo-Iraqi War was unique in the context of Gloster Gladiators in that the opposing air forces, being the RAF and Royal Iraqi Air Force, both used the Gladiator as their main fighter.

Malta

One of the best-known campaigns fought by Gladiators was the siege of Malta in 1940. The fighter force defending Malta was, for a period of ten days, a small force of British-operated Gladiators, the Hal Far Fighter Flight, giving rise to a myth that three aircraft, named Faith, Hope and Charity formed the entire fighter cover of the island. The aircraft names only came into being after the battle was over. In fact, more than three aircraft were operational, though not always at the same time; others were used for spare parts.

A stock of 18 Sea Gladiators from 802 Naval Air Squadron had been deposited by HMS Glorious, in early 1940. Three were later shipped out to take part in the Norwegian Campaign, and another three were sent to Egypt. By April, Malta was in need of fighter protection and was decided to form a flight of Gladiators at RAF Hal Far, to be composed of RAF and FAA personnel. Several Sea Gladiators were assembled and test flown.

By June, two of the Gladiators had crashed and an additional two were assembled. Charity was shot down on 29 July 1940 and its pilot, F/O P.W. Hartley, was badly burned. Hope was destroyed in an air raid on 4 February 1941. The fuselage of the only surviving Gladiator from the Hal Far Fighter Flight, N5520, later called Faith, was presented to the people of Malta in 1943 and has been preserved in Malta. Research on the airframe indicated that parts of at least one other Gladiator are part of this airframe The fate of at least five more Gladiators that saw action over Malta is not as well documented.

Greece

Tension had been building between Greece and Italy since 7 April 1939, when Italian troops occupied Albania. On 27 October 1940, Italy sent an ultimatum to Greece, which was rejected, and the following morning, Italian troops invaded Greece, initiating the Greco-Italian War.

Britain sent help in the form of No. 80 Squadron RAF, elements of which arrived at Trikkala by 19 November. Successful combat with Italian CR.42s soon followed, and on 3 December the Gladiators were reinforced with elements from No. 112 Squadron RAF. After a break of two weeks, No. 80 Sqn returned to operations on 19 December 1940, and over the next few days, several groups of Italian Savoia-Marchetti SM.79 Sparviero and Savoia-Marchetti SM.81 bombers were encountered, and victories claimed.

The complete No. 112 Sqn moved to Eleusis by the end of January 1941, and by the end of February that year, had received No 80 Sqn's Gladiators, after the latter unit had converted to Hawker Hurricanes. On 5 April, German forces invaded Greece and quickly established air superiority. As the Allied troops retreated, Gladiators covered them, before flying to Crete during the last week of April. There No 112 Sqn recorded a few claims over twin-engined aircraft, before being evacuated to Egypt during the Battle of Crete.

Anglo-Iraqi War

The Royal Iraqi Air Force (RoIAF) had, since Iraq was granted independence in 1932, been trained and equipped by the British. One result of this was the dominance of British-built aircraft in the RoIAF inventory. In 1941, the sole RoIAF single-purpose fighter squadron, No. 4 Squadron consisted of seven operational Gloster Gladiators, at Rashid Air Base.

After a pre-emptive RAF attack from RAF Habbaniya against blockading Iraqi forces Iraqi Gladiators took part in attacks on the British air base, strafing it ineffectively on 2 May. Although much of the RoIAF was destroyed in the air or on the ground in the following days the Iraqi Gladiators kept flying until the end of the war, carrying out strafing attacks on A Company of 1 Battalion The Essex Regiment on the outskirts of Baghdad on 30 May.

Before the outbreak of hostilities in Iraq the 4th Service Training School at RAF Habbaniya operated three old Gladiators as officers' runabouts. With the increased tension the base was reinforced with another six Gladiators on 19 April, flying in from Egypt. During the early part of the war the nine Gladiators flew numerous sorties against air and ground targets, taking off from the base' polo field. The Gladiator force in Iraq was further reinforced when, on 11 May, another five aircraft arrived, this time from 94 Squadron in Ismaïlia on the Suez Canal.

  • A last resupply of Gladiators came on 17 May in the form of four more 94 Squadron machines.

    During the fighting the sole Gladiator-on-Gladiator kill occurred on 5 May, when Plt. Off. Watson of the Fighter Flight shot down an Iraqi Gladiator over Baqubah during a bomber escort mission. The Iraqi Gladiators' only claim during the war was a Vickers Wellington bomber shared with ground fire on 4 May.

    Immediately after launching his coup against king Faisal II in early April 1941 prime minister Rashid Ali al-Gaylani approached Germany and Italy for help in repelling any British counter-measures. In response to this the Germans assembled a Luftwaffe task force under Iraqi colours called Fliegerführer Irak which from 14 May operated out of Mosul. Before this force collapsed due to lack of supplies, replacements, quality fuel and aggressive RAF attacks two Gladiators fought a pair of Bf 110 sover Rashid Airfield at Baghdad on 17 May. Both German machines were swiftly shot down.

    The Iraqis continued to use Gladiators until 1949 for ground attack missions against the Kurds.

    Asia

    The Gloster Gladiator had its combat début on 24 February 1938, when Chinese Gladiators downed two Japanese A5M Claude navy fighters in the Nanking area. Chinese Gladiators scored several more victories over Japanese aircraft between 1938-1940 during the Second Sino-Japanese War. In China Gladiators 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 in 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. American born Chinese pilots, John "Buffalo" Wong and Arthur Chin became the first Gladiator flying ace and first American fighter ace of the Second World War respectively, and were among a group of 15 Chinese Americans whom formed the first and original group of American volunteer combat aviators countering the Japanese imperial aggressions in China.

    Operations elsewhere

    Belgian Gladiators suffered heavy losses to the Germans in 1940, with all 15 operational aircraft lost, and themselves managing only to damage two German aircraft.

    The Irish Air Corps was supplied with four Gladiators on 9 March 1939. Although unable to intercept any intruding aircraft, the Irish Gladiators shot down several British barrage balloons that had broken from their moorings. For a short time in 1940 an order was given to Irish fighter pilots to use their aircraft to block the runways of airfields. They were then to use rifles and shoot at any invaders. Irish Gladiators also overflew the site of the sinking of the liner SS Athenia in 1939 and offered the help of the Irish military. The flight was fired upon by Royal Navy ships in attendance, consequently, the Irish Gladiators withdrew without pursuing the matter further.

    After becoming obsolete RAF Gladiators carried out non-combat tasks such as meteorological work.

    Variants

    • SS.37: Prototype.
    • Gladiator I: Version 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 II: Version 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 Interim: Single-seat fighter biplane for the Royal Navy, 38 built. Fitted with arrestor hooks. Serial numbers: N2265 - N2302.
    • Sea Gladiator: Single-seat fighter biplane for the Royal Navy, 60 built. Fitted with arrestor hooks and provision for dinghy stowage. Serial numbers: N5500 - N5549 and N5565 - N5574.

    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, "A Piece of Cake", from the short story collection "The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar".

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