Gloster Gladiator
Gloster Gladiator photographed in England in 2002
Description
Role	Fighter
Crew	1 pilot
First flight
Entered service
Manufacturer
Dimensions
Length	27 ft 5 in	8.4 m
Wingspan	32 ft 3 in	9.8 m
Height	11 ft 7 in	3.2 m
Wing area	323 ft²	30 m²
Weights
Empty	3,444 lb	1,560 kg
Loaded	4,864 lb	2,205 kg
Maximum takeoff	lb	kg
Capacity
Powerplant
Engines	One Bristol Mercury VIII AS
Power	850 hp	630 kW
Performance
Maximum speed	257 mph at 14,600 ft	414 km/h at 4,500 m
Combat range	miles	km
Ferry range	444 miles	710 km
Service ceiling	33,500 ft	10,200 m
Rate of climb	2220 ft/min	670 m/min
Avionics
Avionics
Armament
Guns	Four x 0.303 (7.7 mm) Browning machine-guns

The Gloster Gladiator was a biplane fighter, used by the Royal Air Force and the Royal Navy, during World War II. The aircraft had a top speed of around 414 km/h. Gladiators were also modified for carrier operations and flown by the Royal Navy, where it was known as the Sea Gladiator. Gloster Gladiator at the Shuttleworth Pageant (England) in September 2002. ... A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings of similar spans, normally one mounted above, and the other level with, the underside of the fuselage. ... A fighter aircraft is a military aircraft designed primarily for attacking other aircraft, as opposed to a bomber, which is designed to attack ground targets, primarily by dropping bombs. ... The Royal Air Force (often abbreviated to RAF) is the air force branch of the UK Armed Forces. ... The Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the senior service of the armed services, being the oldest of its three branches. ... World War II was a truly global conflict with many facets: Immense human sacrifice, fierce indoctrinations, and the use of new, extremely devastating weapons - the atom bomb being the ultimate. ... An aircraft is any machine capable of atmospheric flight. ...

History

First flown in 1934, and introducted into service in 1937, the Gloster Gladiator was developed from the Gauntlet biplane fighter. Even when it was introduced the design was being eclipsed by the new generation of monoplane fighters, such as the Spitfire and Messerschmitt Bf 109. When WW2 began the Gladiator was used in combat in France and Norway, but was found to be outclassed by the German fighters in most respects. Despite this, the Gladiators of the Norwegian Jagevingen at Fornebu Airport, consisting of 7 functional Gladiators, (litt: pursuitwing) managed to shoot down a total of 5 German aircraft on April 9, 1940 the first day of Weserübung. That day the Luftwaffe lost two Messerschmitt Bf-110 fighters, two He-111 bombers and a Ju-52 transport. One Norwegian fighter was shot down during the air battle, by the future Experte Helmut Lent, while two were destroyed on the ground while refuelling and rearming on Fornebu airport. The four remaining fighters were ordered to land wherever, just not on their Fornebu base. The fighters scattered, landing on frozen lakes around Oslo, and never returned to combat. The Gladiators were also used by two RAF fighter squadrons during the remaining two months of the Norwegian campaign. No Norwegian Army Airforce aircraft were able to evacuate after the June 10 surrender of the mainland Norwegian forces. Only aircraft of the Norwegian Naval Airforce had the range to fly all the way from their last bases in Northern Norway to the UK. Included amongst the aircraft that reached the British Isles were a number of German made Heinkel He-115 seaplane bombers. The Norwegian surrender followed the evacuation of the Allied forces in Norway after the success of the German Fall Gelb in France and the Low Countries. A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings of similar spans, normally one mounted above, and the other level with, the underside of the fuselage. ... Fighter has a number of meanings: A fighter aircraft is a warplane designed to destroy other warplanes in combat. ... The Supermarine Spitfire was a single seat fighter used by the RAF and many Allied countries in World War II. The Spitfires elliptical wings gave it a very distinctive look; their thin cross-section gave it speed; the brilliant design of Chief Designer R.J. Mitchell and his successors... (Bf 109 was the official Reichsluftfahrtministerium designation, though some late-war aircraft actually carried the Me 109 designation stamped onto their aircraft type plates. ... German soldiers at the Battle of Stalingrad World War II was the most extensive and costly armed conflict in the history of the world, involving the great majority of the worlds nations, being fought simultaneously in several major theatres, and costing tens of millions of lives. ... Fornebu (archaic form Fornebo) is a peninsular area in the suburban municipality of Bærum in Norway, close to the countrys capital Oslo. ... April 9 is the 99th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (100th in leap years). ... 1940 was a leap year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... Operation Weserübung was the German codename for Nazi Germanys assault on Denmark and Norway during World War II and the opening operation of the Norwegian Campaign. ... The Luftwaffe (literally, air weapon, pronounced looft-vaaf-feh) is the air force of Germany. ... The Heinkel He 111 was the primary Luftwaffe medium bomber during the early stages of World War II, and is perhaps the most obvious symbol of the German side of the Battle of Britain. ... A bomber is a military aircraft designed to attack ground targets, primarily by dropping bombs. ... The Junkers Ju 52 nicknamed Tante Ju (Auntie Ju) and Iron Annie was a civilian airliner and military transport aircraft and bomber manufactured between 1932 and 1945 by Junkers. ... County Oslo NO-03 Landscape Viken Municipality NO-0301 Administrative centre Oslo Mayor (2004) Per Ditlev-Simonsen (H) Official language form Neutral Area  - Total  - Land  - Percentage Ranked 224 454 km² 426 km² 0. ... RAF is an abbreviation for: Royal Air Force -- the Air Force of the United Kingdom (see also Air Ministry) Red Army Fraction (Rote Armee Fraktion) -- a German terror organisation Rigas Autobusu Fabrika -- a factory making buses in Riga, Latvia Rapid Action Force in India Rachunarski Fakultet RAF is also an... A Squadron is a grouping of aircraft, naval vessels, armoured fighting vehicles or soldiers. ... The Norwegian Campaign was the first direct confrontation between the military forces of the Allied United Kingdom and France against Nazi Germany in World War II. Background Value of Norway When Germany invaded Poland on September 1st, 1939, the United Kingdom and France had been forced to declare war against... The Norwegian Army is Norways military land force. ... An air force is a military organization that primarily operates in air-based war. ... June 10 is the 161st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (162nd in leap years), with 204 days remaining. ... Surrender is when soldiers give up fighting and become prisoners of war, either as individuals or when ordered to by their officers . ... This article is about the geomorphological/geopolitical term; Mainland is also a brand from Fonterra. ... In norwegian: Nord-Norge meaning Northern Norway. ... The British Isles consist of Great Britain, Ireland and a number of much smaller surrounding islands. ... A DeHavilland Single Otter floatplane in Harbour Air livery A seaplane is an aircraft designed to take off and land (correctly, though less commonly, alight) upon water. ... Evacuation can have several meanings: In wilderness first aid, evacuation is the transport of a seriously injured person out of the wilderness to the nearest point an ambulance can reach to take them to the hospital, or to the nearest emergency room. ... In World War II, Battle of France or Case Yellow (Fall Gelb in German) was the German invasion of France and the Low Countries, executed 10 May 1940 which ended the Phony War. ... The Low Countries, the historical region of de Nederlanden, are the countries (see Country) on low-lying land around the delta of the Rhine, Scheldt, and Meuse (Maas) rivers. ...

In the North African theatre the Gladiator achieved some success against the Italian Air Force, which was equipped with a mix of biplanes and early design monoplanes. Its most notable exploit came in the defence of Malta, where for a brief period three Sea Gladiator aircraft, named Faith, Hope and Charity formed the entire air defence of the island. The Aeronautica Militare Italiana is the Italian air force. ... A monoplane is an aircraft with one main set of wing surfaces, in contrast to a biplane or triplane. ...

In the Far East the Gladiator fared little better against the modern machines of the Japanese than it had against the Germans. It played a part in the short-lived defense of Singapore. Far East is a term often used for East Asia and Southeast Asia combined, sometimes including also the easternmost territories of Russia, i. ...

Carrier based Gladiators were more successful, since its slower speed made it more suitable for carrier operations and it was less likely to be facing modern figher opposition. Carrier has several different meanings: in telecommunication, a carrier wave in biology, an asymptomatic carrier or a carrier-protein the Carrier tribe, a First Nations tribe living in British Columbia, Canada; also the name of their Athabaskan language a common carrier, a transport business (shipping or telecom) an aircraft carrier...

The Gladiator was also exported for use by the air forces of 13 other countries.

Quotes

• Anonymous Maltese
  • "[The Gladiators] worked miracles and must have frightened the Italians." (1 - p.37)

See also:

• F. H. Maynard

F.H. Sammy Maynard, during World War II, was a New Zealander of the Royal Air Force who served as the Commanding Air Officer of Malta. ...

Notable Gloster Gladiator pilots

• John H. Lapsley
• Roald Dahl

John Hugh Lapsley, early in World War II, was the pilot of a Royal Air Force Gloster Gladiator based on Malta. ... Patricia Neal and Roald Dahl, photographed by Carl Van Vechten, 1954 Roald Dahl (September 13, 1916 – November 23, 1990) was a British novelist and short story author of Norwegian descent, famous as a writer for both children and adults. ...

Specifications (variant described)

General characteristics

• Crew:
• Capacity:
• Length: m ( ft)
• Wingspan: m ( ft)
• Height: m ( ft)
• Wing area: m² ( ft²)
• Empty: kg ( lb)
• Loaded: kg ( lb)
• Maximum takeoff: kg ( lb)
• Powerplant: Engine type(s), kN (lbf) thrust or
• Powerplant: Engine type(s), kW ( hp)

Performance

• Maximum speed: km/h ( mph)
• Range: km ( miles)
• Service ceiling: m ( ft)
• Rate of climb: m/min ( ft/min)
• Wing loading: kg/m² ( lb/ft²)
• Thrust/weight: or
• Power/mass:

Units using the Gloster Gladiator

Royal Air Force

• No. 1 Squadron
• No. 3 Squadron
• No. 6 Squadron
• No. 14 Squadron
• No. 25 Squadron
• No. 33 Squadron
• No. 54 Squadron
• No. 56 Squadron
• No. 65 Squadron
• No. 72 Squadron
• No. 73 Squadron
• No. 80 Squadron
• No. 85 Squadron
• No. 87 Squadron
• No. 94 Squadron
• No. 112 Squadron
• No. 117 Squadron
• No. 123 Squadron
• No. 127 Squadron
• No. 141 Squadron
• No. 152 Squadron
• No. 237 Squadron
• No. 247 Squadron
• No. 261 Squadron
• No. 263 Squadron
• No. 267 Squadron
• No. 274 Squadron
• No. 520 Squadron
• No. 521 Squadron
• No. 603 Squadron
• No. 604 Squadron
• No. 605 Squadron
• No. 607 Squadron
• No. 615 Squadron

Fleet Air Arm

• No. 800 Squadron
• No. 801 Squadron
• No. 802 Squadron
• No. 804 Squadron
• No. 805 Squadron
• No. 806 Squadron

External links

• http://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/gloster-gladiator-1.htm
• http://www.battleofbritain.net/0008.html
• http://www.warbirdsresourcegroup.org/BARC/gladiator.html
• http://www.fleetairarmarchive.net/Aircraft/Gladiator.htm
• the Gloster Gladiator Web Page
• The Gloster Gladiator in the Norwegian Army Air Service (Hærens Flygevåpen)

References

• 1 -- The Battle of Alamein: Turning Point, World War II by John Bierman and Colin Smith (2002)

2002 is a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...