Gloster Gladiator I (L8032)  [@ Shuttleworth Collection]

The Gladiator was the last in the line of inter-war Gloster fighters, following the Grebe, Gamecock and Gauntlet, and it was the last biplane fighter used by the RAF.   The type started as a private venture designed by H.P.  Folland and first flew in 1934.   It was soon ordered into production by the Air Ministry as the Gladiator I, and became the first RAF fighter to have four Browning machine guns and had flaps and an enclosed cockpit.   840 hp Mercury IXS engines powered them.   It was destined not to have a long service life, as the newer monoplanes were about to enter service.

Gloster Gladiator I (L8032)  [@ RAF Duxford]

First deliveries were made to 27 Squadron at Tangmere in February 1937 and the type went on to equip eight squadrons of Fighter Command.  The Gladiator II was enveloped to fulfil foreign orders, 147 being produced for this purpose, and 252 were built for the RAF.  The navel version, the Sea Gladiator, was an adaptation of the Gladiator II and equipped seven Fleet Air Arm squadrons from 1939.  After withdrawal from front-line service, the Gladiator continued in RAF use for liaison, communications and meteorological reconnaissance until 1944.

L8032 is currently the only airworthy Gloster Gladiator in the world and was the last Gladiator I to come off the production line.  It was built by the Gloster Aircraft Co., Ltd.  in 1937 and was originally intended as a sequence of replacement machines.  First posted to 2 AACU [Anti-Aircraft Co-operation Unit which was used to give training to the A.A. sites] and then later to 1624 Flight and 61 OTU.  After the war it was used in some races and as a civil aircraft before being passed on the 23rd Feburary 1948 to the Gloster Aircraft Company and extensively rebuilt.  It was refitted with Browning machine guns and repainted into RAF markings.  After the closure of Glosters in 1960, L8032 was given to the Shuttleworth Collection for safekeeping.  L8032 has worn many different colours during its life and in the photograph wears the dual markings '423/427' of the Norwegian air force, which were applied for a film. 

 

Gloster Gladiator I (K8042)  [@ RAF Hendon]

At the outbreak of the Second World War four home based RAF fighter squadrons were still equipped with Gladiators.  Two of these units were sent to France in 1939.  In just ten days of hard fighting, following the opening of the German assault on 10th May 1940, all the aircraft had been lost.  In a desperate attempt to provide fighter cover for the 'little ships' involved in the Dunkirk evacuation a detachment of home based aircraft, known as 'G' Flight, was formed at RAF Manston in late May.  Only two home-based units used the Gladiator operationally during the Battle of Britain; 247 Squadron at RAF Exeter and RAF Roborough and 804 Squadron, Fleet Air Arm at stations in Scotland.  A Squadron was sent to Norway following the German invasion and they fought a rearguard action during April, May and June 1940.  Gladiators also served in the Middle East theatre, but are most remembered for their part in the defence of Malta between April and June 1940.  The popular story associated with the defence on Malta is that three Gladiators named 'Faith', 'Hope' and 'Charity' defended the island from the enemy attacks. 

K8042 is a second production batch and was built by Gloster Aircraft Co. Ltd.  in early 1937.  From June 1937 to July 1938 it served with 87 Squadron at RAF Debden.  Later it was posted to Boscombe Down Station Flight and 61 OTU [Operational Training Unit].  Currently it is preserved at RAF Hendon and in the photograph it is displayed in 87 Squadron colours.