Gloster had designed a twin-engined turret-fighter for specification F.34/35 but the single-engined
Boulton Paul Defiant for F.9/35 was seen to cover both requirements and the F.34/35 design dropped. Less than two years later, F.9/37 for a "twin-engined single-seat fighter with fixed armament" was issued. The F.9/37 was designed under the direction of
George Carter, his first for Gloster, to F.9/37 (hence the name) as a single-seat fighter carrying an armament of four
0.303 in (7.7 mm) Browning machine guns and two
20 mm Hispano cannon in the nose. Intended for dispersed production by semi-skilled labour, the structure broke down into sub-assemblies. A
prototype (
military serial L7999) with 1,060 hp
Bristol Taurus T-S(a) radial engines flew on 3 April 1939 and demonstrated excellent performance, its maximum speed of being the best recorded by a British fighter at the time. Test flights revealed that the prototype was very manoeuvrable and "a delight to fly". After being badly damaged in a landing accident in July 1939, it was re-engined with 900 hp Taurus T-S(a)-IIIs in 1940, which reduced its performance. A second prototype (
L8002) with 880 hp
Rolls-Royce Peregrine I liquid-cooled, inline engines flew on 22 February 1940; it proved capable of at .
F.18/40 and F.29/40 Specification F.18/40, for a specialist
night fighter, with nose- and turret-mounted guns, led to Gloster submitting a design based on the F.9/37, fitted with
Rolls-Royce Merlin engines, a dorsal four-gun turret and Airborne Interception (AI)
radar. This received support from the
Air Staff who saw it as superior to the
Bristol Beaufighter and the
Air Ministry ordered one of the F.9/37 prototypes to be converted to the new specification as F.29/40. Unofficially known as the Gloster Reaper, it inherited the admirable handling characteristics of the F.9/37 and despite being judged superior to other designs, including turreted variants of the Beaufighter and
de Havilland Mosquito, the Reaper was terminated in May 1941, for Gloster to concentrate on other work, especially the
Gloster E.28/39 jet aircraft. ==Specifications (
L7999: Taurus engine)==