Introduction to service Gloster Gladiator 423 in 1938–1940 In February 1937, No. 72 Squadron, based at
Tangmere, became the first squadron to be equipped with the Gladiator; No. 72 operated the type until April 1939, longer than any other home-based frontline unit. Between March and April 1937, No. 3 Squadron at
Kenley also received Gladiators from the remainder of the first production batch, replacing its obsolete
Bristol Bulldogs. Difficulties with introducing the type had been experienced. Although the Gladiator was typically well-liked by pilots, the accident rate during operational training on the type was so high that a small replacement batch of 28 Gladiator Mk IIs was hurriedly produced. During 1938, the RAF had begun to receive its first deliveries of the Hurricane and Spitfire monoplanes; an emphasis was soon placed on quickly re-equipping half of the Gladiator squadrons with either of these monoplane types. By the outbreak of the Second World War, the Gladiator had largely been replaced by Hurricanes and Spitfires in front-line RAF service defending the UK itself against the Luftwaffe. The introduction of these aircraft had been eased by the presence of the Gladiator, squadrons that had operated Gladiators prior to converting to the monoplane types experienced a noticeably improved accident record than those who converted from older types such as the Gauntlet. Experiences such as operating the Gladiator's landing flaps and familiarisation with its sliding hood have been attributed to having favourably impacted pilot conversion. Gladiators saw considerable action during early stages of the war, including participating in the action in the
French and
Norwegian campaigns, the defence of Egypt, Malta, and Greece mainly against the Italians, and in various peripheral campaigns. The Gloster Gladiator had its combat début on 24 February 1938. That day, in the
Nanking area, Chinese-American Capt
John Wong Sun-Shui (nicknamed 'Buffalo') shot down a
Mitsubishi A5M "Claude" naval fighter, the first victim of a Gladiator. Wong is believed to have shot down a second A5M as the wrecks of two Japanese fighters were found. Chinese Gladiators scored several more victories over Japanese aircraft from 1938 to 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. Chinese aviators considered the Gladiator an excellent fighter in its class, but pilots soon found it increasingly difficult to hold their own against the modern A5M, and because of a lack of spare parts due to an arms embargo, the surviving Gladiators were mostly relegated to training. When newer Japanese aircraft such as the
Mitsubishi A6M Zero entered the theatre, the Gladiators' days were numbered. "Buffalo" Wong, the first Gladiator
flying ace and first American fighter ace of the war, was eventually shot down in combat with A6M Zeros on 14 March 1941 and died two days later from his injuries.
Arthur Chin and he were among a group of 15
Chinese Americans who formed the original group of American volunteer combat aviators in China.
The Finnish Winter War and Continuation War During the
Winter War, the
Finnish Air Force (FAF) obtained 30 Mk II fighters from the UK. Ten of the aircraft were donated, while the other 20 were bought by the FAF; all were delivered between 18 January and 16 February 1940, the first entering service on 2 February 1940. The Finnish Gladiators served until 1945, but they were outclassed by modern Soviet fighters during the
Continuation War, and the aircraft was mostly used for reconnaissance from 1941. The Finnish Air Force obtained 45 aerial victories by 22 pilots with the aircraft 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. 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 four aircraft on the ground. One concern was expressed when 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 aviation spirit when penetrating the fuel tanks of
Soviet bombers.
The Phoney War At the beginning of the Second World War, during what was known as the "
Phoney War", Britain deployed the
British Expeditionary Force (BEF) into France to fight alongside the French army. As part of this force, RAF units operating various aircraft were dispatched to contribute, including two Gladiator squadrons. On 18 May 1940, a Luftwaffe bombing raid destroyed many of the BEF's Gladiators and Hurricanes on the ground at
Vitry-en-Artois, shortly after which the BEF's withdrawal to
Dunkirk for evacuation to mainland Britain began. Gladiators typically flew patrol flights that led to occasional clashes with Luftwaffe reconnaissance aircraft. On 17 October 1940, British Gladiators scored their first success when No 607 Squadron "B" Flight shot down a
Dornier Do 18 flying boat ('8L+DK' of 2.KuFlGr 606), on the North Sea. On 10 April 1941, 804 NAS took off from
Hatston, in
Orkney, to intercept a group of approaching German aircraft. Lt Cdr J. C. Cockburn was credited with one destroyed and Blue Section with a "damaged".
The Norwegian campaign 's Gladiator 427 on 9 April 1940 The
Norwegian campaign saw both Norwegian and British Gladiators battling the Luftwaffe, with the Norwegian
Jagevingen fighting in the defence of
Oslo on the first day of
Operation Weserübung, the German invasion. Later, British Gladiators fought to provide
fighter cover for the
Allied reinforcements sent to the assistance of the Norwegian government.
Norwegian action The Gladiator pilots of the Norwegian Jagevingen (fighter flight) were based at
Fornebu Airport. On 9 April, the first day of the invasion of Norway, the seven serviceable aircraft managed to shoot down five German aircraft: 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
strafed and destroyed while refuelling and rearming at Fornebu airport. The remaining four operational fighters were ordered to land wherever they could away from the base. The Gladiators landed on frozen lakes around Oslo and were abandoned by their pilots, then wrecked by
souvenir-hunting civilians. on 28 April 1940 and abandoned the same day. It eventually sank in May and was recovered in 1968 by a diving team from
RAF Cranwell. 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 115s) had the range to fly from their last bases in northern Norway to the UK. Two Army Air Service
Fokker C.V.Ds and one
Tiger Moth also managed to escape eastwards to
Finland before the surrender. Three naval M.F.11s and one He 115 flew to Finland, landing on Lake Salmijärvi in
Petsamo. 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 were evacuated to Britain.
Belgium Belgian Gladiators suffered heavy losses
to the Germans in 1940, with all 15 operational aircraft lost, while only managing to damage two German aircraft. During the preceding
Phoney War, on 24 April 1940 Belgian Gladiators on neutrality patrol shot down a German Heinkel He 111 bomber which subsequently crashed in the
Netherlands. The bomber, V4+DA of
Kampfgeschwader 1, had been damaged by French fighters at
Maubeuge, France, and chased across the Belgian border.
Battle of Britain The Gloster Gladiator was in operational service with
247 Squadron, stationed at
RAF Roborough,
Devon during the
Battle of Britain. Although no combat sorties took place at the height of the aerial battles, 247 Squadron Gladiators intercepted a Heinkel He 111 in late October 1940, without result.
239 Squadron, using Gladiators for army cooperation and
804 Naval Air Squadron, outfitted with Sea Gladiators, were also operational during the Battle of Britain.
Mediterranean and Middle East theatres 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 Hellenic Air Force) squadrons. These achieved some success against the
Italian Regia Aeronautica, which was mainly equipped with
Fiat CR.32 and
Fiat CR.42 biplanes, and against
Luftwaffe bombers. 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 war. The 1941
Anglo-Iraqi War was unique in that the RAF and
Royal Iraqi Air Force, used the Gladiator as their main fighter. Gladiators also saw action against the
Vichy French in
Syria.
Malta , in about September 1940. The aircraft has been refitted with a Bristol Mercury XV engine and three-blade Hamilton Standard variable-pitch propeller salvaged from a Bristol Blenheim. A stock of 18 Sea Gladiators from
802 Naval Air Squadron had been delivered 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 it 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. In the
siege of Malta in 1940, for 10 days the fighter force defending
Malta was 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 came into use after the battle. More than three aircraft were operational, though not always at the same time; others were used for spare parts.
No 1435 Flight, which later assumed control of Malta's air defence, took on the names
Faith,
Hope and
Charity for its aircraft upon its reformation as the air defence unit in the Falkland Islands in 1988. The Italian air force units deployed against Malta should have easily defeated the Gladiators but the type's manoeuvrability and good tactics won several engagements, often starting with a dive on
Savoia-Marchetti SM.79 Sparviero bombers before the
Fiat CR.42 and
Macchi MC.200 escort fighters could react. On 11 June 1940, a Gladiator damaged a Macchi and on 23 June, a Gladiator flown by George Burges, managed to shoot down an MC.200. Another successful pilot over Malta was
"Timber" Woods who managed to shoot down two S.79s and two CR.42s, also claiming a Macchi hit on 11 June and another S.79 damaged. The Gladiators forced Italian fighters to escort bombers and reconnaissance aircraft. Although the
Regia Aeronautica had started with a numerical advantage and air superiority, during the summer of 1940 the situation was reversed, with Hurricanes being delivered as fast as possible and gradually taking over the island's air defence. By June, two of the Gladiators had crashed and two more were assembled.
Charity was shot down on 31 July 1940. Its pilot, Flying Officer Peter Hartley, scrambled at 09.45 with fellow pilots F. F. Taylor and Flight Lieutenant "Timber" Woods, to intercept an SM.79, escorted by nine CR.42s from 23° Gruppo. During a dogfight a CR.42 flown by Serg. Manlio Tarantino shot down Hartley's Gladiator (N5519), badly burning him. Woods shot down Antonio Chiodi, commander of the 75a
Squadriglia five miles east of Grand Harbour. Chiodi was subsequently awarded a posthumous
Medaglia d’Oro al Valor Militare, Italy's highest military award. In May 2009, the remains of
Charity and others were the subject of an underwater search by NATO minesweepers.
Hope (N5531) was destroyed on the ground by enemy bombing in May 1941. The first aerial combat between the biplanes took place on 14 June over Amseat.
Tenente Franco Lucchini, of 90a
Squadriglia, 10°
Gruppo, 4°
Stormo, flying a CR.42 from
Tobruk, shot down a Gladiator; it was the first claim made against the RAF in the desert war. On the afternoon of 24 July, CR.42s and Gladiators clashed over
Bardia. A formation of 11 CR.42s from 10°
Gruppo, backed by six more from the 13°
Gruppo attacked a British formation of nine Blenheims that was attacking Bardia, and was in turn reportedly attacked by 15 Gladiators. The five Gladiators of 33 Squadron claimed four CR.42s destroyed. On 4 August 1940, Fiat biplanes from 160a
Squadriglia of
Capitano Duilio Fanali intercepted four Gladiators commanded by
Marmaduke "Pat" Pattle (eventually to become one of the top-scoring Allied aces with approximately 50 claims) that were attacking
Breda Ba.65s while they were strafing British armoured vehicles. The battle became confused. Initially it was thought that only the old CR.32s were involved, but there were also many CR.42s; it is likely that the then inexperienced Pattle was shot down by another future ace,
Franco Lucchini. On this occasion, the Fiats managed to surprise the Gladiators, shooting down three of them. Wykeham Barnes, who was shot down but survived, claimed a Breda 65, while Pattle claimed a Ba 65 and a CR.42. On 8 August 1940, during another
dogfight, 14 Gladiators of 80 Squadron took 16 Fiat CR.42s from 9° and 10°
Gruppi of 4°
Stormo (a
Regia Aeronautica elite unit) by surprise over Gabr Saleh, well inside Italian territory. British pilots claimed 13 to 16 confirmed victories and one to seven probables, while losing two Gladiators. Actually the Italians lost four aircraft, and four more force-landed (it seems that all were later recovered). That battle highlighted the strong points of the Gladiator over the CR.42, especially the radio equipment, which had permitted a coordinated attack, being also crucial for obtaining the initial surprise, and the Gladiator's superior low-altitude overall performance, including speed and a markedly superior horizontal manoeuvrability over its Italian opponent. However, the Gladiator, optimised for dogfighting, met with only little success against the relatively fast Italian bombers, shooting down only a handful of them and suffering almost as many losses in the process, which could be one of the reasons for its quick retirement from first-line duty; the CR.42 on the other hand was successful against early British bombers, shooting down a hundred of them with minimal losses.
Eastern Africa In Eastern Africa, it was determined that Italian forces based on
Ethiopia posed a threat to the British
Aden Protectorate, thus it was decided that an offensive would be necessary, in which the Gladiator would face off against the Italian biplane fighters: Fiat CR.32s and CR.42s. On 6 November 1940, in the first hour of the British offensive against Ethiopia, the Fiat CR.42 fighters of the 412a Squadriglia led by Capt. Antonio Raffi shot down five Gloster Gladiators of 1 SAAF Sqn; among the Italian pilots was the ace
Mario Visintini, who later became the top scoring pilot of all belligerent air forces in Eastern Africa (Africa Orientale) and the top biplane fighter ace of World War II. Tactically, the SAAF aircraft erred by engaging the CR.42's in a piecemeal fashion and not en masse, and they were heavily outnumbered. Early on in the offensive, Gladiators of No. 94 Squadron performed various attacks on the Italian forces; typical targets included airfields, supply depots, and aircraft. They were also assigned the mission of defending Aden airspace at day and night, and to protect Allied shipping operating in the vicinity. It was in the latter role that a single 94 Squadron Gladiator, piloted by Gordon Haywood, was responsible for the surrender and capture of the Italian
Archimede-class submarine Galilei Galileo. Other authors state that Malavolti managed only to fire on the two Gladiators before being shot down. According to Gustavsson, SAAF pilot (no. 47484V) Lieutenant Lancelot Charles Henry "Paddy" Hope, at Dabat airfield, scrambled to intercept the CR.42 (MM7117). Diving on it, he opened fire at 300 yards. Although the CR.42 pilot took violent evasive action, Hope pursued, closing to 20 yards and firing as it tried to dive away. There was a brief flicker of flame and the last Italian aircraft to be shot down over East Africa spun into the ground and burst into flames near Ambazzo. The next day the wreckage was found, the dead pilot still in the cockpit. Hope dropped a message on Italian positions at Ambazzo: "Tribute to the pilot of the Fiat. He was a brave man. South African Air Force." But operational record books of the Commonwealth units in the area state that they did not suffer any losses on this date. The dedication of the posthumous
Medaglia d’oro al valor militare states that Malavolti shot down a Gladiator and forced another to crash land, but was himself shot down by a third Gladiator. This was the last air-to-air victory in the East African campaign. Towards the end of the war Gladiators were flown by Meteorological Flight 1566 out of Hiswa, Aden.
Greece Tension had been building between Greece and Italy since 7 April 1939, when Italian troops
occupied Albania. On 28 October 1940, Italy issued an ultimatum to Greece, which was
promptly rejected; a few hours later, Italian troops launched an invasion of Greece, initiating the
Greco-Italian War. Britain dispatched help to the embattled Greeks in the form of
80 Squadron, elements of which arrived at
Trikkala by 19 November. That same day, the Gladiator debut came in the form of a surprise, intercepting a section of five Italian CR.42s on
Coritza, only one of which returned to base. On 27 November, seven Gladiators attacked three Falcos, shooting down the lead aircraft, piloted by Com. Masfaldi, commanding the 364a Squadriglia. On 28 November, the commander of 365a
Squadriglia, Com. Graffer, was shot down during a combat where seven aircraft were downed, four of them British. On 3 December, the Gladiators were reinforced with elements from
112 Squadron. The following day, a clash between 20 Gladiators and ten CR.42s resulted in a loss of five, two of them Italians. Over the next few days, several groups of Italian
Savoia-Marchetti SM.79 and
Savoia-Marchetti SM.81 bombers were also intercepted and victories claimed. One of the more notable Gladiator engagements of the whole war occurred on the Albanian border with Greece on 28 February 1941. A mixed force of 28 Gladiators and Hurricanes encountered roughly 50 Italian aircraft, and claimed to have shot down or severely damaged at least 27 of them.
Anglo-Iraqi War naires guard Gloster Gladiators of No. 94 Squadron RAF at the landing ground at H4 pumping station in Transjordan The Royal Iraqi Air Force (RoIAF) had been trained and equipped by the British prior to independence in 1932. One result of this was the dominance of British-built aircraft in the RoIAF inventory. In 1941, the sole RoIAF single-purpose fighter squadron,
4th Squadron consisted of seven operational Gloster Gladiators at
Rashid Air Base. On 2 May 1941, in response to a
blockade established by increasing numbers of Iraqi forces on
RAF Habbaniya and demands from the revolutionary Iraqi government, a preemptive RAF attack was launched to break the encirclement. During this action, Iraqi Gladiators took part in attacks on the British air base, repeatedly strafing it ineffectively. 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,
No. 4 Service Flying Training School RAF at 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, these nine Gladiators flew numerous sorties against air and ground targets, taking off from the base's
polo field. The RAF's 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. 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. RAF Gladiators proved effective against the Iraqi aircraft, which had been reinforced by Axis aircraft. Before this force collapsed due to lack of supplies, replacements, and quality fuel in addition to aggressive RAF attacks, two Gladiators fought a pair of Bf. 110s over Rashid Airfield at Baghdad on 17 May. Both German machines were swiftly shot down. Following the end of hostilities in Iraq, No 94 Squadron handed its Gladiators over to SAAF and RAAF units. The Iraqis continued to operate their remaining Gladiators, some remaining in use as late as 1949; these were reportedly used to conduct ground-attack missions against the
Kurds.
Syria After the end of the Iraq fighting the British invaded Vichy French-controlled Syria to prevent the area from falling under direct German control. The French in Syria had supported the Iraqi rebellion materially and allowed
Luftwaffe aircraft to use their airfields for operations over Iraq. The month-long
Syria-Lebanon Campaign in June–July 1941 saw heavy fighting both in the air and on land, until the Vichy French authorities in Syria surrendered on 12 July 1941. In one encounter between the Royal Air Force and the
Vichy French Air Force on 15 June 1941, six Gloster Gladiators were jumped by an equal number of
Dewoitine D.520 monoplane fighter aircraft. In a confused battle, both sides lost one aircraft shot down and one severely damaged. French fighter ace
Pierre Le Gloan shot down the Gladiator for his 15th confirmed kill. Le Gloan himself had to crash-land his damaged D.520 at his own air base. As late as mid-1941, the RAF Chief-of-Air Staff offered 21 Gloster Gladiators gathered from various meteorological and communications flights in the Middle East, as well as five from a Free French unit, to
AOC Singapore in order to strengthen the colony's defences against the emerging Japanese threat. The offer was turned down and later reinforcements consisted of Hawker Hurricanes.
Operations elsewhere The
Irish Air Corps was supplied with four Gladiators on 9 March 1939. On 29 December 1940, two Irish Gladiators were scrambled from
Baldonnel to intercept a German
Ju 88 flying over Dublin on a photographic reconnaissance mission, but were unable to make contact. 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. The Luftwaffe used captured Latvian Gladiators as glider tugs with
Ergänzungsgruppe (S) 1 from Langendiebach near Hanau during 1942–3. After becoming obsolete, RAF Gladiators carried out non-combat tasks such as meteorological work, being operated as such across various parts of Africa, the Middle East, and Europe as late as 1944. By the end of the war, few intact aircraft remained and many of these were quickly scrapped. Two survivors were privately purchased by V.H. Bellamy, who completed a flightworthy Gladiator out of parts from
L8032 and
N5903, which became the sole example of the type in such a condition.
Final engagements 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 Karelian Army around
Lake Ladoga. On 15 February 1943, 1st Lt Håkan Strömberg of
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. This was the last confirmed victory in the Gladiator. ==Quotations==