Talk:Gloster Gladiator

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Some sources dispute the number of Gladiators involved in the defense of Malta, claiming there were more than three, but so many reputable sources quote it, including givng the serial numbers of the aircraft involved, that it seems certain that it is reliable. Other aircraft were probably there and used for parts or held in reserve. DJ Clayworth

There were 4, but only three were given names. The 4th one was damaged and used for parts fairly early on, as I recall. Tannin 15:12, 27 Aug 2003 (UTC)

I've found several references: there were 4, but only 3 pilots; there were 4 but one was held in reserve (possibly because there were only 3 pilots?); there were 7 according to the Czech airforce web site (don't ask me how they know). The most detailed accounts are the ones that say there were four but one was not used for some reason, and since the RAF museum, RCAF museum and Battle of Britain Archive all say there were three, at least for a period, I decided to keep it simple and go with that. DJ Clayworth 15:41, 27 Aug 2003 (UTC)

Sunds reasonable to me, DJ. Tannin

See http://surfcity.kund.dalnet.se/malta.htm for the whole story. Seems to be a very good source.

Contents

[edit] Glosters in Britain

We would need to add a section under "Operational History" dealing with Brisith units flying the aircraft in Britain too. I will try to find information about this, but if someone can help, then I'd be happy. --MoRsE 13:25, 9 February 2007 (UTC)

The list of British squadrons using the Gloster Gladiator appears in a.o. 'The Gloster Gladiator, Aircraft in profile no. 98', giving the order of battles of September 1937, 1938 (munich crisis), 1939 (outbreak of WW2 for the English) and the six squadron formed with Gladiators AFTER September 1939 127, 152, 247, 261, 263 and 521, all but the latter fighter squadrons (521 Sq. was a meteorological calibration unit).Dirk P Broer 00:49, 2 May 2007 (UTC)

Dirk, I know you are a newcomer, but you have to sign your posts. In order to have other editors respond to your comments, it is customary to provide the following: user id and date and time of submission using the Coordinated Universal Time or UTC code. See my signature line and just copy it as yours with the appropriate changes. Another way to sign your name and add the time is to put 4 tildes (~) at the end of your post, and it adds your name and time automatically. Bzuk 0:50, 2 May 2007 (UTC).
Hey, Dirk. How come you edited the date and time of your post? What's up with that? Manxruler 01:03, 3 May 2007 (UTC)
Just to show to Bzuk that I read his reply. As my entry was then later than his reaction I edited the date. Dirk P Broer 20:01, 3 May 2007 (UTC)

To come back to the original question, British units flying the aircraft in Britain :

  • No. 3 Squadron RAF, used Gladiators from March 1937 till March 1938 and from July 1938 till July 1939.
  • No. 25 Squadron RAF, used Gladiators from June 1938 till February 1939.
  • No. 54 Squadron RAF, used Gladiators from April 1937 till April 1939.
  • No. 56 Squadron RAF, used Gladiators from July 1937 till May 1938.
  • No. 65 Squadron RAF, used Gladiators from May 1937 till April 1939.
  • No. 72 Squadron RAF, used Gladiators from March 1937 till May 1939 and in March 1940 when staioned at Acklington.
  • No. 73 Squadron RAF, used Gladiators from June 1937 till July 1938.
  • No. 80 Squadron RAF, used Gladiators from March 1937 till March 1941, but by then was stationed in the Mediterranean
  • No. 85 Squadron RAF, used Gladiators from June 1938 till September 1938.
  • No. 87 Squadron RAF, used Gladiators from June 1938 till July 1938.
  • No. 603 Squadron RAF, used gladiators from October 1938 till it got Spitfires in August 1939.
  • No. 605 Squadron RAF, used Gladiators from February 1939 till November 1939. Got Hurricanes to re-equip in August 1939.
  • No. 607 Squadron RAF, used the Gladiatorfrom March 1939 till MAy 1940. Got Hurricanes in June 1940, when the squadron got back in Ushworth after having been stationed in Acklington, Croydon, Merville (FRA), Vitry-en-Tardenois (FRA), Abbeville (FRA), Bethune (FRA) and Croydon.
  • No. 615 Squadron RAF, used Gladiators from May 1939 till April 1940, then went to Hurricanes, while stationed in France.

Gladiator squadrons formed in the UK after September 1939:

  • No. 152 Squadron RAF, used Gladiator from October 1939 and went to Spitfires in December 1939.
  • No. 247 Squadron RAF, used Gladiators fro AUgust 1940. Got Hurricanes in December 1940, but used its Gladiators up to February 1941 (Only Squadron to fly Gladiators in the Battle of Britain).
  • No. 263 Squadron RAF, used Gladiators (formerly from 605 Squadron, still wearing the 'HE' code letters) from October 1939 till June 1940, including the Norwegian Campaign.
  • No. 521 Squadron RAF (meteorological calibration unit), Formed from 1401 (Met.)Flight in Auhgust 1942. Used Gladiators up to August 1943.

Another Met. Flight unit, 1402 (Met.)Flight used its Gladiators in Britain till January 1945 (Mason, 1964, page 104). The third and last Met. Flight using the Gladiator in Britain was 1403 (Met.)Flight, which was formed in early 1943 (Mason, 1964, page 105) and went to Gibraltar in May 1943.

Apart from these regular units No. 18 (Bomber)Squadron RAF seemed to use ten Gladiator for airfield defence (Mason, 1964, page 106) Dirk P Broer 01:19, 23 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Gladiators in the defence of Singapore

'Citation needed' And indeed after a day of searching in my library I came no further than the next phrase in Alex Crawford's Gloster Gladiator: "When the Japanese launched their conquest of the Far East, the RAF had little in the way of spare aircraft to send to yet another theatre of operations. It was actually decided to send Gladiators to help to defend the British colonies in Malaya and Singapore. But all the available Gladiators were with second line units and were totally unsuited to being sent back to front line duties, and in the end the dicision was shelved and Hurricanes were sent instead" (page 44). Dirk P Broer 17:54, 25 May 2007 (UTC)

I think maybe the book Buffaloes Over Singapore: RAF, RAAF, RNZAF and Dutch Brewster Fighters in Action Over Malaya and the East Indies 1941-42 [1] mentions Gladiators at Singapore. I own the book and will check that as soon as I'm home and can go through my library. Manxruler 21:44, 27 May 2007 (UTC)
Do you perhaps own one of the 'Bloody Shambles' titles as well? Preferably the first. Dirk P Broer 23:41, 30 May 2007 (UTC)
I think Dirk's suspicions are correct. I've never seen reference to Gladdies in action over Malaya and Singapore. The Buffalos and Hurricanes had enough problems in air combat with Zeroes; the Japanese pilots would have been drooling if they'd seen Gladiators. Grant | Talk 04:51, 31 May 2007 (UTC)
See, for example, Dr Alan Stephens, 2001, "THE ROYAL AUSTRALIAN AIR FORCE IN 1941" (Australian Defence Force Academy) Grant | Talk 04:59, 31 May 2007 (UTC)
Dirk: No I don't own any of the 'Bloody Shambles' titles, although I have had them in consideration recently. They're definitely on my 'to buy' list. In a couple of weeks I'll be home and have access to by library and I'll dig up more info on the Norwegian Gladiators as well. Manxruler 23:24, 1 June 2007 (UTC)
Hi guys, sorry for the long delay (work, work, work), but I've now re-read Buffaloes Over Singapore: RAF, RAAF, RNZAF and Dutch Brewster Fighters in Action Over Malaya and the East Indies 1941-42. There is no mention of Gladiators at Singapore, the only fighters were Buffaloes and Hurricanes. The Dutch at Java had Buffaloes, Curtiss Hawks and CW-21s. I think its safe to say: there were no Gladiators at Singapore in WWII. Manxruler 01:04, 14 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] J8A

These aircraft are also designated J8A I believe (J8A redirects here). What is the origin of this code? Drutt 20:26, 10 June 2007 (UTC)

Hi Drutt. J8 and J8A are Swedish designations to the Gloster Gladiator. See: [2]. Manxruler 21:32, 11 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Faith, Hope and Charity

For those interested, I have hived off the material about the Hal Far Fighter Flight — the legendary Faith, Hope and Charity etc — into its own article. I have also added a pic of Faith to both articles. Comments and corrections welcome. Grant | Talk 11:53, 30 August 2007 (UTC)

Somehow an entire paragraph got squeezed into the caption. I changed that but was it intentional? FWIW Bzuk 13:21, 30 August 2007 (UTC).
In this instance I won't miss it. But sometimes a long caption is a good caption. Grant | Talk 15:26, 30 August 2007 (UTC)