Gloster Gauntlet

what is it?

The Gloster Gauntlet was a single-seat biplane fighter designed and produced by the British aeroplane manufacturer Gloster Aircraft in the 1930s. It was the last fighter to be operated by the Royal Air Force (RAF) to have an open cockpit, and also the penultimate biplane fighter in its service. The Gauntlet had a somewhat lengthy development process, linking back to the S.S.18 prototype of 1929.

🔎How to recognise it: 1 piston engine with propeller · 10 m wingspan

base stats

• speed 370 km/htop speed
• size 1,801 kgmax take-off weight
• built 228made in total

Bars compare against all aircraft: 3,500 km/h, 20,000 km, 850 seats; size and number built on a log scale up to 640 t (An-225) and 45,000 built (Cessna 172).

fun facts

• 🎂First flew 97 years ago, in 1929.
• 🏎️Top speed is 2.8× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
• 🚗Wingspan of 10 m: about 2 cars parked nose to tail.
• 🏔️Can fly 1.2× higher than Mount Everest (8,849 m).

piston: A car-like piston engine turning a propeller: simple and cheap, the classic small plane.

spec sheet

first flight

1929-01

introduced

1934

retired

1945

status

retired

number built

228

role

fighter

origin

🇬🇧 United Kingdom

makers

Gloster Aircraft Company

engines

1× piston

crew

1

length

8.1 m

wingspan

10 m

height

3.1 m

max take-off weight

1,801 kg

top speed

370 km/h

range

—

ceiling

10,211 m

Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.