Gloster Gladiator

what is it?

The Gloster Gladiator is a biplane fighter aircraft designed and produced by the British aviation firm Gloster Aircraft Company, Ltd.. It was the last biplane fighter to be flown by the Royal Air Force (RAF) as well as being the first to be provisioned with an enclosed cockpit; it was also operated by the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) as the Sea Gladiator variant, as well as being exported to numerous other air services during the late 1930s. The Gladiator was developed during the mid 1930s as a private venture, being initially referred to the Gloster SS.37 and derived from the Gloster Gauntlet.

🔎How to recognise it: 1 piston engine with propeller · 9.8 m wingspan

base stats

• speed 407 km/htop speed
• size 2,084 kgmax take-off weight
• built 747made 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 92 years ago, in 1934.
• 🏎️Top speed is 3.1× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
• 🚗Wingspan of 9.8 m: about 2 cars parked nose to tail.
• 🏔️Can fly 1.1× 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

1934-09-12

introduced

1937

retired

1953

status

retired

number built

747

role

fighter

origin

🇬🇧 United Kingdom

makers

Gloster Aircraft Company

engines

1× Bristol Mercury IX / Bristol Mercury

crew

1

length

8.4 m

wingspan

9.8 m

height

3.6 m

max take-off weight

2,084 kg

top speed

407 km/h

cruise speed

338 km/h

range

—

ceiling

9,997 m

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