Posted on 10/23/2003 12:01:40 AM PDT by SAMWolf
re: w_over_w post to Valin's post
Did they really say that back in '21 or are you rewriting history?
snippy's theory: I think Valin must be copying Churchill.
Now see Colonel Flagg's tagline. LOL. Amazing how it all ties together isn't it.
BTW, there is forecast to be a magnetic storm tommorow that may cause electricity problems in some places so those with computers may want to plan accordingly as a computer turned off with a program running causes an improper shutdown which would cause system instability.
I'm going to go and have a good cry now.
LOL! That's what I thought too, but I found the real purpose was more to confuse the enemy as to ship type, and speed and distance. Don't know if that worked though.
Or you could compare Minnesota's current record to GB's . . . feel better?
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Air Power |
The Gloster Gladiator was the last British biplane fighter, a development of the Gauntlet with an enclosed single seat cockpit, cantilever landing gear and with increased armament, and a 2 blade fixed pitch propeller. First flown in 1935, the Gladiator went into service with the RAF in 1936. The Mark I had a 840 hp Bristol Mercury IX air-cooled engine and the Mark II a Bristol Mercury VIIIA engine.
The Sea Gladiator was the variant adopted by the Fleet Air Arm. It was fitted with a deck arrestor, catapult points, and carried a collapsible dinghy.
Numbers built totalled a minimum of 756 (480 RAF, 60 RN; 216 export into 13 countries). Gladiators were also sold to Belgium, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Sweden, Norway, China, Ireland, Greece, Portugal, Egypt, Iraq, and South Africa.
At the beginning of the war the Gloster Gladiators serving with the Fleet Air Arm were primarily used as carrier-borne fighters. Howver, with their replacement by faster and more modern fighters such as the seafire, sea hurrixane , wil;cdat and corsair they were relegated to other duties. Subsequently the type was in use until 1944 in secondary roles as communications, liaison and meterological reconnaissance aircraft.
The Gladiator was used during WWII in theatres where the RAF or FAA could not afford better equipment. The Gladiator took part in the Norwegian campaign in 1940, and triumphed during the first campiagns in the Mediterranean in 1940-1941, where it claimed shooting down numerous enemy aircraft. The Gladiator became well known in the campaigns in the defence of Crete in May 1941.
In the defence of Malta the Gladiator also became famous. From a stock of 18 aircraft of 802 squadron remaining at Malta after HMS Glorious was sunk in 1940, three Sea Gladiators became international legends, "Faith", "Hope" and "Charity". They were part of the Hal Far Fighter Flight, composed of mixed RAF and FAA personnel
Even though the aircraft was relegated at an early stage in the war a number of Gladiator aircraft have survived including the last two airworthy examples in the world.
Preserved examples exist at the Shuttleworth Collection (UK), Gloucestershire Aviation Collection (UK), National War Museum (Malta), and the RAF Museum (UK). A Gladiator mocked up as a Sea Gladiator was loaned by the Shuttleworth Collection to the FAA Museum between 1971 and 1994 and marked in Sea Gladiator colours. This Gladiator has since been restored and now resides with The Fighter Collection (UK).
The example at the National War Museum in Malta is the only surviving Sea Gladiator in the world, and the Fleet Air Arm Museum no longer has any examples of the Gladiator mark.
| General characteristics Gladiator II | ||||
| Primary function | Fighter | |||
| Power plant | One 9cylinder Bristol Mercury IX radial engine | |||
| Thrust | 840 HP | 626 kW | ||
| Wingspan | 32.3 ft | 9.85 m | ||
| Length | 27.5 ft | 8.38 m | ||
| Height | 10.4 ft | 3.17 m | ||
| Wingarea | 323 sq ft | 30.01 sq m | ||
| Weight | empty | Gladiator | 3,450 lb | 1,565 kg |
| Sea Gladiator | 3,730 lb | 1,692 kg | ||
| max. | Gladiator | 4,863 lb | 2,206 kg | |
| Sea Gladiator | 5,400 lb | 2,449 kg | ||
| Speed | Gladiator | 253 mph | 407 km/h | |
| Sea Gladiator | 244 mph | 392 km/h | ||
| Initial climb rate | 2,300 ft/min | 700 m/min | ||
| Ceiling | 33,000 ft | 10,060 m | ||
| Range | Gladiator | 440 mi | 708 km | |
| Sea Gladiator | 423 mi | 680 km | ||
| Armament | 4x 7.7mm machine gun | |||
| Crew | One | |||
| First flight | September 1934 (prototype) | |||
| Date deployed | March 1937 | |||
| Number built | Minimum 756 (480 RAF, 60 RN; 216 export into 13 countries) | |||
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