Article, Picture Post 1938
From an article on the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, very topical at the end of 1938 even with Neville Chamberlain promising "peace in our time" on return from Munich. Fortunately, by the time the "balloon went up", we had better aircraft than obsolete Gloster Gladiators for the defence of our skies. I wonder how many of these young pilots survived the war? And that dog looks like potential FOD to me!
The prototype Gladiator appeared in 1934 and the first production models were issued to the RAF in 1937. A carrier borne Sea Gladiator was issued to the Royal Navy.
During 1938, the RAF was receiving its firs Hurricanes and Spitfires which started to replace the Gladiator in front line squadrons. Many Gladiators were redeployed to the Middle East. Gladiators also saw active service in France and Norway in 1940. Sea Gladiators were deployed to Malta, performing very well against the Italian Air Force until supplies of Hurricanes became available for Malta. The erroneous belief is that there were initially only three Gladiators to defend Malta, later christened Faith, Hope and Charity, but this was not the case.
Article, Picture Post 1938
From an article on the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, very topical at the end of 1938 even with Neville Chamberlain promising "peace in our time" on return from Munich. Fortunately, by the time the "balloon went up", we had better aircraft than obsolete Gloster Gladiators for the defence of our skies. I wonder how many of these young pilots survived the war? And that dog looks like potential FOD to me!
The prototype Gladiator appeared in 1934 and the first production models were issued to the RAF in 1937. A carrier borne Sea Gladiator was issued to the Royal Navy.
During 1938, the RAF was receiving its firs Hurricanes and Spitfires which started to replace the Gladiator in front line squadrons. Many Gladiators were redeployed to the Middle East. Gladiators also saw active service in France and Norway in 1940. Sea Gladiators were deployed to Malta, performing very well against the Italian Air Force until supplies of Hurricanes became available for Malta. The erroneous belief is that there were initially only three Gladiators to defend Malta, later christened Faith, Hope and Charity, but this was not the case.