The Gloster Glory Fighter-Bomber

**Spinners** · March 5, 2016

Gloster Glory FB.2 - No.134 Squadron, RAF South East Asia Command, 1945

The Gloster F.5/34 monoplane fighter was the last design schemed by Henry Folland for the Gloster Aviation Company and was developed in response to Air Ministry Specification F.5/34 for a fighter aircraft using an air-cooled engine and to be suitable for "hot climate use". However development was slow due to the production demands of the Gladiator biplane fighter and by the time the first prototype was flown in December 1937 the basic design had already been overtaken by superior designs and in early October 1938 the requirement was quietly postponed amid the turmoil of the recent Munich Crisis.

Despite it's victory in the Battle of Britain the RAF entered the Autumn of 1940 with the bleak prospect of fighting on two fronts (at home and in North Africa) and dusted off their earlier requirement for an air-cooled fighter for the hotter climate of North Africa. Hawker Aviation appeared to be in the front running with their proposed interim solution of the 'Hercules Hurricane' followed by their 'Centaurus Typhoon' (later to become the Tempest II). But Gloster's had continued to work on their F.5/34, by now designated as the Gloster G.C.400 - an informal reference to their Chief Designer, George Carter, and the design's maximum speed of 400mph. Carter had refined Folland's early F.5/34 design to accept the Bristol Hercules VI radial engine rated at 1,650hp but shoehorned into a smaller, lighter airframe featuring a cut down rear fuselage giving the pilot excellent visibility and with the F.5/34's projected armament of eight wing-mounted .303 Browning machine guns being replaced by four 20mm Hispano cannon. First flown by Gerry Sayer on October 2nd, 1941 development moved slowly with the first prototype having the older Hercules II engine and having no armament fitted. But in the immediate aftermath of the Japanese attacks on Pearl Harbour and Singapore the programme received a fresh impetus albeit with a challenging longer radius of action being cranked in by Air Ministry officials to meet the expected demands of the war in the Far East. George Carter removed the four wing-mounted cannon to make room for integral wing tanks and relocated two of the four cannon into the upper front fuselage, the reduced firepower being deemed acceptable as early indications were that most Japanese aircraft lacked self-sealing tanks and armour plating.

Officially designated as the Gloster Glory a production order for 400 aircraft was given in April 1942 and the pace of development picked up with the second prototype taking to the air on June 4th with the revised wing but still with Hercules II engines and without the fuselage guns. The third prototype flew in August with a revised engine air intake and a modified forward fuselage with the Hispano II cannon whilst the fourth prototype introduced the definitive Hercules VI engine in October and was later modified to accept the Hispano V cannon. The initial production variant was the F.Mk.I which entered service in March 1943 with No.79 Squadron at Fairwood Common in South Wales a location chosen to keep the aircraft away from the RAF's fighter squadrons based near the English Channel due to the perceived high risk of misidentification with the Fw190. Only 30 F.Mk.I's were built before production switched to the FB.Mk.II version with all deliveries going to the Far East to serve with RAF South East Asia Command in the Pacific War and seeing action post-war in the Battle of Surabaya in November 1945 with No.60 and No.134 squadrons being particularly effective with rocket attacks in the Ambawara and Kampong areas.