057: Gloster Sea Gladiator, Malta
HM0057

I always liked the biplane fighters of the pre-WWII period. Biplane fighter design has reached it technological and performance peak during this time and its robust elegance always appealed to me. In the RAF, one of the last biplane designs reaching the frontline service was the Gloster Gladiator. It served well into the WWII and saw use by many countries including Finland, Norway, Belgium and China, to name just a few. After a successful RAF introduction in mid 1935, Royal Navy’s Fleet Air Arm (FAA) showed interest in the type to fill a gap before the anticipated service introduction of the Fairey Fulmar. Sixty Mk.II Gladiators were modified for the FAA as follows: strengthened rear fuselage, arrestor hook installation, addition of a dinghy pack on the lower fuselage and installation of the naval TR9 radio. These modified Gladiators, known as “Sea Gladiators”, reached operational units in 1938.

Best known Sea Gladiators are those used in the early defence of Malta. Arguably the most famous of these “Maltese defenders” is the Gloster Gladiator serial No. N5519, in which Flt. Lt. George Burges shot down an Italian S.79 on June 22 and a Macchi C.200 on the following day. Even though operating on Malta as part of the RAF, the initial six Gladiators defending Malta (N5519, N5520, N5522, N5524, N5529, N5531) flew in the FAAs Sea Camouflage scheme specified for FAA aircraft after August 24, 1939. Exactly when they received this camouflage is not known, but it happened before they were crated and left on Malta as spares for HMS Glorious. When uncrated and pressed into service during the Spring of 1940, their markings were brough up to current standard, including yellow outer ring on the fuselage roundels and the extended fin flash on the rudders (June 1940). For use on Malta, these Sea Gladiators were further modified by having the dinghy packs removed along with the arrestor hooks. The arrestor hook cavity in the fuselage presumably remained. An armor plate sourced from the local Admiralty shops was installed in the cockpit behind the pilot. To boost performance, some of the Gladiators received Blenheim propellers and one received a complete Blenheim engine. Exactly when this happened is not clear, but in the only photo of N5519, it clearly still has the standard Fairey-Reed three-bladed propeller.

As a modeling subject, the Gladiator made it to the front of my project queue with the introduction of the Airfix’s new tooling. As the excellent aftermarket accessories for this kit piled up, I finally decided to dive into it. In the course of gathering references, I came across some great photos of the Gladiator undergoing restoration for the UK’s Shuttleworth Collection. With the help of these, I decided to build a partially stripped machine, exposing the fuselage interior and the engine compartment.