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The Gloster Gladiator (or Gloster SS.37) is a British-built biplane fighter. It was used by the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) (as the Sea Gladiator variant) and was exported to a number of other air forces during the late 1930s. It was the RAF's last biplane fighter aircraft and was rendered obsolete by newer monoplane designs even as it was being introduced. Though often pitted against more formidable foes during the early days of the Second World War, it acquitted itself reasonably well in combat. The Gladiator saw action in almost all theatres during the Second World War, with a large number of air forces, some of them on the Axis side. The RAF used it in France, Norway, Greece, the defence of Malta, and the brief Anglo-Iraqi War (in which the Royal Iraqi Air Force was similarly equipped). Other countries deploying the Gladiator included China against Japan, beginning in 1938; Finland (along with Swedish volunteers) against the Soviet Union in the Winter War and the Continuation War; and Norway, Belgium, and Greece resisting Axis invasion of their respective lands. The South African pilot Marmaduke "Pat" Pattle was the top Gladiator ace with 15 victories.〔Thomas, Andrew. Gloster Gladiator Aces. Oxford: Osprey, 2002. ISBN 978-1-84176-289-0 p.91〕 ==Design and development== The Gladiator was developed from the Gloster Gauntlet as a private venture by H.P. Folland's team at Gloster to meet Specification F.7/30, which demanded a top speed of at least 250 mph (400 km/h) and an armament of four machine-guns, while encouraging the use of the new Rolls-Royce Goshawk evaporatively cooled in-line engine, which was used by most of the competitors for the specification. This engine proved, however to be unreliable, and Folland realised that the Gauntlet could be quickly revised to meet the specification. To reduce drag, the new fighter, the SS.37, had single-bay wings instead of the two-bay wings of the Gauntlet, and was fitted with a cantilever main undercarriage incorporating internally sprung wheels.〔Lumsden 1992, p.10.〕〔James 1971, p. 206.〕 The SS.37 first flew on 12 September 1934, powered by a Bristol Mercury VIS radial engine, but was soon fitted with a more powerful engine, reaching while carrying the required four machine guns (two synchronised Vickers guns in the fuselage and two Lewis guns under the lower wing). On 3 April 1935, the Royal Air Force commenced operational evaluations, while Gloster planned a further improved version with an Mercury IX and a fully enclosed cockpit.〔James 1971, pp. 206–207.〕 Three months later, a first order was placed for 23 aircraft to Specification F.14/35, with the aircraft named ''Gladiator'',〔Lumsden 1992, p. 12.〕 followed by an order of 180 in September.〔James 1971, p. 207.〕 The first version, the Mk I, was delivered from July 1936, becoming operational in January 1937. The Mk II soon followed, the main differences being a slightly more powerful Mercury engine driving a Fairey fixed-pitch three-bladed metal propeller instead of the two-bladed wooden one of the Mark I. A modified Mk II, the Sea Gladiator, was developed for the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm (FAA), with an arrestor hook, catapult attachment points, a strengthened airframe, and an under-belly fairing for a dinghy lifeboat, all for operations aboard aircraft carriers.〔Barber 2008, p. 6〕〔Matricardi, Paolo. ''Aerei Militari: Caccie e Ricognitori''. Milano: Mondadori Electa, 2006.〕 Of the 98 aircraft built as, or converted to, Sea Gladiators, 54 were still in service by the outbreak of the Second World War.〔 The Gladiator was to be the last British biplane fighter and the first with an enclosed cockpit. It had a top speed of around yet, even as it was introduced, it was being eclipsed by new-generation monoplane fighters, such as the RAF's Hurricane and Spitfire, and the ''Luftwaffes Messerschmitt Bf 109. A total of 747 aircraft were built (483 RAF, 98 RN); 216 were exported to 13 countries, some of these from the total allotted to the RAF.〔Mason 1964, p. 128.〕〔Spencer 2003, pp. 10, 12.〕 Gladiators were sold to Belgium, China, Egypt, Finland, Free France, Greece, Iraq, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Portugal, South Africa and Sweden. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Gloster Gladiator」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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