Never before has a single volume been devoted exclusively to the intrepid and disparate band of pilots who could claim to be Gladiator aces. Flying the ultimate British biplane fighter, pilots in China, Finland, East Africa, North Africa, Western Europe, the Mediterranean, Norway and the Middle East all scored the prerequisite five kills to become aces. The first individuals to do so were fighting marauding Japanese fighters and bombers attacking targets in China in 1938. The likes of Sheen, Tuck and Carey will also be featured in this volume, as they were among the many early war acers who cut their teeth in Fighter Command on the Gladiator.
Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Review
"This is an excellent book which will be of value to modellers and historians alike. Perhaps inevitably, the Gloster Gladiator has been largely overshadowed by the likes of the Hurricane and Spitfire, but Andrew Thomas does a fine job in setting the record straight with a book which is a fitting tribute to a tough little fighter and the brave men who flew it." -Rowan Baylis, AeroScale
From the Publisher
Osprey's Aircraft of the Aces series combines full colour artwork, the best archival contemporary photography, and first hand accounts from aces to bring history's greatest airborne conflicts to life.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Gloster Gladiator Aces,
By
This review is from: Gloster Gladiator Aces (Osprey Aircraft of the Aces No 44) (Paperback)
Compared to it's successors, the Hurricane and the Spitfire, the Gloster Gladiator hasn't been much published. This book shows that this plane deserves far more than it got attention-wise. Quite a few of the great names flew Gladiators, the RAF's last fighting biplane and one of the best ever produced. This is a distinction that only the Italian Fiat Cr42 could hope to match as you learn in this book, one of the few about this plane since the classic "The Gloster Gladiator" from Francis K. Mason in 1964, which set the standard about publishing this plane for the last 38 years.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Gloster Gladiator Aces,
By
This review is from: Gloster Gladiator Aces (Osprey Aircraft of the Aces No 44) (Paperback)
Compared to it's successors, the Hurricane and the Spitfire, the Gloster Gladiator hasn't been much published. This book shows that this plane deserves far more than it got attention-wise. Quite a few of the great names flew Gladiators, the RAF's last fighting biplane and one of the best ever produced. This is a distinction that only the Italian Fiat Cr42 could hope to match as you learn in this book, one of the few about this plane since the classic "The Gloster Gladiator" from Francis K. Mason in 1964, which set the standard about publishing this plane for the last 38 years. This year not only saw the book by Andrew Thomas, but a book by Alex Crawford as well...
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
An excellent book about an obscure subject,
This review is from: Gloster Gladiator Aces (Osprey Aircraft of the Aces No 44) (Paperback)
When thinking about British fighters of WWII, the Spitfire and Hurricane naturally come to mind first. But the British used other fighters, one of which was the Gloster Gladiator. A fabric-covered biplane, the Gladiator was an anachronism by 1939. Yet it served well during the early part of the war, not only in the RAF, but also with the Royal Navy and Australian, South African, Finnish, Swedish, Greek, Belgian, Norwegian and Chinese air forces.
Author Andrew Thomas clearly did a tremendous amount of research for the book, including interviews with surviving pilots. The color profiles and and photographs are excellent. My only minor quibble with the book is that it would have been improved with a short description of the aircraft itself and its versions.
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Inside This Book
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First Sentence:
That the Gladiator entered service as the RAF's last biplane fighter is a monument to conservative thinking in the mid-1930s, though fortunately RAF Fighter Command had largely re-equipped with the eight-gun monoplane Hurricane and Spitfire by the start of the war. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
fighter flight, future ace, confirmed victory, final combat, shared victories, flight commander, successful pilot, eventual total Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Fig Off, Flg Off, Plt Off, Sqn Ldr, Pit Off, Sea Gladiator, Bill Vale, Sidi Barrani, Battle of Britain, Fighter Command, Sqn Records, Hal Far, Regia Aeronautica, Vernon Woodward, Winter War, British Somaliland, Ceasar Hull, Gladiator Its, Tom Rowland, East Africa, Eric Smith, Flt Lt Williams, Karl Stenman, Lake Lesjaskog, Red Sea New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
That the Gladiator entered service as the RAF's last biplane fighter is a monument to conservative thinking in the mid-1930s, though fortunately RAF Fighter Command had largely re-equipped with the eight-gun monoplane Hurricane and Spitfire by the start of the war. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
fighter flight, future ace, confirmed victory, final combat, shared victories, flight commander, successful pilot, eventual total Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Fig Off, Flg Off, Plt Off, Sqn Ldr, Pit Off, Sea Gladiator, Bill Vale, Sidi Barrani, Battle of Britain, Fighter Command, Sqn Records, Hal Far, Regia Aeronautica, Vernon Woodward, Winter War, British Somaliland, Ceasar Hull, Gladiator Its, Tom Rowland, East Africa, Eric Smith, Flt Lt Williams, Karl Stenman, Lake Lesjaskog, Red Sea New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 4
books:
- The Battle of Britain (Royal Air Force Official Histories: Air Defence of Great Britain, v.2) by T.C.G. James on page 17, and Back Matter
- The Battle of Britain: Script and Score: A Story of the Few (Educational Musicals) by Daniel Hewitt on page 17, and Back Matter
- Battle of Britain by Rh Value Publishing in Back Matter
- The Battle of Britain by Jon Lake on page 29
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