Gloster vliegtuigen: boeken - historie en modellen

Gladiator vs CR.42 Falco - 1940-41 (Osprey)

Zowel de Gloster Gladiator als de Fiat CR.42 Falco vertegenwoordigden het hoogtepunt in de ontwikkeling van de tweedekker-jager, waarvan de oorsprong teruggaat tot de Eerste Wereldoorlog. Tegen de tijd dat beide vliegtuigen eind jaren dertig in dienst werden genomen, waren ze echter al verouderd. Desondanks bewezen ze uitstekende diensten aan alle fronten in het Middellandse Zeegebied en Afrika in 1940-1941.

De CR.42 was inderdaad het belangrijkste gevechtsvliegtuig van de Regia Aeronautica in Noord- en Oost-Afrika, Griekenland en boven Malta in 1940-41, gedurende welke periode de piloten regelmatig vochten tegen Britse en Commonwealth-eskaders die voornamelijk waren uitgerust met Gladiator-dubbeldekkers.
Er vonden hevige luchtgevechten plaats tussen deze twee vliegtuigtypen, terwijl de geallieerden probeerden de controle over het luchtruim boven Noord-Afrika, Griekenland en Oost-Afrika te verkrijgen. Beide typen werden voornamelijk gevlogen door zeer ervaren piloten van voor de oorlog, wat op zijn beurt leidde tot enkele zeer spannende gevechten.

Het eerste bekende gevecht tussen de CR.42 en de Gladiator vond plaats op 14 juni 1940 boven Noord-Afrika en de laatste confrontatie tussen de twee typen vond plaats op 24 oktober 1941 aan het Oost-Afrikaanse front.

Specificaties

Auteur:	Hakan Gustavsson, Ludovico Slongo
Uitvoering:	80 blz, 25 x 18.5 x 1 cm, paperback
Illustraties:	Rijk geïllustreerd met foto's en tekeningen (z/w en kleur)
Taal:	Engels
Uitgever:	Osprey Publishing (GB, 2012)
Serie:	Duel (47)
ISBN:	9781849087087

Gloster Aircraft Company

The Gloster Aircraft Company had its foundation in 1917 and in 1934 the company was taken over by Hawker Aircraft, though it continued to produce aircraft under its own name. In that same year the company produced the famous Gladiator biplane.

Having no modern designs of its own in production, Gloster undertook manufacture for the parent company Hawker. During the Second World War it built more than 6,000 Hurricanes and Typhoons.

The Gloster Meteor was the first operational Allied jet fighter aircraft of the Second World War, commencing operations in mid-1944, only some weeks later than the world's first operational jet, the German Messerschmitt Me 262. In 1945 a Meteor gained a World Airspeed Record of 606 mph.
Meteors remained in service with several air forces and saw action in the Korean War.
In 1952, the two seat, delta winged Gloster Javelin was developed as an all-weather fighter that could fly above 50,000 feet.

In 1961, the company was merged with Sir W.G. Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft Limited to form Whitworth Gloster Aircraft Limited. Following re-organisation, the firm became part of the Avro Whitworth Division of Hawker Siddeley Aviation in 1963, and the name Gloster disappeared.

This well-illustrated book describes the story of Gloster and its aircraft.

Specificaties

Auteur:	Derek James
Uitvoering:	192 blz, 23.5 x 15.5 x 1.2 cm, paperback
Illustraties:	200 z/w foto's en profieltekeningen
Taal:	Engels
Uitgever:	Fonthill Media (GB, 2013)
ISBN:	9781781552599

Gloster Aircraft Company (Images of England)

Today it is difficult to imagine that the parishes of Hucclecote and Brockworth once were home to one of Britain's major manufacturers. Gloster Aircraft Company, with its forebears H.H. Martyn & Company and Gloucestershire Aircraft Company, produced some 10,000 aeroplanes between 1917 and 1963.
It also provided employment for countless thousands of local people. During World War II alone it employed 14,000 men and women working at the main factory and at 40 sites dispersed in Gloucester, Cheltenham, Stroud and other more distant parts of Gloucestershire.

Gloster designed a number of outstanding fighter aircraft which were built in large numbers; it also produced many prototypes which failed to win orders and very many more projects which never left the drawing board.
By chance the company was chosen to design and build Britain's first jet aircraft and followed by building 4,000 jet fighters for the Royal Air Force and a dozen air forces around the world.

Gloster finally became the first victim of a programme of political and economic stringency which has since decimated British aircraft manufacturing companies. This album portrays some of those people who worked 'up at the 'drome for GAC' and the works of their hands.

Specificaties

Auteur:	Derek James
Uitvoering:	160 blz, 23 x 16.5 x 1.3 cm, paperback
Illustraties:	rijk geïllustreerd met z/w foto's
Taal:	Engels
Uitgever:	The History Press Ltd (GB, 2009)
ISBN:	9780752400389

Gloster Gauntlet

The Gloster Gauntlet was a British single-seat biplane fighter of the RAF, designed and built by the Gloster Aircraft Company in the 1930s. It was the last RAF fighter to have an open cockpit and its penultimate biplane fighter in service. It was also Britain's most successful and popular inter-war fighter aircraft.

This book offers a complete and comprehensive history of the development and service of the plane, plus scale plans, photographs and drawings from pre-war technical manuals, scale plans, rare b+w period photographs, superb colour illustrations of camouflage and markings and walk-around colour photographs of the sole surviving examples. A rarely documented aspect of pre-World War II aviation history.

Revised and expanded version of the material published in Bristol Bulldog & Gloster Gauntlet (August 2005, ISBN 9788389450043).

Specificaties

Auteur:	Alex Crawford
Uitvoering:	96 blz, 23 x 16.5 cm, paperback
Illustraties:	rijk geïllustreerd met z/w- en kleurenfoto's, tekeningen
Taal:	Engels
Uitgever:	MMP Books (PL, 2017)
ISBN:	9788365281616

Gloster Gladiator Mk I and II (and Sea Gladiator)

The Gloster Gladiator was the very last biplane fighter to enter service with the RAF. Yet, despite being one of the fastest biplanes ever built, it was already obsolete upon its introduction to service in January 1937. Nonetheless, in the first eighteen months of WW2, it garnered many combat plaudits in the skies over the frozen Arctic, the sun-kissed Mediterranean, and the arid deserts of Africa.
In Britain, it provided crucial defense of the RN Fleet anchored at Scapa Flow, and was among the first aircraft sent to France to aid the BEF. Adopted early-on by the FAA and renamed Sea Gladiator, for a time this navalized version represented the nearest thing the service had to a modern fighter as it struggled toward parity with its Axis opponents.

This book tells the complete story. The text covers not only the type?s remarkable operational history, but also that of Gloster?s journey to its production. Also examined are the Gladiator?s design and construction, and its subsequent technical development. Second-line duties and service with foreign air forces are also briefly covered.
Supporting lavish artwork and 3-D exploded views vividly bring the aircraft to life, making it an ideal reference work for the modeler.

Specificaties

Auteur:	Adam Cotton, Marek Rys
Uitvoering:	215 blz, 29.5 x 21 x 1.3 cm, paperback
Illustraties:	120 z/w foto's, 3-D exploded views
Taal:	Engels
Uitgever:	Kagero Oficyna Wydawnicza (PL, 2019)
ISBN:	9788365437860