The Malta Sea Gladiator Project

A project being undertaken at the Malta Aviation Museum Foundation’s workshop in Ta’Qali. The Gloster aircraft factory embarked on the construction of a single SS.37 prototype in the spring of 1934, with its maiden flight following on 12th September that year with Gloster’s chief test pilot Gerry Sayer at the controls. The 530HP Mercury IV engine was soon exchanged for a more powerful 645HP Mercury VIS engine. During flight tests, the prototype attained a top speed of 242 mph while carrying the required four .303-inch machine guns: two synchronised Vickers guns in the fuselage, and two Lewis guns under the lower wing. By now named the Gladiator, manufacturing for the new aircraft began at Gloster’s facility, in Hucclecote. Production of the initial batch was performed simultaneously, leading to many aircraft being completed around the same time. On 16th February 1937, K6129, the first production Gladiator, was formally accepted by the RAF; on 4th March 1937, K6151, the last aircraft of the initial batch, was delivered. In September 1935, a follow-up order of 180 aircraft was also received from the Air Ministry on condition that all aircraft had to be delivered before the end of 1937. The first version, the Mk I, was delivered from July 1936, becoming operational in January 1937. The Mk II soon followed, with a more powerful Mercury VIIIAS engine, Hobson mixture control boxes, and a partly automatic boost-control carburettor. Moreover, a Fairey fixed-pitch three-blade metal propeller was fitted, instead of the two-blade wooden one on the Mark I. All MK II Gladiators carried Browning .303-inch machine guns, licence-manufactured by the BSA company in Birmingham, in place of the Vickers-Lewis combination of the MK I. The Sea Gladiator, a modified Mk II, was developed for the Fleet Air Arm. Optimised for aircraft carrier operations, this type was equipped with an arrestor hook, catapult attachment hook points, a strengthened airframe, and an underbelly fairing for a dinghy lifeboat. Of the 98 Sea Gladiators built or converted, 54 were still in service by the outbreak of the Second World War. Sea Gladiator N5519 was one of the celebrated ‘Defenders of Malta’ – a handful of Sea Gladiators based at RAF Hal Far, which fought valiantly against significantly superior numbers of Italian Air Force aircraft. When they were later christened ‘Faith, Hope and Charity’ by a Maltese newspaper, these Sea Gladiators and took on almost mythical status, and a legend was born. N5519 was the aircraft referred to as ‘Charity’. This famous Sea Gladiator claimed a number of aerial victories during the battles that raged in the skies over Malta, but which fell victim to a Regia Aeronautica fighter. On the 31st July 1940, ‘Charity’ was being flown by F/O Peter Hartley during heavy fighting above Grand Harbour when his aircraft was hit in the fuel tank by an Italian Fiat CR.42 Falco. Charity burst into flames and crashed into the sea just off the south-east coast of the Island. Badly burned, Hartley parachuted into the sea and following a lengthy period of treatment and recuperation, returned to flying duties. Charity was the only Malta Sea Gladiator to be shot down during aerial combat over the Island.