page_title: Gloster Gladiator
section_title: North Africa
hierarchical_section_title: Gloster Gladiator / Operational history / Mediterranean and Middle East theatres / North Africa
caption_attribution_description: English: Royal Air Force Operations in the Middle East and North Africa, 1939-1943. Seven Gloster Gladiators of No. 3 Squadron RAAF make a low pass in loose line abreast formation over the Squadron's mobile operations room at their landing ground near Sollum, Egypt, from which they operated during Operation COMPASS.
context_page_description: The Gloster Gladiator was a British-built biplane fighter. It was used by the Royal Air Force and the Fleet Air Arm and was exported to a number of other air forces during the late 1930s.
  Developed privately as the Gloster SS.37, 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, the Middle East, and the brief Anglo-Iraqi War. Other countries deploying the Gladiator included China against Japan, beginning in 1938; Finland against the Soviet Union in the Winter War and the Continuation War; Sweden as a neutral non-combatant; 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 with the type.
context_section_description: In North Africa, Gladiators had to face Italian Fiat CR.42 Falcos biplanes, the performance of which was slightly superior to that of the Gladiator at higher altitudes.
  The first aerial combat between the biplanes took place on 14 June over Amseat. Tenente Franco Lucchini, of 90ᵃ Squadriglia, 10° Gruppo, 4° Stormo, flying a CR.42 from Tobruk, shot down a Gladiator; it was the first claim made against the RAF in the desert war. On the afternoon of 24 July, CR.42s and Gladiators clashed over Bardia. A formation of 11 CR.42s from 10° Gruppo, backed by six more from the 13° Gruppo attacked a British formation of nine Blenheims that was attacking Bardia, and was in turn reportedly attacked by 15 Gladiators.  The five Gladiators of 33 Squadron claimed four CR.42s destroyed.
  On 4 August 1940, Fiat biplanes from 160ᵃ Squadriglia of Capitano Duilio Fanali intercepted four Gladiators commanded by Marmaduke "Pat" Pattle (eventually to become one of the top-scoring Allied aces with approximately 50 claims) that were attacking Breda Ba.65s while they were strafing British armoured vehicles. The battle became confused. Initially it was thought that only the old CR.32s were involved, but there were also many CR.42s; it is likely that the then inexperienced Pattle was shot down by another future ace, Franco Lucchini. On this occasion, the Fiats managed to surprise the Gladiators, shooting down three of them. Wykeham Barnes, who was shot down but survived, claimed a Breda 65, while Pattle claimed a Ba 65 and a CR.42.
  On 8 August 1940, during another dogfight, 14 Gladiators of 80 Squadron took 16 Fiat CR.42s from 9° and 10° Gruppi of 4° Stormo (a Regia Aeronautica elite unit) by surprise over Gabr Saleh, well inside Italian territory. British pilots claimed 13 to 16 confirmed victories and one to seven probables, while losing two Gladiators.
  Actually the Italians lost four aircraft, and four more force-landed (it seems that all were later recovered).
  That battle highlighted the strong points of the Gladiator over the CR.42, especially the radio equipment, which had permitted a coordinated attack, being also crucial for obtaining the initial surprise, and the Gladiator's superior low-altitude overall performance, including speed and a markedly superior horizontal manoeuvrability over its Italian opponent.
  Overall, the few Gladiators and CR.42s clashed with a substantial parity: considering all theaters, the kill ratio was 1.2-to-1 in favour of the former, a ratio similar to that of the Bf 109 and the Spitfire in the Battle of Britain, a duel considered evenly balanced by most historians. However, the Gladiator, optimised for dogfighting, met with only little success against the relatively fast Italian bombers, shooting down only a handful of them and suffering almost as many losses in the process, which could be one of the reasons for its quick retirement from first-line duty; the CR.42 on the other hand was successful against early British bombers, shooting down a hundred of them with minimal losses.
caption: Seven Gladiators of No. 3 Squadron RAAF making a low pass in loose formation over the Squadron's mobile operations room at their landing ground near Sollum, Egypt, circa 1941
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