Gloster Gladiator, bi-plane fighter. // 1:72 scale model; CORGI The model is just under 5" in length. ![Scale Models - Aircraft, Battle Tanks & Ships-gladiator-1.jpg](https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/attachments/shifting-gears/1754510d1689998993t-scale-models-aircraft-battle-tanks-ships-gladiator-1.jpg)
Length ~27 feet; Wing Span ~32 feet; Top speed 220 knots (~400 kmph); Stall speed an incredible 85 kmph!!!; Armament - Four .303 browning machine guns - two fired through the whirring props and two were mounted on the wings.
![Scale Models - Aircraft, Battle Tanks & Ships-gladiator-4.jpg](https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/attachments/shifting-gears/1754511d1689998993t-scale-models-aircraft-battle-tanks-ships-gladiator-4.jpg)
Gloster Sea Gladiator N5519 of 802 Naval Air Squadron (NAS) was not on board aircraft carrier HMS Glorious when the ship went down in the Norwegian Sea and took the entire 802 NAS down with it. N5519 was actually one of the most famous of all the 747 Gloster Gladiators produced. Left behind on the Island of Malta when the rest of No.802 NAS returned to the UK, N5519 was one of the celebrated ‘Defenders of Malta’ – a handful of Gladiators who provided air cover for the Island against significantly superior numbers of Italian Air Force aircraft. These Gladiators fought valiantly and took on almost mythical status when they were later christened ‘Faith, Hope and Charity’ by a Maltese newspaper – N5519 was the aircraft referred to as ‘Charity’.
![Scale Models - Aircraft, Battle Tanks & Ships-gladiator-5.jpg](https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/attachments/shifting-gears/1754512d1689998993t-scale-models-aircraft-battle-tanks-ships-gladiator-5.jpg)
This famous Sea Gladiator claimed a number of aerial victories during the battles that raged in the skies over Malta, but was to eventually fall victim to a fighter of the Regia Aeronautica. In late July 1940, N5519 ‘Charity’ was being flown by Flying Officer Peter Hartley during heavy fighting above Grand Harbour when his aircraft was hit in the fuel tank by an Italian Fiat CR.42 Falco. The Gladiator crashed into the sea. Gloster Sea Gladiator N5519 ‘Charity’ was the only Malta Sea Gladiator to be shot down during aerial combat over the Island.
![Scale Models - Aircraft, Battle Tanks & Ships-gladiator-6.jpg](https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/attachments/shifting-gears/1754513d1689998993t-scale-models-aircraft-battle-tanks-ships-gladiator-6.jpg)
The beautiful Gloster Gladiator represented the pinnacle of biplane fighter design, but entered service just as the first of the fast monoplane fighters were already dictating the future of aerial warfare. A thoroughbred aircraft in every sense of the word, the Gladiator was the last biplane fighter to enter RAF service and the first to feature a fully enclosed cockpit. Highly manoeuvrable and extremely fast by biplane standards, the Gladiator also served with the Royal Navy, with aircraft modified for operations at sea by the inclusion of a strengthened fuselage, arrester hook and catapult spools, as well as provision for the stowage of an inflatable dinghy. Sea Gladiator N5519 wears the pre-war colours of No.802 NAS, serving on board HMS Glorious, with the black fin marking this aircraft as the Squadron Commander’s mount.
![Scale Models - Aircraft, Battle Tanks & Ships-gladiator-7.jpg](https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/attachments/shifting-gears/1754514d1689998993t-scale-models-aircraft-battle-tanks-ships-gladiator-7.jpg)
The Gladiator also served with the Finnish Air Force. Finland, in WW2, was aligned loosely with Germany and fought twice with the USSR. That makes the Gladiator one of the rare aircraft to serve on both sides (other than types that were captured and re-badged).
![Scale Models - Aircraft, Battle Tanks & Ships-gladiator2.jpg](https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/attachments/shifting-gears/1754515d1689998993t-scale-models-aircraft-battle-tanks-ships-gladiator2.jpg)
N5519 in real life
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North American Aviation P-51D Mustang; Scale 1:72, CORGI The model is just under 6" in length and has a wingspan of just over 6" ![Scale Models - Aircraft, Battle Tanks & Ships-p51-mustang-1.jpg](https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/attachments/shifting-gears/1754516d1689998993t-scale-models-aircraft-battle-tanks-ships-p51-mustang-1.jpg)
Length ~32'; Wingspan~37'; Powered by a Rolls Royce Merlin V-12, 27,000 cc developing 1490 SHP continuous or 1720 SHP war-time emergency rating. The engine weighed 746 kgs.
![Scale Models - Aircraft, Battle Tanks & Ships-p51-mustang-2.jpg](https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/attachments/shifting-gears/1754517d1689999035t-scale-models-aircraft-battle-tanks-ships-p51-mustang-2.jpg)
Armament - 6 x .50" machine guns, upto 10 5" air to ground and 2 hard points for up to 1000 lbs of bombs. Notice the 'snap' on the starboard under carriage cover (left side of the photo). The covers of the landing gear are meant to come off so that the gear can be fitted and the cover fitted vertically. But sadly CORGI's quality has dropped in recent years and if you try to prise it open with a tweezer it snaps. I have not experienced this in earlier CORGI products bought 10 or 15 years back.
![Scale Models - Aircraft, Battle Tanks & Ships-p51-mustang-4.jpg](https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/attachments/shifting-gears/1754518d1689999035t-scale-models-aircraft-battle-tanks-ships-p51-mustang-4.jpg)
The longest ranged single engine fighter of WW2 most probably. It married a American airframe and wings with the Rolls Royce Merlin engine to give what became the P-51B the best escort fighter the Western Allies had. It married the maneuverability and high altitude performance of the Spitfire with long range of the Mosquito.
![Scale Models - Aircraft, Battle Tanks & Ships-p51-mustang-5.jpg](https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/attachments/shifting-gears/1754519d1689999035t-scale-models-aircraft-battle-tanks-ships-p51-mustang-5.jpg)
It was not as tight turning as a Spitfire or Bf-109 or Fw-190 but good enough to hold its own. Where it scored was its top speed of 440 mph (~700 kmph) and ability to maintain throttle at high altitudes. Its combat radius with tip tanks was in the order of ~1000 kms with reserves enough to escort Allied bombers from UK to Berlin & back. The P-51D was also used in the Korean war