Roald Dahl's Gladiator...

[John Masters]

I am not sure if this is the right thread to be asking this...

 

Does anyone have a profile or at least a very good description of Dahl's Gladiator that he flew in Libya?  I have found nothing online...

 

Thanks,

John

[Smithy]

Dahl was with 80 Sqn in Libya if memory serves so you should be able to find the serial number in the 80 Sqn Operational Record Book (ORB) which can be downloaded from the National Archives. If you're really lucky the ORB might even list the individual aircraft code. This is rare though as usually the ORB will list only the serial number. In terms of the individual aircraft code if it's not in the ORB your best bet is Dahl's logbook but I don't know whether it's in a public collection (museum) where you should be able to view it or ask for the information, or whether it is privately held by the family which is obviously a much more problematic proposition.

 

HTH,

 

Tim

[Graham Boak]

IIRC, Dahl crashed his aircraft on the way to joining his unit, so the aircraft may have carried no more than its serial.

[Smithy]

2 minutes ago, Graham Boak said:

IIRC, Dahl crashed his aircraft on the way to joining his unit, so the aircraft may have carried no more than its serial.

 

Very good point Graham. It's a few years since I last read Going Solo and I just had a look online. His crash occurred ferrying a new aircraft to his squadron. Very high probability that it only carried a serial which makes it even easier for Mr Masters!

[Rabbit Leader]

Wasn’t there a BM thread on this very subject roughly when the new Airfix Gladiator kit first arrived? I’ll admit, I’ve never had the best of luck searching old threads here so perhaps someone else has bookmarked this link and can share it here.

 

Look forward to seeing this scheme being applied to your Matchbox GB build.  

 

Cheers.. Dave  

[Black Knight]

There have been a few threads

Some are

 

[GordonM]

There was a magazine article on building it in 1:48 (I think) somewhere recently, possibly Scale Aircraft Modelling as it or Airfix Model World I generally buy. I’ll try and see if I can fInd which issue it was later. 

[John Masters]

Thanks for all the thread links and information everyone!  Some of this I knew, most I did not.  I'll put all of this on a back burner for a while until something new comes up.  But as is, it would be a simple model (no codes) to build.  

 

Thanks,

John