Gloster Gladiator 607sq K7995

[Elias]

Hello to everyone

 

are there any photos of the Gloster Gladiator from 607Sq serial number K7995?

It was Flt. Lt. John Sample aircraft during 1939.

I have some color profiles but no photo of it.

[Quiet Mike]

 

These were fresh in my mind after doing my build a few weeks ago.

 

A Gloster Gladiator of 607 (County of Durham) Squadron at RAF Usworth in 1939 by Sunderland Museum, on Flickr

 

[Elias]

8 hours ago, Quiet Mike said:

 

These were fresh in my mind after doing my build a few weeks ago.

 

A Gloster Gladiator of 607 (County of Durham) Squadron at RAF Usworth in 1939 by Sunderland Museum, on Flickr

 

 

 

Thanks Mike,but i allready have these photos.

[Simon]

Elias

 

I think that's about all there is, to be honest. Note that the serials seem to have been painted over when the camouflage and LW codes were added pre-war. Photos of the wartime AF coded Gladiators are like hens' teeth. There's a slightly blurry one of two AF- Gladiators at Vitry-en-Artois, and this one possibly showing the AF codes:

 

https://www.nelsam.org.uk/NEAR/PhotoArch/607SqnWWII/img090.jpg

 

Regards

Simon

[Graham Boak]

It is worth adding that Peter Cooksley reported that the Gladiators on their way to France were carrying no squadron codes.  If the Vitry photo above really shows J.AF then the squadron codes have been cramped into an unusually small space.  I have also seen an apparently ex-607 Hurricane in France with no codes, but that could of course have been a hurried replacement.

[Graham Boak]

Just now, Graham Boak said:

It is worth adding that Peter Cooksley reported that the Gladiators on their way to France were carrying no squadron codes.  If the Vitry photo above really shows J.AF then the squadron codes have been cramped into an unusually small space.  I have also seen an apparently ex-607 Hurricane in France with no codes, but that could of course have been a hurried replacement.

 

Edit: Pun unintentional

 

[Simon]

1 hour ago, Graham Boak said:

It is worth adding that Peter Cooksley reported that the Gladiators on their way to France were carrying no squadron codes.  If the Vitry photo above really shows J.AF then the squadron codes have been cramped into an unusually small space.  I have also seen an apparently ex-607 Hurricane in France with no codes, but that could of course have been a hurried replacement.

 

I was thinking maybe just the AF has been applied forward of the roundel, with no individual letter after it. It's not the clearest of photos, it must be said, and maybe I'm seeing something that isn't there.

 

The other photo I mentioned captioned as taken at Vitry-en-Artois shows the starboard side of a Gladiator and just has the AF codes before the roundel and seemingly no letter after the roundel. I'd upload it , but I'm not sure where it came from originally.

 

Simon

 

 

[Graham Boak]

OK, expanding the view does make the J dissolve into a mix of code (and snow?) patches.  

[Elias]

9 hours ago, Simon said:

Elias

 

I think that's about all there is, to be honest. Note that the serials seem to have been painted over when the camouflage and LW codes were added pre-war. Photos of the wartime AF coded Gladiators are like hens' teeth. There's a slightly blurry one of two AF- Gladiators at Vitry-en-Artois, and this one possibly showing the AF codes:

 

https://www.nelsam.org.uk/NEAR/PhotoArch/607SqnWWII/img090.jpg

 

Regards

Simon

Simon 

 

thanks for uploading the photo in such good analysis.

It's been in warpaint series and in Fledgling Eagles: The Complete Account of Air Operations During the 'Phoney War' and Norwegian Campaign, 1940 book.