Gamecock

The Gloster Gamecock was a single‑seat biplane fighter that entered service with the Royal Air Force in the early 1920s. Developed by the Gloster Aircraft Company as a successor to the Gloster Grebe, the Gamecock first flew in March 1924 and was produced in several marks until 1931, with a total of 378 airframes built. Powered by a Bristol Jupiter radial engine delivering around 430 hp, the aircraft featured unequal‑span wings, a wooden frame covered with fabric, and a distinctive forward‑sliding cockpit canopy that improved pilot visibility. Its armament consisted of two synchronized .303‑inch Vickers machine guns mounted on the fuselage.

The Gamecock’s handling qualities were praised for their steadiness and gentle stall characteristics, making it a popular trainer as well as an operational fighter. It saw combat in the British intervention during the Russian Civil War and later served on the Western Front in the early stages of the Second World War in a secondary capacity. The type marked a transitional step for Gloster, demonstrating the company's ability to integrate more powerful engines and refined aerodynamics, and it laid the groundwork for later high‑performance monoplanes such as the Gloster Gladiator and the jet‑powered Gloster Meteor.

Gloster Aircraft Company

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Design & Classification