Mushroom Model Publications

Gloster Gladiator Vol. I: Development & Operational History book

Product # MMP9106 from HobbyLink Japan

Product Article by Nick Moore on Jan 26 2011

 

Alex Crawford writes this first Volume in Mushroom’s telling of the Gloster Gladiator story. This and the follow-up Volume are the culmination of 25 years of research into the Gladiator so it is abundantly clear that Crawford is a devotee of the subject. Widely researched and with an impressive bibliography, this book comes in at 272 pages. It is supported by interesting photographs and excellent colour profiles by Artur Juszczak, of which you receive no less than sixteen. 

In the main the text deals with the Gladiator’s active service with the RAF. This is followed by a separate history of the Sea Gladiator and finally the Gladiator’s Foreign Service is described.. A testimony to the quality of the Gladiator can be seen in the colour profiles at the rear of the book. This aircraft saw service under a great many flags and the Foreign Service section of the book describes their use by a great many countries. The photographs in this section in particular are quite fascinating for the variety of markings, crews and environments the Gladiator appears in and alongside of. 

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The book as a whole contains a number of very good photographs showing the Gladiator from many points of view. Some will prove especially useful to modelers as they show weathering on the airframe to great advantage. Many photographs show crew, uniforms and the bases the planes flew from. The book is interspersed with 1:48 scale line drawings showing various plans and elevations of Gladiators Mark I, Mark II, Sea Gladiator that also include equipment variations. 

Tabled information at the end of the book includes operational data for all RAF Gladiator units and victory claims. 

I’ll just make a comment regards the attached photographs in this article. As you all appreciate, Mushroom will have gone to a great deal of effort to produce this book and are entitled to copyright protection. The images reproduced here are of low quality to give you an idea of what the book contains. The photos and drawings in the book are of much better quality so if you want to see them all – you’ll just have to buy it! 

An indispensable book for Gladiator fans but also well recommended to anyone interested in the campaigns they participated in or for interwar aircraft enthusiasts. 

This book is available here: http://www.hlj.com/product/MMP9106 

My thanks to HobbyLink Japan for supplying this review sample. 

Nick Moore

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Photos and text © by Nick Moore