Author Topic: Gloster Gladiator, 33 Sqdn, Ramallah, Palestine, 1939  (Read 1337 times)

Offline Old Man

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Gloster Gladiator, 33 Sqdn, Ramallah, Palestine, 1939
« on: August 14, 2020, 11:44:39 PM »



Gloster Gladiators of the Royal Air Force first saw active service on 'Air Control' operations during the Arab Revolt in Mandatory Palestine.







33 Squadron, based since 1935 at Ismailia in Egypt, began to exchange its Hawker Hart light bombers for Gladiator fighters in February, 1938. 80 Squadron, a Gladiator unit based at Kenley, was embarked for Egypt in April, and arrived the following month. These two units were the total fighter strength of the RAF in the Near East, and while their presence had been intended for protection of the Suez Canal from Italian bombers, should war come with that country, a more immediate employment soon was found for them.






The distinguishing characteristic of the Arab Revolt which commenced in Mandatory Palestine in late April, 1936, was the degree to which at the outset all elements of Arab Palestinian society cohered in a unity of purpose. The most visible element at the start of the Revolt was a general strike, and a wide-spread refusal to pay taxes. The Mandate authorities considered these things far more important, and far more dangerous, than urban riots or the emergence of partisan bands in rural areas. The Mandate authorities managed, by a judicious mix of political manouvering and military force, to break the strike and restore order in urban areas, but only damped down violence in the countryside. Among the political manouvers was establishment of a Royal commission to look into causes and solutions: The Peel Commision report, when it came, pleased neither Arabs nor Jews. The killing of a District Commissioner in Galilee in September, 1937, followed immediately by the outlawing and deportation of leading Arab political figures, renewed the violence of the previous year. The activity of the partisan bands in the countryside escalated quickly, and was on a sounder footing than previously it ever had been. By the summer of 1938, armed Arab bands were collecting taxes and running courts in many places, and the situation in Mandatory Palestine was considered quite precarious by both military and political authorities. Major reinforcements of soldiers, police, and aircraft were provided the Palestine garrison in the wake of the Munich Crisis for a renewed effort to break the insurrection.






A flight of Gladiator fighters from 33 Squadron, and another from 80 Squadron, based at Ramallah, were an important element of the aerial reinforcement. Aircraft could do little to influence matters in the urban areas, where the  Arab and Jewish 'hard men' engaged in tit-for-tat murders by bomb and pistol, but in the countryside, aircraft had throughout been the most effective battle arm of the Palestine garrison. Very early a system known as the 'XX Call' had been set up, in which RAF wireless staff accompanied Army operations, to summon air support if contact with any large number of partisans occured. Aircraft were always waiting on five minutes notice for take-off, and there was no part of the country which could not be reached in under half an hour. The system proved so efficient that often operations by ground troops were, in effect, simply bait to draw out Arab bands in the hills so the aircraft would have opportunity to attack them. The Gladiators, with four machine guns, had far more fire-power than the Hardy and Hind machines already on the scene, which could only bring one gun to bear at a time, and strafing had proved already to inflict more casualties than bombing in such operations.








The Gladiators  came to specialize in what were called 'Air-Pin' operations. Efforts to disarm the Arab partisans in the rural villages had foundered on the ease with which approaching troops could be seen coming, and when they were seen, the partisans could quickly disperse in flight, carrying their small stocks of arms and ammunition. In 'Air-Pin' operations, Gladiators appeared over a village before ground troops were seen approaching it, and persons deemed to be fleeing the approaching columns of soldiers and police were shot from the air. These operations greatly increased the quantity of arms seized and arrests made, as well as casualties inflicted, not all of whom, certainly, were actual partisans in arms. The 'Air-Pins' were not completely one-sided, either. At least two Gladiator pilots of 33 Squadron were killed by rifle fire, and their aeroplanes wrecked and abandoned. By the end of January, 1939, the dominance of the Arab rebels in the countryside had been broken, their activities in Palestine coming to amount to little more than occasional sniping and murder of persons suspected to be collaborators with the Jews or the English. Political concessions to the Arabs promulgated in May, 1939, including severe restrictions on Jewish immigration to Palestine, helped hold the peace, though bringing increased trouble from Jewish gunmen. By then war with Germany, and probably Italy, was clearly in the offing, and the reinforcements given the Palestine garrison, including the Gladiators of 33 Squadron and 80 Squadron, were back at their normal stations in Egypt.





This model is of a 33 Sqaudron Gladiator, L7620 SO*O, as it appeared early in 1939; it was photographed in flight as part of a formation over Jerusalem.







It is marked with the code letters assigned 33 Squadron at the time of the Munich Crisis; this was not common (it is the only machine in the photograph to carry them), but it is not too unusual, there are photograps of at least one other 33 Squadron Gladiator so marked, and also of 80 Squadron Gladiators bearing the early letters. I do consider the marking of these letters at this juncture to indicate a more than usually sharp ground crew tending the machine, and so have held weathering to a minimum and given the machine all its proper functional stencilling. L7620 was passed on to the Greek Air Force in December of 1940.














The Airfix 1/72  Gladiator is a great kit. As someone who mostly does open-cockpit subjects, I cannot get over how sweet the fit of the canopy proved to be; after only a very little sanding fore and aft, the thing was practically snap fit, and just to see if I could, I painted framing before attaching it to the fuselage, and the result you see. One does need to take care with mating surfaces, especially those of the struts, and cowling/engine assembly is a little tricky --- I found it easier to assemble this as a separate unit, rather than trying to put it together on the nose (the attachment of the motor to the nose is about the only poor fit I found in the kit). A bit of pre-scoring, and a hot blade, is the best way to deal with the 'X-jig' incorporated in the interplane struts. I put in the full complement of braces for the motor, and put in a reflector sight and supporting frame, and added damping rods in the rigging; otherwise the kit was built as is. Codes are from a Fantasy Printshop sheet, serials are from an old ModelDecal sheet, roundels and stencils from the kit decals.








Offline rhallinger

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Re: Gloster Gladiator, 33 Sqdn, Ramallah, Palestine, 1939
« Reply #1 on: August 15, 2020, 12:03:45 AM »
Very cool model OM!  As always, thanks for the interesting historical narrative and context. ;D

Best regards,

Bob

Offline lcarroll

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Re: Gloster Gladiator, 33 Sqdn, Ramallah, Palestine, 1939
« Reply #2 on: August 15, 2020, 12:38:32 AM »
   Wonderful as always OM, a very nice model and very informative bit of history of fairly obscure events in the lead in to WW.II. Much enjoyed! 8)
Cheers,
Lance

Offline smperry

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Re: Gloster Gladiator, 33 Sqdn, Ramallah, Palestine, 1939
« Reply #3 on: August 15, 2020, 12:53:44 AM »
Another great model Old Man and more history that I did not know. Thanks for posting both.
sp
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Offline Old Man

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Re: Gloster Gladiator, 33 Sqdn, Ramallah, Palestine, 1939
« Reply #4 on: August 16, 2020, 04:05:23 AM »
Thanks a lot, guys!

This one is kind of a favorite. I thought it came out well above usual standard, and I have a fondness for colonial operations. They pressed surprisingly close to WWII, and just as in the Great War, even continued here and there during the larger conflict.

Offline Alexis

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Re: Gloster Gladiator, 33 Sqdn, Ramallah, Palestine, 1939
« Reply #5 on: August 16, 2020, 09:47:34 PM »
Always enjoy your builds Oldman and this one is no different , Awesome job on the natural metal . I think you are the only builder I know who uses foil still , it sure does yield the best results .  :)


Terri
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Offline lone modeller

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Re: Gloster Gladiator, 33 Sqdn, Ramallah, Palestine, 1939
« Reply #6 on: August 19, 2020, 03:46:06 AM »
I first thought that this was 1/48 scale....! This is truly another of your excellent models and I too enjoyed reading about the historical background. The Gladiator has such appealing (to me anyway) clean lines - surely the most elegant of biplanes and the acme of the type.

Stephen. 

Offline 2996 Victor

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Re: Gloster Gladiator, 33 Sqdn, Ramallah, Palestine, 1939
« Reply #7 on: November 02, 2021, 11:19:26 PM »
Another beautiful build! I've got a couple of these kits in my stash and this is great inspiration to make a start on one. Thanks for sharing your photos and the historical background.

Kind regards,
Mark

Offline Pup7309

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Re: Gloster Gladiator, 33 Sqdn, Ramallah, Palestine, 1939
« Reply #8 on: November 18, 2021, 10:33:42 PM »
Great build and fascinating read- I filled in a knowledge gap I didn’t know existed. My Grandad flew in the desert in 1940 so this is a great prequel to that. Daz
‘Not all who wander are lost‘