Hi all, I used to be a member here years ago, but somehow I lost all my login details and couldn't get reactivated! So I decided it was simpler to start over. I was keen to re-join because, in the past, I always found these forums to contain a lot of valuable information posted by some very knowledgeable people, so I'm hoping I might find some answers to help me with a project I'm working on. I've been commissioned to write a book on the Gloster Gladiator biplane fighter, and I'm immersing myself in researching all its technical details. At this point, I have one specific question: can anyone tell me who manufactured the aircraft's tyres? Was it Dunlop? Or someone else? More generally, If anyone can assist with drawings, photographs, or any other technical documents relating to the Gladiator, and would be willing to email them to me, I'd give you full credit in the book (due out in December this year). Many thanks in advance. Adam.
The following link makes interesting reading Adam. The tyres I have not yet traced but the Gloucester Jet Age Museum may be able to help you with your query. Gloster Gladiator - Wikipedia
Adam, I have found what you were looking for. The Gloster Gladiator did have Dunlop Tyres, or to be more specific, they were known as Dunlop Aircraft Tyres. I hope that this helps.
Funnily enough, I'm planning a visit to that very museum. And I've just got confirmation from the Shuttleworth Trust that I can sit in, and examine, their Gladiator - subject to giving them four weeks notice and payment of a fee!
Gloster Gladiator Interactive iBook - Scale Modelling Now MMP and Alex Crawford released an interactive book on the Gladiator. See review above. For those of a more traditional bent, they also released a two volume study, volume one operational, volume 2 technical. Also worth a look at by the same author and publisher is the book 263 Squadron Gladiators over The Fjords
....and, of course, that part of Dunlop still exists on the original site at Fort Dunlop Birmingham. Not sure if there are any local history societies in that neck of the woods but it might be worth enquiring in case the factory has lost contact with any Dunlop archive. As a company, Dunlop fell by the wayside in the 1980s and was taken over by various conglomerates but still exists now as Dunlop Goodyear and Dunlop Aircraft Tyres: not sure whether the two companies are still related or whether it's now just a name. My first real job was with Dunlop! Nothing to do with tyres but actually working in their Malaysian Rubber and Palm Oil Plantation company....but you don't need to know that