British Forces

Gloster F.5/34 - the "British Zero" ? (not)

Charles Daniels Coll./San Diego Air and Space Museum

The Gloster F.5/34 in flight. This proposed fighter was the Gloster Aircraft Company's response to a British Air Ministry Specification F.5/34, which invited proposals for a single-engine fighter with a radial engine and 8-machine gun capacity, suitable for operation in tropical conditions. The F.534 was clearly the favourite of test pilots in trials. However, the whole radial engine programme seems to have been overtaken by the non-radial engine based programmes that produced the Spitfire and the Hurricane. The development process was eventually abandoned in 1941. Only two prototype examples were built. It has often been suggested that the F.5/34 was heavily influenced by the design of the Japanese, "Zero" fighter. There is certainly a similarity in terms of the fuselage form. In terms of the plane's technology, there is little or no evidence of any connection with Mitsubishi's "Zero" design. Nonetheless, it is true that in the early 1930s, Gloster did have a connection with Nakagima, part-producers of the "Zero" It is just possible that this connection was sufficient to lead to influence on the F.5/34's fuselage - but there is simply enough evidence. Best regards, JR