Royal Egyptian Air Force Gladiators

When Italy entered the war, Egypt on British advice declared neutrality, but the presence of British troops soon brought the realities of war to the country. During the early days of the war the RAF and REAF accepted responsibility for the defence of the naval base at Alexandria against attacks from the Regia Aeronautica aircraft based in Rhodes.

The REAF at this time was mostly equipped with obsolete aircraft comprising of, 24 Avro 674s, these were license built Audaxes, serials K400-K405 and K501-K518, 10 Avro 626s, serials J323-J332, as well as additional training aircraft. These were supplemented in 1939 with the purchase of 18 ex-RAF Gladiators, serials L8005 and L8012-L8028. These were provided under the Anglo-Egyptian Defence Agreement and given the Egyptian serials K1331-K1348. Also included in the Agreement were 20 Westland Lysanders, serials Y500-Y519. In 1940 a further batch of Gladiators were purchased from Britain, these being ex-RAF N5875-N5892, Egyptian serials L9030-L9047. Additional Gladiators may have been passed on to the Egyptians but the serials are unknown.

By June 1940 the REAF comprised of the following;

1 Squadron Lysander MkII

2 Squadron Gladiator MkII

3 Squadron Avro 626

4 Squadron Avro 674

5 Squadron Gladiator MkII

21/6/40

The first Italian raid on Egypt was carried out on the night of the 21/22 June against the naval base at Alexandria. No damage was caused to the port and the raiders escaped undamaged.

Both of the REAF Gladiator Squadrons were placed under the command of 252 Fighter Wing RAF. 2 Squadron was based at Helwan under the command of Sqn Ldr Muhammed Ibrahim Abu Rabia. While 5 Squadron was based at Dekhalia. The Lysanders were split into two flights, one of which was sent to the Suez on anti-shipping duties while the other was based at Baharia Oasis on reconnaissance duties.

28/11/40

Italian bombers carried out a raid on the Suez Canal but no shipping was located. Gladiators were scrambled from 5 Squadron but these failed to intercept the bombers.

Throughout 1941 the Suez Canal area was the target for many Axis raids. Although the Gladiators were sent up after most of them the speed of the bombers proved too much for the slower biplanes. It was the same old story the Gladiators could only catch the bombers in a dive, but very seldom did they have the advantage of height.

28/3/41

The closest the Egyptian pilots came to shooting down an enemy aircraft was on the 28th March. A 2 Sqn Gladiator took off to intercept enemy aircraft over Helwan, as the pilot lined up on the Heinkel He111 his guns jammed. He could only watch in frustration as the bomber escaped unharmed.

In early June 1941 a group of junior REAF pilots obtained aerial photos of the British front line positions. They intended to pass these on to the German authorities. One of the pilots, Plt Off Ahmed Saudi Hussein took off at first light on the 7th July and flew off towards the German lines. However, he did not get very far when he was intercepted by two Bf110s from I/ZG27 and was shot down by Lt Hans-Arnold Stalschmidt. The next morning Wt Off Muhammad Ridwan Salim took off in another attempt to reach the German lines. This time he was successful and delivered the photos.

When news of this defection reached Cairo the REAF High Command grounded the entire Air Force. The British were seemingly unconcerned about the whole incident. The commander of the REAF resigned while three of his senior commander and fourteen junior officers along with seventeen NCOs were transferred to the army as a disciplinary measure.

During the Desert Campaign of 1942 the air defence of the rear areas and also that of the Sinai was the sole responsibility of the two Gladiator squadrons. The REAF, by this time, was starting to receive newer equipment, in the shape of ex-RAF Hawker Hurricanes, to replace some of its more obsolete aircraft.

By 1943 the REAF had on strength around 140 aircraft, mostly worn out and obsolete. By this time 2 Sqn was based at Almaza still with 15 Gladiators, while 5 Sqn were in the Suez area with 14 Gladiators. In addition to these the RAF had 1411 Met Flight which was fully equipped with Gladiators, but was entirely manned and serviced by Egyptian personnel. The aircraft even carried Egyptian markings.

The Gladiators were soon relegated to second line duties and in 1945 they were retired from active service.

Royal Egyptian Air Force Gladiators

RAF serials

Egyptian serials

Comments

L8005

L8012

L8013

L8014

L8015

L8016

L8017

L8018

L8019

L8020

L8021

L8022

L8023

L8024

L8025

L8026

L8027

N5875

N5876

Repossessed by 80 Sqn RAF

N5877

N5878

N5879

N5880

N5881

N5882

N5883

N5884

N5885

N5886

N5887

Repossessed by 94 Sqn RAF

N5888

Repossessed by RAF

N5889

Repossessed by 94 Sqn RAF

N5590

Repossessed by 94 Sqn RAF

N5591

Repossessed by RAF

N5592

Repossessed by 94 Sqn RAF

Camouflage and markings

The first batch of Gladiators were overall aluminium dope. National markings appeared on six positions with stripes on the fin. The serial number was in black in both Arabic and English aft of the fuselage roundel. The second batch of aircraft were probably left in standard RAF camouflage of two tone brown upper surfaces with the black/white undersides. National markings and serial were as before.

References:

Spitfires over Israel- Chris Shores, Grub Street, London.

Avions Issue 66 September 1998.

Gloster Gladiator- Francis K Mason, MacDonald Aircraft Monographs.

Additional Information:

Yuri M Svoyski