As author Andrew Thomas points out, the Gloster Gladiator was immortalized for the service of "Faith," "Hope," and "Charity" over Malta in the summer of 1940.

      As Thomas goes on to demonstrate, the true history of the Malta Gladiators is far more interesting than the propaganda myth (which is usually the case).  In this volume, Number 44 in Osprey's "Aircraft of the Aces" series, the author goes on to detail the service of the Gladiator with the Chinese Air Force where the first Gladiator aces are found, with 263 Squadron in Norway, with the Swedish Volunteer Unit and the Finnish Air Force in the Winter War, and with the RAF in the Middle East, Greece and Africa. As William Green once stated, "the fame of the Gladiator derived from the heroism of the pilots who flew it rather than from its own intrinsic qualities; pilots who, out-gunned, outperformed, and in most cases, out-numered, flew the old Gladiator in some of the most dramatic battles of the early war years."

      Andrew Thomas has sought out many of the surviving pilots who flew the Gladiator in those dramatic battles of the early war years, and provides more information here on some of those events - such as the Swedish Volunteer Unit in the Winter War - than I had found elsewhere in one place before.

      The Gladiator was of supreme importance to the Royal Air Force in the early fighting in North Africa following the entry of Italy into the war, and this period is covered in detail, as is the doomed struggle in Greece.

      I found the section on the use of the Gladiator by the Chinese Air Force in 1938 to be particularly interesting, as I had never found this information anywhere before. 

      With the release of the new Roden Gladiator, this little volume is a perfect addition to any Gladiator project.  All of the markings in the kit decals came from the really excellent color profiles in this book, and one can get numerous other ideas for markings that can be done "out of the decal dungeon," by looking through these.

      This is a really valuable contribution to the available literature on the Gladiator, and is highly recommended.