Belgium had ordered 22 Gladiator Is during the summer of 1937, and although delivery of these commenced in September that year, final signature of the contract was not effected until May1938. The delay was caused by negotiations (which were abandoned) for the licence production of the Gladiator by the Belgian aircraft industry. The Belgian Gladiators were introduced into service with the 1ère Escardrille de Chasse ("La Comète") in the Ième Group of No.2 (Fighter) Regiment based at Diest, and of these aircraft 15 remained on strength until 10 May 1940.
On 9 December 1939, Gladiator G.28 of 1/I/2 dived vertically into the ground and was destroyed at Ingelmuster, due to malfunctioning oxygen supply. The pilot Sergent H. Dopagne was killed. On 11 March 1940, Gladiator G.21 of 1/I/2 crashed of unknown cause at Steene-Ostend airfield. The pilot Sergent Pipart was killed. Gladiator G.35 of 1/I/2 crashed of unknown cause into the sea on 19 April. The pilot was saved but the aircraft was lost. In the early morning of 10 May, the alert was sounded just before 03:00 at Shaffen-Diest airfield. Major Hendrickx, commander of the 1st Group, 2nd Regiment, ordered the aircraft to remain lined up along the runway. Besides the Hurricanes of Escadrille 2/I/2 (the most modem aircraft in the Belgian Military Air Arm) and the Gloster Gladiator of Escadrille 1/I/2, the base was host to the Fairey Fox biplanes of Escadrille 5/III/3 and 7/III/3. The Foxes were to take part in live firing exercises at Beverloo. Eleven of the twelve serviceable Hurricanes were facing the hangars, the twelfth, (H.41) was standing some way apart from the rest. The pilots believed that the alert is part of an exercise and got ready to fly to the grass airfield at Beauvechain to carry out a routine patrol over the Ardennes.
On the other side of the airbase, the pilots of 1/I/2 Aé climbed into the cockpits of their Gladiators and run their engines briefly. The fourteen biplanes were also lined up wingtip-to-wingtip, making a continuous line with the Hurricanes. The order to take off was not issued because of a dense fog that covered the region. At 04:20hrs, the Fairey Foxes of 5/III/2 Aé took off and headed towards Landing Field No. 14 (Jeneffe) to reconnoitre German troop movements east of Liege. They were diverted in mid-flight to Landing Field No. 23 at Vissenacken. A few moments later, around fifty unidentified aircraft flew over Schaffen. Acting on his own initiative Capitaine Max Guisgand, commander of 1/I/2 led his Gladiators into the air despite the contrary order, issued by his group commander, to stay put. While the Hurricanes started up their engines, the two leading sections of Gladiators were airborne at 04:20.
At 04:32hrs, three hedgehopping Do17s from KG 77 suddenly appeared. Untroubled by the anti-aircraft fire, which was totally ineffective, the Dorniers took all the time they needed to shoot up the airfield while the Gladiators tried to take off surrounded by explosions and fires. In the prevailing panic, after a bullet punctured a main wheel on his Gladiator, Lieutenant M. Wilmots rammed the Hurricane H-20 flown by Capitaine Charlier of 2/I/2. Wilmot suffered shrapnel wound in his leg and the Gladiator was a write-off. Capitaine Charlier was wounded. Within minutes, Bf1l0s and Dornier Dol7s arrived over Schaffen. The first strafed the airfield while the second bombed it. Four Hurricanes were set on fire and six others received varying degrees of damage. The machines under cover were flattened when half of the hangar roof fell in. Wilmots' Gladiator was destroyed on the ground. Sergent Libert was severely burnt when the fuel tank of his Hurricane H-24 exploded. A Second gladiator of 1/I/2 was caught on the ground in the low-level attack of the Dorniers and was destroyed.
Two Hurricanes, flown by Capitaine Van den Hove d`Ertsenrijck and Caporal Jacobs, managed to escape from Schaffen. As they head for Beauvechain, they encountered a pack of enemy bombers. Van den Hove attacked one - apparently without success - even though a Gladiator pilot, Sergent Van den Broek, helped him. The oil tank of Van Broek's machine was hit in an exchange of fire, forcing him to make a crash landing in open country. A third Hurricane (H-27), waiting for a propeller at Schaffen was made airworthy and evacuated to Beauvechain by Sergent Siroux. On arrival, the main spar of one the wings, was found to be damaged, rendering the aircraft unfit for combat. The third section of Gladiators from 1/I/2 Aé, which took off at 04:32, found themselves almost nose to nose with the three Do17s, which forced two of them to break away to avoid a mid-air collision. The second section (Capitaine Gérard (G.27), 1er Sergent Henry Winand (G.32) and Sergent Henri Clinquart (G.34), en route for Beauvechain, spotted a formation of enemy bombers over Tirlemont and broke it up. In the lull after the bombing, other Gladiators left Schaffen. Hurricane pilots (Siroux, Lelarge and the confusingly named Lieutenant) flew three of them. In all, twelve Gladiators arrived at Beauvechain. As the ultimate reinforcement Gladiator G.l8 - the personal aircraft of Général Hiernaux, C-in-C of l'Aviation Militaire - was placed at the disposition of 1/I/2. Unfortunately, the aircraft was not fitted with guns... Of the proud 1er Groupe de Chasse, the elite Belgian fighter unit, only two Hurricanes and twelve Gladiators were still airworthy and able to fight after the morning attacks.