Shortround6
Major General
What have you got against the British???Similar to this Centaurus powered Tornado, but Hurricane with say, Hercules power
or pretend this is P.24 Monarch in place of Vulture power
Assuming you could even more than a handful of Hercules engines in 1937-38 (a big assumptions right there) and that they were even half way reliable (another big assumption) the 1938 Hercules was good for 1375hp at 4,000ft. At 16,000ft you are within a few dozen horsepower of the Merlin.
Except you have a engine that is heavier by several hundred pounds (even factoring in the radiator and coolant weight.)
You have a crap load more drag.
You have crap for exhaust thrust.
Yep you got a crapload of power for take-off, at 20,000ft you got crap.
And the Monarch engine?
It is a bit lighter, may depend on radiator/coolant?
it about 6in wider,
it is about 12in taller.
It it is a flying barn door. about 50% more square ft of frontal area than the Vulture.
Well, if you don't order/build Gladiators you are flying Gauntlets and Furies if the war starts in 1938 because none of the new wonder planes will be in squadron service.1936 was still a biplane fighter world if you weren't Germany, France, Japan, USSR or USA, who had monoplane fighters flying.
Gladiator was a terrible mistake.
1937!
No more than 8 RAF squadrons were ever flying Gladiators at the the same time.
The Gladiators acted as transitional trainers between the Gauntlets and Furies and the Hurricanes. Once a Gladiator squadron got it's Hurricanes the Gladiators were passed to Gauntlet or other squadron and the the process was repeated.
The Gladiator was ordered after the Hurricane to fill in while they tooled up for the Hurricane.