Gloster F.5/34

The Gloster F.5/34 was a British single-seat, single-engine monoplane fighter of the 1930s, developed for Air Ministry Specification F.5/34, which called for a fighter armed with eight machine guns and an air-cooled engine suited to operations in the tropics. It was the first monoplane fighter built by Gloster, its first land monoplane and the last design H.P. Folland produced for the company. The aircraft had all-metal cantilever construction and a tailwheel undercarriage with retractable main wheels, and the prototypes used a Bristol Mercury IX radial engine. Two prototypes were built, the first flying in December 1936 and the second in March 1938. The design was overtaken by more capable competitors, the specification was abandoned, and none of the aircraft built to it entered service.