Gloster II

The Gloster II was a British racing floatplane of the 1920s, a small single-seat biplane of fabric-covered wood with short single-bay wings, a closely faired Napier Lion engine and twin floats. The Air Ministry ordered two from Gloster for the 1924 Schneider Trophy race after the Americans had won in 1923, as a development of the Gloster I landplane racer. The first aircraft sank after its undercarriage collapsed on landing following its first flight in September 1924, and the race was postponed to 1925. The second was converted to a landplane to test equipment for the Gloster III and was lost in a high-speed crash at RAF Cranwell in June 1925 after elevator flutter.