One of a series of "round-the-clock" ground views of the Gloster F.5/34 taken by the Air Ministry photographer in accordance with the standard requirement; almost certainly taken immediately before or at the time of first flight, these official prints are dated May 1937.

FLEDGED: The eagerly awaited Gloster multi-gun monoplane fighter, which, judging by appearances, should occupy an extremely small period of time in getting from x to y at the behest of the Mercury or the sleeve-valve Perseus, which are its alternative power plants. Note the forward position of the fin and rudder relative to the tail plane.

The first of Gloster’s monoplane fighters to fly and the last of Folland’s designs for the company, the F.5/34 made its first flight in December 1937. Only two prototypes were built; K5604, as seen here, and K8089, which first flew in March 1938, by which time Sydney Camm’s superior Hurricane was already in squadron service.
The Gloster F.5/34 was akin to a monoplane version of the Gladiator and was powered by an 840 h.p. geared and supercharged Mercury IX enclosed in a long-chord cowling with controllable cooling gills. The aircraft was a rival to the Spitfire and Hurricane and - unsurprisingly - was never put into production.

GLOSTER'S LATEST: A three-quarter-front aspect of the new monoplane fighter. Leading dimensions are: Span, 38ft. 2in.; length, 31ft. 1in.; height, 10ft. 1in.

Folland's last design for Gloster was the F5/34 fighter, which first flew in December 1937.

Fairly typical of a modern single-row installation is the Mercury in the Gloster F.5/34 fighter. The crankcase cowl is not standard.

Significant in being the first Gloster monoplane to fly, the first F.5/34 climbs away from Hucclecote some time after its maiden flight in December 1937. Two examples were built, K5604 and K8089, but although the type showed a good deal of promise, its thunder was comprehensively stolen by the advent of the Spitfire and Hurricane.

The new Gloster multi-gun fighter monoplane fitted, at the moment, with a Bristol Mercury engine.

The Gloster F.5/34 Single-seat Multi-gun Fighter Monoplane (Bristol "Mercury IX" engine).

Техническое задание, по которому были созданы истребители Hawker Hurricane и Supermarine Spitfire, привело также к появлению и Gloster F.5/34, имевшего неплохие летные данные, но безнадежно опоздавшему.

One of the series of photographs of the Gloster F.5/34 in "The Aeroplane" series numbered 10.121

The Flight photograph of the newest British single-seater multi-gun fighter - the Gloster F.5/34 with Bristol Mercury engine.
The shapely Gloster F.5/34 is characterised by an unusual tail in which the fin and rudder are placed well forward.

THE GLOSTER MONOPLANE FIGHTER: with “Bristol” Mercury engine. A single-seat, multi-gun, day and night fighter of low-wing, metal, stressed-skin construction. Fitted with retracting undercarriage, two-position 3-bladed airscrew, and fully-enclosed and heated cockpit. Span, 38 ft.; length, 32 ft.; height, 10 ft.; wing area, 230 sq. ft. An extremely fast and manoeuvrable machine, of which no performance details are available for publication. Built by the Gloster Aircraft Co. Ltd.

The Gloster F.5/34 single-seater fighter is one fine example of 1937 military prototypes. The Gloster was designed for a Mercury or Perseus radial.

BACKGROUND: The latest of a long and brilliant line of Gloster fighters, the new multi-gun monoplane is designed to take a Bristol radial. A Mercury is installed in the prototype, seen here looking in on Hawker's "-MR," but a sleeve-valve Perseus may later be substituted.

The design by Folland and Howard Preston to Specification F.5/34 was the first of Folland’s monoplane fighters and the last of his Gloster designs to fly. Echoes of its shape and layout would surface in the E.28/39 jet, a product of Folland’s successor, George Carter.