Gloster Herald Mk I

[63cpe]

The Gloster Herald

[/size]

In 1932, Railway Air Services, a joint undertaking between the four main British railway companies and Imperial Airways, made the decision to expand their routes and acquire additional aircraft of more modern appearance.  The DH Dragons they operated were efficient, but as biplanes looked out of date.  At this time, Gloster had a monoplane, single engined, ten seater passenger aircraft design that seemed to fit R.A.S. requirements. It could be operated by a single pilot, and with a Mercury engine uprated to 900hp and a wide-track undercarriage it was particularly suitable for operations from the short-length  grass strips that were the aerodromes of most of the towns and cities of the early 1930's.  The  Herald was in service with Railway Air Services by late 1935, and with Hillman Airways and   Jersey Airlines by October 1936. Imperial Airways  took  12 of a seven seater variant for operations to near continental capitals.  By August 1937, a total of 47  Heralds were in operation.  Although it was not known at the time, four of the Imperial Airways Heralds used for "route development flights" to Danish, German, Dutch and Belgian coastal destinations  were funded by the Admiralty and carried concealed cameras.   A considerable quantity of high quality photographs of  North Sea ports were available to Royal Navy photo-interpreters by mid 1939.

On the outbreak of war, all civil flights were cancelled and the Heralds requisitioned. The Royal Navy  took a total of 30 aircraft and the RAF 12, Five were retained by Imperial to fly high priority personnel and cargo to Belfast and Dublin. The RAF aircraft were used as  radio and navigational  trainers , with a row of  Perspex "bubbles " in the cabin roof to allow  bubble sextant training.  The Navy based  their two squadrons of 12 aircraft at simple grass strips that later became Machrihanish and Limavaddy airfields. Fitted with flare chutes, these Heralds operated "scarecrow" patrols around the approaches to the Clyde.  Their flares, smoke floats and small scare charges could not sink a U boat, but they could  force them to submerge and  mark them to allow converted trawlers of the Royal Navy Patrol Service to intercept them. The remaining six RN Heralds operated a shuttle service between Scapa Flow, Invergordon, Rosyth, Portsmouth and Plymouth for the transfer of urgent cargo and passengers.

In late 1940, a further batch of Heralds, the Mark 2, was ordered for the Air Transport Auxiliary as taxi units to transport groups of ATA pilots back to base after delivering new aircraft to front line units.  One of these aircraft was  later trialled by a Lysander squadron engaged on covert operations into occupied Europe.  Its remarkable short-field performance found to be equal to the Lysander, with a much superior load carrying capacity. Three squadrons of the Mark three Herald, with  a large loading door were rapidly delivered.   It was found to be  more efficient to unload supplies for the Maquis on the ground  than to para-drop them.  1944 saw Heralds operating in South East Asia, flying supplies into, and injured personnel out of tiny jungle clearings.  By the end of World War Two, 260 Heralds of various marks were in RAF and Royal Navy service.

The end of hostilities saw a major retrenchment in armed forces numbers and equipment. The RAF chose to standardise on the Avro Anson for all training and utility purposes and the Gloster Herald was declared surplus to requirements.   Sold off cheaply, the Herald began its second career as a civil aircraft.  In the UK, they were used on the BEA Highlands and Islands services between Glasgow and the Scottish islands; and by the Ordnance Survey for aerial photography.  Eventually, the remaining Heralds could only be found running inter-island services in the Caribbean  and by small operators in the Canadian bush.

A few Heralds, with a longer wingspan and Pegasus engine uprated to 1100hp, were classed as Mark 4 and retained by the RAF.   In 1948, several were assigned to the "Baltic Sea Minesweeping Authority"  and operated out of German Baltic airfields. Painted matt black, with low visibility markings, it was rumoured that these Heralds ran a covert service into the Baltic States for up to ten years.  No proof is available for this suggestion, but on two occasions battle damaged Heralds made emergency landings at airfields in Eastern Sweden.  Another detachment of Heralds was based a Kai-Tak , Hong Kong.   Again, there is no evidence for their operations but their squadron operations room had a direct, encrypted link to the Government Code and Cypher School.

Today, a dozen or so Heralds are still flying with bush airlines in Canada.  The Imperial War Museum  has two airframes  in store, one is in the reserve stock at Cosford, and two are in taxiable condition at the Jet Age Museum at Staverton, near Gloucester; a few miles from where the Herald was first built.

IMG_7206 by Buddy Holly, on Flickr

IMG_7203 by Buddy Holly, on Flickr

IMG_7202 by Buddy Holly, on Flickr

IMG_7200 by Buddy Holly, on Flickr

Hope you like it.

More pictures here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/jetsonsspecial/albums/72157717645920623/with/50783773846/

Thank you so much Rheged for the back story. It's a masterpiece!

Cheers,
David aka 63cpe

[PR19_Kit]

Sorry no back story...

Get Rheged on the job, he'll come up with one. 

That looks pretty darn good, very 'of the period'. 

[Rheged]

David, give me a couple of clues about the build and I'll try to produce a backstory that matches this first rate model!

[63cpe]

Hahaha Rheged, Ok here goes: I was thingking about a communication/recon and-or radio trainings plane. But I'm open for all options.

Fuselage is a Beech AT-11 Kansan with Bristol Blenheim engine, Lockheed Hudson Outerwings and Il-2 tailsection. The combo just looked nice and i could't help myself and had to build it. Mininal putty was needed...

David aka 63cpe

[Rheged]

OK, a  10 seater trainer/short range PR aircraft from about 1938, also used by the air transport auxiliary. 1000 miles range  on a single Bristol Mercury 850 hp engine.  Much used after the war for a  very wide variety of purposes.

Full story in a day or two (or maybe a little longer)

[63cpe]

All right.. I'm looking forward to it! PM me if you need any help from my side. I'm just not good in back stories and scenic pictures.

Cheers,
David aka 63cpe

[PR19_Kit]

With that lovely wide track undercarriage and the largish, thick wing, it'd have great soft field operating characteristics too.

Maybe as a larger capacity Special Ops aircraft later in the war, a la a big Lysander?

[AeroplaneDriver]

Well that mix of parts looks just right!   Excellent Whiffery!

[Old Wombat]

Well that mix of parts looks just right!   Excellent Whiffery!

Absolutely!

[Tophe]

Very big single-engined planes (of WW2 time) are rare, thanks to have invented one!

[Glenn Gilbertson]

Very inventive, and very convincing!

[Rheged]

Here it is, people, an attempt to put a believable backstory to David 63cpe's model of this under-researched Gloster product.  This information is not comprehensive, and I would welcome any additions, alterations or amendments to the story so far......

The Gloster Herald

In 1932, Railway Air Services, a joint undertaking between the four main British railway companies and Imperial Airways, made the decision to expand their routes and acquire additional aircraft of more modern appearance.  The DH Dragons they operated were efficient, but as biplanes looked out of date.  At this time, Gloster had a monoplane, single engined, ten seater passenger aircraft design that seemed to fit R.A.S. requirements. It could be operated by a single pilot, and with a Mercury engine uprated to 900hp and a wide-track undercarriage it was particularly suitable for operations from the short-length  grass strips that were the aerodromes of most of the towns and cities of the early 1930's.  The  Herald was in service with Railway Air Services by late 1935, and with Hillman Airways and   Jersey Airlines by October 1936. Imperial Airways  took  12 of a seven seater variant for operations to near continental capitals.  By August 1937, a total of 47  Heralds were in operation.  Although it was not known at the time, four of the Imperial Airways Heralds used for "route development flights" to Danish, German, Dutch and Belgian coastal destinations  were funded by the Admiralty and carried concealed cameras.   A considerable quantity of high quality photographs of  North Sea ports were available to Royal Navy photo-interpreters by mid 1939.

On the outbreak of war, all civil flights were cancelled and the Heralds requisitioned. The Royal Navy  took a total of 30 aircraft and the RAF 12, Five were retained by Imperial to fly high priority personnel and cargo to Belfast and Dublin. The RAF aircraft were used as  radio and navigational  trainers , with a row of  Perspex "bubbles " in the cabin roof to allow  bubble sextant training.  The Navy based  their two squadrons of 12 aircraft at simple grass strips that later became Machrihanish and Limavaddy airfields. Fitted with flare chutes, these Heralds operated "scarecrow" patrols around the approaches to the Clyde.  Their flares, smoke floats and small scare charges could not sink a U boat, but they could  force them to submerge and  mark them to allow converted trawlers of the Royal Navy Patrol Service to intercept them. The remaining six RN Heralds operated a shuttle service between Scapa Flow, Invergordon, Rosyth, Portsmouth and Plymouth for the transfer of urgent cargo and passengers.

In late 1940, a further batch of Heralds, the Mark 2, was ordered for the Air Transport Auxiliary as taxi units to transport groups of ATA pilots back to base after delivering new aircraft to front line units.  One of these aircraft was  later trialled by a Lysander squadron engaged on covert operations into occupied Europe.  Its remarkable short-field performance found to be equal to the Lysander, with a much superior load carrying capacity. Three squadrons of the Mark three Herald, with  a large loading door were rapidly delivered.   It was found to be  more efficient to unload supplies for the Maquis on the ground  than to para-drop them.  1944 saw Heralds operating in South East Asia, flying supplies into, and injured personnel out of tiny jungle clearings.  By the end of World War Two, 260 Heralds of various marks were in RAF and Royal Navy service.

The end of hostilities saw a major retrenchment in armed forces numbers and equipment. The RAF chose to standardise on the Avro Anson for all training and utility purposes and the Gloster Herald was declared surplus to requirements.   Sold off cheaply, the Herald began its second career as a civil aircraft.  In the UK, they were used on the BEA Highlands and Islands services between Glasgow and the Scottish islands; and by the Ordnance Survey for aerial photography.  Eventually, the remaining Heralds could only be found running inter-island services in the Caribbean  and by small operators in the Canadian bush.

A few Heralds, with a longer wingspan and Pegasus engine uprated to 1100hp, were classed as Mark 4 and retained by the RAF.   In 1948, several were assigned to the "Baltic Sea Minesweeping Authority"  and operated out of German Baltic airfields. Painted matt black, with low visibility markings, it was rumoured that these Heralds ran a covert service into the Baltic States for up to ten years.  No proof is available for this suggestion, but on two occasions battle damaged Heralds made emergency landings at airfields in Eastern Sweden.  Another detachment of Heralds was based a Kai-Tak , Hong Kong.   Again, there is no evidence for their operations but their squadron operations room had a direct, encrypted link to the Government Code and Cypher School.

Today, a dozen or so Heralds are still flying with bush airlines in Canada.  The Imperial War Museum  has two airframes  in store, one is in the reserve stock at Cosford, and two are in taxiable condition at the Jet Age Museum at Staverton, near Gloucester; a few miles from where the Herald was first built.

I hope that this backstory does justice to the model.        Thank you for letting me play with it!

[ericr]

Fuselage is a Beech AT-11 Kansan with Bristol Blenheim engine, Lockheed Hudson Outerwings and Il-2 tailsection. The combo just looked nice and i could't help myself and had to build it. Mininal putty was needed...

an astonishing mix !
how did you come to such a mixture? by planning or by trial and error matches?

[63cpe]

Oh woooow Rheged, what a great back story! I'm impressed and sure can't do such good back stories. Very well done!

Could I put your story with the pictures?

David aka 63cpe

[63cpe]

@ ericr: this wasn't planned. It happened when playing with an ex Blenheim engine (See Bristol 142M2) and the AT-11 fuselage. The fuselage begged for an engine. The tail of the AT-11 was a bit too obvious, so found an Il-2 willing to donate its tailsection and wings. I first tried the Il-2 wings but the maingear integrated in the wings makes it "sit" too low, the prop could touch the ground..not good. Tail section looked OK and rather "Gloster-like" for the pre war era. Next up were the wings. Dictated by the engine and overall looks it should be something pre war. Had a Hudson lying around which donated its canopy for the Airspeed Imperial, so tried it's wings and presto!

The tail section was grafted on first as it needed the putty. As the wings were put high enough on the fuselage there was no putty needed on the belly.

That's it..

David aka 63cpe