Mighty Javelin was a jewel in crown of GAC
ON November 26, 1951 the Brockworth-built Gloster Javelin made its maiden flight. Like many other Gloster Aircraft Company (GAC) planes, the design was innovative.
Big, impressive and armed with four 30mm Aden guns, the Javelin was Britain’s first delta-winged fighter.
All the prototypes were made locally, the first two assembled in GAC’S wartime dispersal factory at Bentham.
It was one of these two, number WD804, that was taken by road to Moreton Valence for trials.
At the controls on that late autumn day 67 years ago was Squadron Leader Bill Waterton, chief test pilot at GAC since 1946 who lived on a houseboat in Tewkesbury.
Waterton was accompanied in the air throughout the 34-minute flight by a Gloster Meteor and high speeds were achieved.
The following year Waterton flew the Javelin at the Farnborough air show, where it was introduced to the world and commanded much attention.
Powered by twin Metropolitan Vickers F9 Sapphire turbojets, the plane was designed to be flown by a crew of two who sat in tandem.
In 1953 the RAF placed an order and three years later Javelins entered squadron service.
Many local people will remember the Javelin that stood at the gate of RAF Innsworth, now Imjin Barracks.
The plane can be seen at the Jet Age Museum, Staverton Airport and an impressive sight it is to behold.
Beautiful and menacing at the same time, the Javelin was created by GAC’S chief designer Richard Walker who had also designed the wings of the Hurricane fighter.
Much respected in the world of aviation engineering, Richard Walker died at his home in Cheltenham in 1982.
To celebrate the 40th anniversary of GAC in 1955 Flight magazine published an extended feature on the company titled Mars to Javelin (Mars was the first plane made by GAC and the Javelin was the last.)
It reveals that development of the Javelin was not all plain sailing:
“The first prototype, WD804, was built at one of Gloster’s wartime dispersal factories and was transported by road to Moreton Valence airfield, where it was reassembled and put through taxying tests by Squadron Leader Waterton.
“On November 26, 1951 Waterton took it into the air for the first time, remaining airborne for 34 minutes. Development flying continued until June 29, 1952, on which day the elevators came adrift.
“The subsequent crash landing, which won Waterton the George Medal, had little effect on development, for only a few weeks elapsed before the second prototype was in the air.”
During the production run (1951 to 1960) 435 Javelins were built. Some were later equipped with Firestreak air to air missiles.
Javelins remained in service around the world until the late 1960s.
But the last one made at Brockworth, which was the last plane made by GAC, left the factory on April 8, 1960.
The picture of GAC chief designer Richard Walker appears in Jet Pioneers by Tim Kershaw, published in 2004 by Sutton Publishing. The other black and white photos appear in Gloster Aircraft Company by Derek James, published in 1994 by Allan Sutton.
In Nostalgia of November 15, we said all proceeds from John Dixon’s book Tewkesbury’s Two Forgotten Railways go to Parkinson’s UK. We have been asked to clarify the author will receive no payment and any surplus will go to Parkinson’s UK.
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