Gloster Aircraft Company

The Gloster Aircraft Company, Limited, known locally as GAC, was a British aircraft manufacturer. The company produced a famous lineage of fighters for the Royal Air Force (RAF): the Grebe, Gladiator, Meteor and Javelin. It also produced the Hawker Hurricane and Hawker Typhoon for the parent company Hawker Siddeley. Gloster produced the first British jet aircraft, the E.28/39, and the first British production jet fighter, the Meteor, the only Allied jet aircraft to see service in World War II. The Gloster Aircraft Company was formed in 1917 as the Gloucestershire Aircraft Company. The company acquired the aircraft business previously carried out by H H Martyn with a 50% share, and the Aircraft Manufacturing Company the other 50%. The...