The Gloster Gladiator is a biplane fighter aircraft designed and produced by the British aviation firm Gloster Aircraft Company, Ltd.. It was the last biplane fighter to be flown by the Royal Air Force (RAF) as well as being the first to be provisioned with an enclosed cockpit; it was also operated by the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) as the Sea Gladiator variant, as well as being exported to numerous other air services during the late 1930s. The first use of RAF Gladiators on active service was during the 1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine. From September to December 1938, 33 Squadron RAF flew Gladiator strafing missions in support of British Mandate security forces. These were often in mountainous areas, and the aircraft came under substantial rifle fire. Three aircraft were destroyed and two pilots killed in these operations.

During 1938, the RAF had begun to receive its first deliveries of the Hurricane and Spitfire monoplanes; an emphasis was soon placed on quickly re-equipping half of the Gladiator squadrons with either of these monoplane types.[21] By the outbreak of the Second World War, the Gladiator had largely been replaced by Hurricanes and Spitfires in front-line RAF service defending the UK itself against the Luftwaffe. The introduction of these aircraft had been eased by the presence of the Gladiator, squadrons that had operated Gladiators prior to converting to the monoplane types experienced a noticeably improved accident record than those who converted from older types such as the Gauntlet. Experiences such as operating the Gladiator's landing flaps and familiarisation with its sliding hood have been attributed to having favourably impacted pilot conversion. Gladiators remained the primary RAF front line fighter in North Africa, the Middle East, and later Greece into 1941, when Hurricanes began to replace them.[22] Gladiators saw considerable action during early stages of the war, including participating in the action in the French and Norwegian campaigns, the defence of Egypt, Malta, and Greece mainly against the Italians, and in various peripheral campaigns.

Although by 1941 all Gladiators had been withdrawn from front-line duties defending the British Isles, there remained an ongoing need to defend Britain's colonies and trade routes throughout the British Empire, so the RAF redeployed many of its Gladiators to the Middle East to defend the theatre and the crucial Suez Canal.