Gloster P.234

Jet-Powered Day Fighter / Interceptor

United Kingdom | 1951

"The Gloster P.234 was drawn up to satisfy a post-World War II Day Fighter requirement for the RAF - it was not furthered."

Authored By: Staff Writer | Last Edited: 10/26/2022 | Content ©www.MilitaryFactory.com | The following text is exclusive to this site; No A.I. was used in the generation of this content.

Specification F.43/46 was drawn up to satisfy the standing need for a dedicated Day Fighter to serve within the inventory of the British Royal Air Force (RAF) following the close of World War II (1939-1945). While this requirement would eventually be met by the classic Hawker "Hunter" swept-wing, jet-powered design (detailed elsewhere on the Military Factory), no fewer than three storied British aerospace firms attempted to answer the call, these being Gloster, Hawker, and Supermarine. For its part in the story, Gloster - makers of the original British wartime combat jet, the "Meteor" - submitted its "P.234" proposal for formal consideration by Air Ministry authorities.

Building upon the strengths of its Meteor design, the P.234 was essentially an evolved form of the original World War II-era jet fighter: the forward section of the fuselage, complete with single-seat cockpit, was retained as was the tapering shape of the empennage. The straight wings and podded engines were, however, deleted in whole and, in their place, a large-area "delta-wing" planform and embedded turbojets were selected. The engines were set within the middle-mass of the fuselage in a side-by-side arrangement, aspirated through side-mounted intakes and exhausted through jet pipes terminating well-ahead of the empennage. The mid-plane, single-rudder tail of the Meteor was also dropped in favor of a "V-tail" plane arrangement with these horizontal planes canted upwards. For ground-running, a conventional, retractable all-wheeled undercarriage would be in play.

Internally, the aircraft would be powered by a pair of Rolls-Royce AJ.65 turbojet engines, each producing upwards of 6,500lb of thrust. Coupled with the aerodynamically-refined airframe, the aircraft was expected to exceed the speed of sound in level flight. Gross weight of the completed aircraft would reach 15,600lb.

The primary armament consideration of this Day Fighter was to become a massive, in-development 4.5" automatic cannon buried at the ventral fuselage line of the aircraft. The weapon was to be afforded no more than seven projectiles, these detonated through a proximity fuse design, to combat the expected waves of Soviet bombers appearing over Europe and elsewhere. Beyond this, no other armament was planned for the future fighter.

In the end, the promising - though long-shot - P.234 design was not advanced and the 4.5" automatic cannon ultimately came to naught. The Hawker firm continued its design initiatives to eventually produce the flyable P.1067 prototype, and therefore the Hunter in all its glory, and this chapter of British aviation history was finally written. Likewise, the proposed Type 508 from competing Supermarine went nowhere.

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Power & Performance
Those special qualities that separate one aircraft design from another. Performance specifications presented assume optimal operating conditions for the Gloster P.234 Jet-Powered Day Fighter / Interceptor.

PROPOSED: 2 x Rolls-Royce AJ.65 turbojet engines developing 6,500lb of thrust each unit.
Propulsion

767 mph
1,235 kph | 667 kts
Max Speed

497 mph
800 kph | 432 kts
Cruise Speed

44,997 ft
13,715 m | 9 miles
Service Ceiling

Structure
The nose-to-tail, wingtip-to-wingtip physical qualities of the Gloster P.234 Jet-Powered Day Fighter / Interceptor.

1
(MANNED)
Crew

48.1 ft
14.65 m
O/A Length

41.0 ft
(12.50 m)
O/A Width

8,984 lb
(4,075 kg)
Empty Weight

15,598 lb
(7,075 kg)
MTOW

Armament
Available supported armament and special-mission equipment featured in the design of the Gloster P.234 Jet-Powered Day Fighter / Interceptor .

PROPOSED:
1 x 4.5" internal automatic cannon with seven proximity projectiles afforded.

Variants
Notable series variants as part of the Gloster P.234 family line.

P.234 - Base Project Designation.

Operators
Global customers who have evaluated and/or operated the Gloster P.234. Nations are displayed by flag, each linked to their respective national aircraft listing.

Total Production: 0 Units
Contractor(s): Gloster - UK

[ United Kingdom (planned, abandoned) ]

Relative Max Speed

Hi: 1000mph

Lo: 500mph

Aircraft Max Listed Speed (767mph).

Graph Average of 750 MPH.

Era Crossover

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Mission Roles
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Recognition
Some designs stand the test of time while others are doomed to never advance beyond the drawing board; let history be their judge.

Going Further...
The Gloster P.234 Jet-Powered Day Fighter / Interceptor appears in the following collections:

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