Gloster Jet Aircraft
 

Hi
I once read a book that had the name of an a/c in it and I can't for the life of me find any other reference about it. It was called a Gloster Gormless, but when you stop laughing does anybody out there now what it was or what it refered to (please excuse any spelling mistakes).:confused: :confused:

It was the unofficial name given by Gloster test pilot Bill Waterton to the E.1/44, a single-engine (Nene II) fighter. It never had an official name, though 'Ace' was proposed. From memory I think four prototypes were built, but only two flew. the first was written-off when the truck carrying it from the Gloster factory to Boscombe Down for its first flight hit a wall en route, and the last was not completed. The second one had the cruciform tail subsequently adopted on the Meteor F.8. The book you mention might have been Waterton's classic 'The Quick and the Dead'.