Kit has detailed resin parts, recessed panel lines, photo-etch details, vacu or injection-molded clear parts - canopy.
(injection-molded plastic kit). Limited edition. *****
The first british jet airplane.
plastic parts: 21, resin parts: 12, vacu canopy: 2, photo-etched: 0
3 version decals (RAF)
The Gloster E.28/39 was the first jet engined aircraft to fly in the United Kingdom. In September 1939 the Air Ministry issued the specification E.28/39 to Gloster Aircraft Company for an aircraft to test one of Frank Whittle's turbojet designs in flight. A contract for two prototypes-W4041/G and W4046/G - was signed by the Air Ministry on February 3,1940. The suffix G used as it was a classified project that required guarding.
Gloster's chief designer George Carter laid out a small-wing aircraft of conventional configuration. The aircraft was a low wing monoplane with a wide fuselage section to accomodate the airflow passages from the nose. The aircraft had fabric covered control surfaces and a tricycle undercarriage. When first flown the aircraft was powered by the Whittle W1 engine. The prototype W4041/G rolled out at Gloster Aircraft on April 5, 1941. The first flight occurred on May 15, 1941. The aircraft was piloted by P.E.G. Sayer, the chief test pilot of Gloster and Britain's first jet pilot. The prototype W4041/G was extensively tested over the next few months, achieving maximum speed of 370 mph. An uprated engine was later used, the W1A, in January 1942.
The second prototype W4046/G joined the test programme on March 1,1943, initially powered by a Rover W2B engine. It was destroyed on July 30 in crash resulting from an aileron failure. The first prototype continued flight tests until 1944. Experience with the E.28/39 paved the way for Britain's first jet fighter, the Gloster Meteor. The E.28/39 specification had actually required the aircraft to carry two Browning .303 machine guns in each wing, but these were never fitted.
In 1946, the first prototype was placed in the British Science Museum in London, where it is still exhibited.
