With the anticipated success of the Avro Rota as a “light” army cooperation aircraft, the Air Ministry issued a specification for a heavier, armed rotary–wing multi-purpose combat aircraft under specification A.13/37. This specification called for a single-seat aircraft with an armament of four .303 inch machine guns and the ability to operate from small, austere sites in the British colonial outposts with little or no ground support.
The winner of the competition was Gloster with their Gambado autogiro. Gloster licensed the rotor system design from U.S. manufacturer Kellett, and based their airframe on their own Gladiator fighter, production. The first A.13/37 prototype utilized the last airframe off the Gladiator assembly line, to which was fitted a Kellett-built rotor system. This system was a modified and strengthened version of the one Kellett had designed for their successful KD-1 autogiro. The Gambado’s maximum takeoff weight was slightly more than double that of the KD-1, its 830 hp Bristol Mercury produced well over twice the power, the Gambado’s rotor system needed to be significantly stronger than that of the KD-1. At the time of its first flight, the A.13/37 was the most powerful rotary-winged aircraft in the world.
The Air Ministry ordered 180 of the A.13/37, which they christened the Gambado Mk. I. Intended as a support aircraft for colonial forces, the Gambados were mostly distributed to overseas RAF squadrons in India, Iraq, Singapore, and Hong Kong. A detachment of Gambados was sent to Port Stanley in the Falkland Islands in mid-1939 to help blunt an expected invasion from Argentina. N5583 was one of 10 Gambados sent to the Falklands as part of a defense package along with 6 Vickers Wellesleys, 5 Hurricane Mk Is, and 5 Hawker Hardies. The Gambados had all come from India, where the hot weather and high altitude had limited their effectiveness; but it was felt that the low elevations and cool weather in the South Atlantic would allow the Gambados to shine.
All the Falklands aircraft were repainted in a locally developed camouflage scheme consisting of dark slate grey and olive green over light grey. Each aircraft carried a large yellow “F” mid-fuselage as a recognition marking, although this was probably unnecessary on the Gambado, as there was zero possibility of an enemy rotorcraft!
The model began as a 1/72 Airfix Gladiator II/J-8A. The rotor system was from a HobbyBoss 1/72 Mil Mi-2URN Hoplite. The rotor pylon was scratchbuilt from sheet styrene, the support struts from Evergreen strip and the rotor drive shaft was sprue, while the rotor control rod was Evergreen styrene rod. The two greys were from Testors Model Master rattle cans, all other paint colors are hand-brushed Vallejo acrylics. I added a light weathering of Testors CreateFX wash. The decals are a combination of kit decals from the Gladiator and others from the spares bin.
Hope you like it – I do!
