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The Gloster Goring was a single-engined two-seat biplane designed to meet 1926
Air Ministry The Air Ministry was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the Royal Air Force, that existed from 1918 to 1964. It was under the political authority of the Secretary of State ...
specifications for a day/torpedo bomber. It was not put into production and the one aircraft built served later as an engine testbed.


Development

Early in 1926 the Air Ministry issued two
specifications A specification often refers to a set of documented requirements to be satisfied by a material, design, product, or service. A specification is often a type of technical standard. There are different types of technical or engineering specificati ...
, 23/25 for a two-seat day bomber, torpedo bomber and reconnaissance aircraft, followed by 24/25 for a high-altitude bomber. These two specifications brought out prototypes from several makers: the
Blackburn Beagle The Blackburn B.T.1 Beagle was a British single-engine, two-seat biplane bomber/torpedo aircraft from 1928. Designed to Air Ministry specifications which led to no contracts for any manufacturer, only one Beagle was built. Development The B.T ...
,
Handley Page Hare __NOTOC__ The Handley Page HP.34 Hare was a British two-seat high-altitude day bomber designed and built at Cricklewood by Handley Page. It was designed by Harold Boultbee to meet the requirements of List Of Air Ministry Specifications#1920-192 ...
,
Hawker Harrier The Hawker Harrier was an experimental biplane torpedo bomber aircraft built by Hawker Aircraft to a specification issued in the 1920s for the RAF. Development In 1925, the British Air Ministry laid down specifications for a high altitude ...
,
Vickers Vildebeest The Vickers Vildebeest and the similar Vickers Vincent were two very large two- to three-seat single-engined British biplanes designed and built by Vickers and used as light bombers, torpedo bombers and in army cooperation roles. First flown i ...
and
Westland Witch The Westland Witch was an unsuccessful British bomber prototype, first flown in 1928. Only a single aircraft of this type was built. Development The Witch was developed to List of Air Ministry specifications, specification 23/25 for a single-e ...
. The Goring was Gloster's submission, aimed, like most of the other machines at both specifications. The Goring''Flight'' 24 May 1928 was a single bay biplane with staggered wings of unequal span and slight sweep. They were based on spruce spars with internal wire bracing. The lower wing was angled downwards briefly as it left the fuselage, enabling a shorter-than-usual undercarriage. Short struts ran from the wing joint of this centre section to mid-fuselage. The fuselage was also a wooden structure of rectangular cross-section formed by ash longerons. Wings and fuselage were fabric covered. The pilot sat below the upper wing trailing edge with a cutout for visibility. The gunner sat behind in a second open cockpit fitted with a
Scarff ring The Scarff ring was a type of machine gun mounting developed during the First World War by Warrant Officer (Gunner) F. W. Scarff of the Admiralty Air Department for use on two-seater aircraft. The mount incorporated bungee cord suspension in eleva ...
for a Vickers machine gun. The rear cockpit also allowed the gunner to assume a prone position for bombing. The tailplane was strut braced and the fin was low with a broad chord. Both rudder and elevators had horn balances which projected beyond the fixed surfaces. The standard undercarriage was a simple single axle arrangement, but it could be replaced with a split axle unit to allow the carrying and dropping of torpedoes. In addition the Goring could operate as a seaplane. The floats were accompanied by a rudder enlarged by an extension below the fuselage. The Goring originally flew in March 1927 with an uncowled direct-drive 425 hp (315 kW) Bristol Jupiter VI. Later in the year this engine was replaced by a geared 460 hp (345 kW)
Bristol Jupiter VIII The Bristol Jupiter was a British nine-cylinder single-row piston radial engine built by the Bristol Aeroplane Company. Originally designed late in World War I and known as the Cosmos Jupiter, a lengthy series of upgrades and developments tur ...
and flew in both land- and seaplane configurations.


Operational history

At
RAF Martlesham Heath Royal Air Force Martlesham Heath or more simply RAF Martlesham Heath is a former Royal Air Force station located southwest of Woodbridge, Suffolk, England. It was active between 1917 and 1963, and played an important role in the development of ...
in 1928 the Goring powered by the Jupiter VIII competed with the Hare, Harrier and Witch over the 23/25 specification. In the event none of them satisfied the Air Ministry, probably because they had anticipated higher performing aircraft powered by the supercharged Jupiter VII and X variants which had been unavailable owing to development difficulties. In 1930 the Goring returned to Gloster's works at
Hucclecote Hucclecote is a suburb in Gloucestershire, United Kingdom, comprising a ward (population 8,826) in the City of Gloucester. It is located on the periphery of the city, between Barnwood and Brockworth, along Ermin Way, an old Roman road connectin ...
to be converted once more to a seaplane and it remained in that guise over 1931, doing extensive flying from
Calshot Calshot is a coastal village in Hampshire, England at the west corner of Southampton Water where it joins the Solent.OS Explorer Map, New Forest, Scale: 1:25 000.Publisher: Ordnance Survey B4 edition (2013). History In 1539, Henry VIII ordere ...
. Later it returned as a landplane to test the now airworthy Jupiter XF, at the same time having its fin area reduced by a narrower, straight edged surface. The Goring's final role was as an engine testbed at
Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...
's
Filton Filton is a town and civil parish in South Gloucestershire, England, north of Bristol. Along with nearby Patchway and Bradley Stoke, Filton forms part of the Bristol urban area and has become an overflow settlement for the city. Filton Church d ...
works where it flew in turn with the 745 hp (555 kW) Bristol Mercury VIIA, the 570 hp (425 kW) Bristol Pegasus II and the
sleeve valve The sleeve valve is a type of valve mechanism for piston engines, distinct from the usual poppet valve. Sleeve valve engines saw use in a number of pre-World War II luxury cars and in the United States in the Willys-Knight car and light truck. ...
d 670 hp (500 kW) Bristol Perseus II radial engines, the second and third of these at least within a wide chord cowling.


Specifications (landplane)


References

* * {{Gloster aircraft 1920s British bomber aircraft Goring Biplanes Single-engined tractor aircraft