Talk:Ark Royal/@comment-27714876-20171013014336/@comment-26082284-20171101144743

@Arkass S

Uh, Gloster Gladiators? ;)

Seriously though, pretty much every single army during WWII still used biplanes. Most of them were relegated to secondary duties, liason, or shipped to colonies, but biplanes have several characteristics that made them valid design well into thirties. So no wonder quite a number of them was still in active duty during war outbreak. Case in point might be Hs 123 which kicked more ass during invasion of Poland than early Stuka, despite being biplanes.

The Brits were also somewhat special in that: a) they lacked planes, any planes; b) their replacement torpedo bomber designs sucked balls big time; c) their Navy is known for their conservatism. Which is nice way of saying that they had obsolete equipment and were too cheap and stubborn to replace it.