Extensive modifications, including multiple engine changes and changes to suit varying specifications, resulted in a relatively fast fighter aircraft for the era as well as a heavy armament and favourable manoeuvrability.

However, as early as 1936, frontline squadrons begun to be reequipped with more advanced fighters, such as the Gloster Gladiator, Hawker Hurricane and Supermarine Spitfire.

[2] Around this time, the Air Ministry was formulating Specification F.10/27, which called for a single-seat fighter aircraft that was to be armed with six machine guns and function as a high altitude interceptor; Henry Folland, Gloster's chief designer, opted to modify the S.S.19 to carry a heavier armament (four machine guns in the wings and two in the fuselage), in order to conform with these requirements.

[6] Having been re-engined with a Bristol Mercury VIs engine,[1] the type proved itself capable of a top speed of 215.5 mph (346.8 km/h)[7][8] as well as attaining an altitude of 20,000 feet in 11 minutes and 43 seconds.

[9] Having been sufficiently satisfied by the demonstrated performance, the Air Ministry opted to place an initial order via a draft production schedule for 24 Gauntlets as a replacement for one squadron of Bristol Bulldog fighters during September 1933; both the finalised specification and contract No.

[11] As a result of Hawker's takeover of Gloster in 1934, there as a considerable emphasis placed upon the latter to standardise its construction and design techniques with that of its new parent company.

[12] While the Gauntlet programme had been sufficiently advanced as to make major alterations to the first production batch unfeasible, it was determined to be quite beneficial for future production batches to incorporate Hawker structural elements, largely in the rear fuselage of the aircraft, as this would reduce assembly costs as well as be easier to repair by reducing the use of welding.

Its performance was a clear advancement over the squadron's previous type, the Bristol Bulldog, being 56 mph (90 km/h) faster than its predecessor;[1] between 1935 and 1937, the Gauntlet was the fastest aircraft in operation with the RAF.

[15][16] By 1936 the RAF began to procure more advanced fighters, such as the Gloster Gladiator, Hawker Hurricane and Supermarine Spitfire, and these progressively replaced the Gauntlet.

As a consequence, Gauntlets were typically transferred onwards to freshly-formed units, serving as their first equipment to allow them to train in advance of receiving more modern fighters.

It was also decided to ship numerous Gauntlets to distant parts of the British Empire, such as to equip three RAF squadrons that were stationed in the Middle East.

[20] Sudan was where Flight Lieutenant Arthur Brewerton Mitchell scored the only recorded air-to-air victory in a Gauntlet, when he shot down an Italian Caproni Ca.133 transport plane.

[13][16][1] Seventeen Gauntlets IIs were licence-produced in Denmark,[22] while 25 ex-RAF machines were supplied by South Africa as part of its support for Finland in 1940,[1] which was engaged in the Winter War against the Soviet Union.

As of 2008, the only remaining airworthy Gauntlet II in the world, GT-400, is registered in Finland where it spends its summers in the Karhula Flying Club Aviation Museum at the Kymi Airfield near Kotka.