Results of a recent investigation of fatigue crack initiation and early growth in notched panels of various thickness made of fibre-metal laminate GLARE 2 are presented. Crack initiation life and total life up to the 10 mm crack length are shown. Early microcrack nucleation in inner metal layers and deviation of surface major crack initiation sites from the notch tip are explained in terms of local stress and strain fields in the laminate layers including the residual stress distribution. The decrease of crack growth rate with increasing crack length corresponds to a drop of stress intensity. Effect of the notch factor and the number of lay-ups in the laminate are discussed.