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Type: singe seat jet fighter Engine: Two Rolls Royce Derwent 8 turbojets, each at 3,500 lbs. thrust Size: wingspan - 43 ft., length - 41 ft. Weight: 8,139 empty lb., 13,819 loaded lb. (Mk. 1) Speed/Range: 410 MPH; climb 2,155 ft./min ; range 500 miles; ceiling 34,000 ft. (Mk 1); the Mk 8 made over 600 MPH Weapons: four Hispano-Suiza 20mm cannon
Specs (F.Mk 8)
On November 7, 1945, a standard Meteor Mark IV, piloted by Group Captain H J Wilson, broke the world air speed record at Herne Bay with a speed of 606 mph. This was the first jet air speed record and the first air speed record over 600mph, a tremendous accomplishment for British aviation.
Just beating the Me 262 into operational service by nine days, the Meteor merits the title of "first," as it was delivered to 616 Sqn on July 16, 1944. In World War Two, it did not get near the front, and was restricted to defense against V-1s. In Korea, the Mk. 8 served with Royal Australian Air Force.
Designed by George Carter, the Gloster G.41 was to have been called the Thunderbolt, but the Republic P-47 already took that name, so the new British twin-jet became the Meteor. It was quite large with generous wing area, and while the early types (or "marks" in British parlance) were not that fast, later marks easily accommodated more powerful Rolls Royce engines, and made good speed, setting the 1945 world speed record of 606 mph, and in 1946, bettered that mark by 10mph, achieving 616 mph.
The Meteor's initial development lagged, not because of the new engines, but due to difficulties with the ailerons, tail, and nosewheel. After a few different engines were tried, the Rolls Royce Welland, rated at 1,700 lb., was selected for the first batch of Meteors (Mk. 1) to enter service. These were relegated to chasing German flying bombs; one daring pilot even flipped over the pilotless craft with his wing tip!
Postwar, the Meteor equipped many British and Commonwealth air forces, seeing combat in Korea with the RAAF. The Meteor was no match for the MiG-15, and generally got the worst of it in dogfights.
In their encounter of December 1, 1951, an RAAF pilot scored the Meteor's first aerial victory, but three Meteors didn't make it back to base. That day, No 77 Sqn was flying three flights of four Meteors each over Pyongyang, when they encountered about forty MiG 15s. In a confused dogfight, F/O Bruce Gogerly, flying 'Able 3' engaged a couple different MiGs, and observed one go down in flames and hit a hilltop. In this melee, the MiGs got the better of the Meteors, three to two.
In the Suez crisis of 1956, both sides operated Meteors: the British and Israelis on one side, the Egyptians on the other.
The Encyclopedia of 20th Century Air Warfare, edited by Chris Bishop, 2001, Aerospace Publishing
Korean War Aces, by Robert F. Dorr, Osprey Aircraft of the Aces, 1995
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