*Notes
Night Fighter
Odd angle on Meteor jet at the Muckleburgh Collection, Norfolk.
Funny how the original jet still featured 'straight-out' wings rather than the swept wings we know see all the time. While a successful aircraft which flew for many years, apparently it was hard to fly, requiring careful control. There was no real OCU training program and the step from propellor-driven planes was enormous; pilots weren't prepared for the huge increase in power. Add that to its Whirlwind-like airframe and you have a simple missile-with-wings, which in inexperienced hands, is going to be a handful. However, a trained pilot could use its widely spaced engines to good effect, and it has been used for aerobatic performance.
Meteors first flew at the tail-end of WW2, and were still making occasional flights as radio-controlled target drones at RAE Llanbedr until fairly recently (2004?). A couple of aircraft are reported as operational for the Martin Baker ejection seat company. I wonder if this might make it the longest serving jet aircraft ever?
Night Fighter
Odd angle on Meteor jet at the Muckleburgh Collection, Norfolk.
Funny how the original jet still featured 'straight-out' wings rather than the swept wings we know see all the time. While a successful aircraft which flew for many years, apparently it was hard to fly, requiring careful control. There was no real OCU training program and the step from propellor-driven planes was enormous; pilots weren't prepared for the huge increase in power. Add that to its Whirlwind-like airframe and you have a simple missile-with-wings, which in inexperienced hands, is going to be a handful. However, a trained pilot could use its widely spaced engines to good effect, and it has been used for aerobatic performance.
Meteors first flew at the tail-end of WW2, and were still making occasional flights as radio-controlled target drones at RAE Llanbedr until fairly recently (2004?). A couple of aircraft are reported as operational for the Martin Baker ejection seat company. I wonder if this might make it the longest serving jet aircraft ever?