Gloster Meteor F.Mk.3
RAF No.616 Squadron, EE246
Lubeck, Germany, 1945
(Corgi Aviation Archive AA7401)
- Engine: Two 2,000 ib.s.t. Rolls-Royce Derwent I turbojets
- Span: 43 ft 0 in
- Length: 41 ft 3 in
- Height: 13 ft 0 in
- Weight: 8,810 lb empty / 13,300 lb loaded
- Crew: One
- Max Speed: 493 mph at 30,000 ft
- Service Ceiling: 44,000 ft
- Normal Range: 1,340 miles
- Armament: Four 20 mm Hispano cannon
- Notes: The Gloster Meteor was Britain's first and the Allies' only jet fighter to see action during WW2. The Mk.1 irst saw action against the German V-1 flying bombs in July 1944 with No.616 Squadron, eventually accounting for 14 destroyed. The Mk.3 was flying over Europe in early 1945, but restricted to Allied controlled areas, for fear that a lost aircraft might be salvaged by either German or Soviet forces. Postwar, a total of 3,947 were eventually built, serving as the mainstay of RAF Fighter Command from 1950 to 1955. Meteors were also operated by Argentina, Australia (with the RAAF in Korea), Belgium and the Netherlands (both building under license), Egypt, France, Israel, and Syria.
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