The Gloster Meteor

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{detailed description}The story of British jet aircraft began in the opening weeks of the Second World War when the Air Ministry asked for the views of the Gloster Aircraft Company on the possibilities of designing and building a turbojet propelled aeroplane. Gloster's reply was the elegant E28/39, a single-engined aircraft designed primarily to test the flight characteristics of the Whittle turbojet. Work on Britain's first jet proceeded in the greatest secrecy during the desperate days of the Battle of Britain, and even before the E28/39 took shape on the factory floor, the Air Ministry was planning the use of jet fighters which, they hoped, would be in action before the end of the war. The time scale for the production of such fighters as envisaged by the Air Ministry was proved to be extremely accurate, for the Royal Air Force's first jet aircraft—the Gloster Meteor—entered squadron service just in time to combat the flying bomb menace in 1944.
The Gloster Meteor covers the complete history of this remarkable aeroplane from its original conception to the last production machine. The author relates in great detail the production and operational life of the Meteor, and the text is enhanced by the numerous photographs, some of them rare and hitherto unpublished. In addition there is a number of full-page, three-view, general-arrangement tone drawings together with a coloured general-arrangement drawing and drawings of the various projected configurations.

The Gloster Meteor was the first jet fighter to enter service with the Royal Air Force, and although it was developed during the years of the most savage war in man's history, it took little active part in the fighting for hostilities had ceased before it was available in sufficient numbers to equip the squadrons of Fighter Command. It never fought a hostile aircraft while in R.A.F. service, but left an indelible impression and prepared the way for the supersonic fighters and other jet aircraft that serve today as front line types.
Basically the Meteor was a rugged, unsophisticated aircraft, one that was to prove extremely adaptable. The general design features did not differ greatly from those of the F.9/40 prototypes to the ultimate development —the all-weather fighters as constructed by Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft. Hand-in-hand with the Meteor development went that of its engines, the Rolls-Royce Derwent turbojets, produced in many versions ranging from the Series 1 to the Series 9.
{Author / Publisher / Date}by Edward Shacklady
Published by Macdonald 1962 1st edn. 178pp illustrated, index. 18x25
{condition}slightly bumped, otherwise very good in slightly torn d/j.
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