The Meteor was the first British jet fighter ad to may all jet fighters that followed were developments of it. It has stuck in the memory of thousands of aircraft spotters who can recall hearing the burbling sound and seeing the strange shape. In the reviewer's case it was at low altitude over Morningside, Edinburgh. Thinking 'Meteor' was not logical since it was still on the Secret List. But word had spread and we all knew what it was.

Over many years we watched it develop into the main first-line RAF fighter and production spread to the Low Counties. Others were exported.

The Meteor was not faultless in flight. Tails came off, engines blew up. It was a new class of aircraft and the training pattern was itself in a state of development. Pilots learned from their mistakes or the accident investigation teams found what had happened from the wreckage.

The Meteor developed into a variety of roles. Cameras gave the RAF fast reconnaissance versions replaced the Spitfires. The fuselage stretched to take an extra crewman in the night fighter version and in the T.7 hundreds of pilots learned how to transition to the single-seat fighter version. The Meteor F.8 went into action with the Royal Australian Air Force in Korea.

This book recounts a lot of the experiences of Meteor pilots. There were many incidents to be recounted and a fairly large number of fatal accidents. The tables of Meteors running currently in Aeromilitaria will show how many there were as they include the repairable ones and the rude mechanicals were busy for ten years straightening out a flow of bent airframes. Fortunately, the Welland and Derwent engines lasted a lot longer than their German equivalents and were exported to power the first US jet fighters.

Nostalgia reading for those who lived through this era.

Aeromilitaria, Winter 2010