In need of some help from the forum on this question…
Anybody any idea which Gloster Meteor prototype was flying in Jan 1944 and specifically, which one was flying on the 20th Jan in the Hertford area (Hertfordshire). I have read that prototype 8 was flying in April, but what about in January?
Any help would be very welcome on this…I’m way out of my research comfort-zone on this one…
By: Canberra man - 24th April 2007 at 22:02
Jet Provost T4
Do’es anyone have any photo’s of the Provost T4’s cockpit. I am working on one at the Dumfries museum and we only have T3 pilots notes and the T4’s instrument panel and side walls are completely different.
Thanks
Ken
By: ShabbyAbbey - 25th March 2007 at 22:21
Roger,
It was definately Hertford…it’s 15-20 miles due South of Nuthampstead and he was up flight-testing his P-38J…he knew Hertford very well…especially the drinking establishments!
Looking like a Vampire then from Hatfield…..(no mention of which a/c in the diary, just ‘the’ jet propelled aircraft…obviously a familiar one to the Lightning pilots of the 55th).
Cheers dhfan,
By: RPSmith - 25th March 2007 at 18:22
Unless the pilot wrote/meant Hereford!
I had this problem recently in some family history research.
Roger Smith.
By: dhfan - 25th March 2007 at 17:44
No idea. Glosters at Hucclecote?
The Vampire was flying by January 1944 too. First flight was September 1943 IIRC.
If it didn’t say Meteor I’d say Vampire is quite likely. Hertford’s probably only a couple of minutes in a jet, about 10 miles, from Hatfield.
By: ShabbyAbbey - 25th March 2007 at 16:02
Cheers dhfan.
I had assumed it was a prototype, as I didn’t realise they had gone into production by Jan ’44….where were they being produced from?
Reason for asking, is I have a 55th FG (USAAF) pilot’s diary and he talks of running into ‘the jet propelled plane over near Hertford’…he was flying a P-38J and it made some impression on him! Thinking about it, the encounter would make a good study for an aviation painting…anybody interested?
Thanks again,
By: dhfan - 25th March 2007 at 09:45
No information at all – but an educated guess.
DG206 was the first Meteor prototype to fly, powered by Halford (DH) H.1 engines due to delays with the RR engines.
The first production Meteor flew in January 1944 so I wonder if the DH-engined prototype was based at or visited Hatfield, presumably no longer being needed for the Meteor programme.
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March 24, 2007 at 2:53 pm