WL405, Hooton Park (Stored)
The cockpit of WL405 has been moved into storage so that restoration work can focus on the center section of WH291 which is underway at the old Liverpool Speke airport. The FR9 nose originally came from WK914 but is correct for the airframe as it carried one with TV camera while flying with the RAE Weapons flight in 1963 at Farnborough. Mike has the outer wings (stored at Duxford for many years) and center section and an unused F. MK8 tail from the Meteor Flight collection which will replace the original scrapped some years ago.
WL405 was sold to Mike Davey by Martin Garrett who originally aquired it from Yatesbury and had it moved to Bruntingthorpe. It came with a large quantity of spares which will be very useful as it is Mike's aim to restore at least one airframe to ground runnable status. The combination of T7 center section and F.Mk8 rear fuselage commonly but incorrectly referred to as a T7 1/2 configuration was first introduced by the IAF (Israel Air Force) on their Meteor T7's and copied by Martin-Baker for their two ejection seat test aircraft. The new design of the tail section design came from the ill fated Gloster GA.1 ACE (E1/44) and contributed to the significant improvement in performance and stability of the F.Mk8 Meteor over earlier marks.
 WL405 & WH291 - Speke |  WL405 into storage |  WL405 cockpit with FR9 Nose |  WL405 Hooton Park, Feb 2010 |
 Leaving Bruntingthorpe |
 Mike in flight |
The airframe was purchased from the Meteor Flight in early 2009 by Martin Garrett initially moving to Bruntingthorpe where a small amount of restoration work was carried out. These earlier photos were taken showing it leaving Yatesbury and while in storage with the Meteor Flight were it still served as a useful reference structure.
 RAE shield on WL405 |
 Rear Cockpit, Feb 2009 |  Bruntingthorpe, New home |  Yatesbury 25th Feb 09 |
 WL405 Center Section |
 F8 Tail for WL405 |  Loading Up, Feb 2009 |  Loaded Up, Feb 2009 |
 Yatesbury, Aug 2007 |  F8 Tail in storage |  Yatesbury, Sept 2003 |  Farnborough, Sept 1963 |
Service History
| Date | Notes |
| 7th July 1952 | Taken on charge by 33 MU. |
| 28th August 1952 | Issued to RAF Hemswell Bomber command. |
| 10th Sept 1954 | Station Flight, RAF Wittering |
| 19th Nov 1954 | 231 OCU, RAF Merryfield |
| 30th Nov 1956 | To RAF Hemswell Bomber command on communications duties. |
| 16th May 1960 | Cat 3 Accident. Repaired by 31st August but placed in storage at 5 MU |
| 13th Sept 1962 | To Ministry of Aviation Farnborough on loan. Sale transfer in 1965. |
| 9th Sept 1963 | RAE Weapons Flight, Farnborough (See photo above) |
| 1987 | To Martin Baker (as source of spares?) |
The forward fuselage and center-section of WL405 arrived at Yatesbury in November 2001. Its delivery was used as a training exercise by the RAF St Athan Aircraft Transportation and Recovery Flight. It had previously been in long term storage with Martin-Baker where it had also been a source of spares. It was in excellent condition having been stored undercover since retirement from service.
The shield on both sides of WL405's cockpit 'Alis Apta Scientia' is not quite correct for the Royal Aircraft Establishment, the last known operator of WL405 as it should read Alis Apta Scientis (Ready for the wings of knowing). Its not in evidence in the last inflight shot of the aircraft in Sept 1963 so could have been added after it became an instructional airframe.
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| The nose and center section before unloading and RAF St Athan' A.R.T.S team at work. |
Updates
3rd Dec 2011: A couple of new pictures of the cockpit of WL405 being transported away to storage via Liverpool's Speke airport.
March 2010: I've finally posted the latest images that Mike sent me after the aquistion of WL405 from Martin Garrett.