Gloster Meteor T7 WA591

Manufactured by Gloster at Hucclecote in 1949 as part of Air Ministry Contract A/ACFT/2982.

Service History

Date	Notes
26th August 1949	Consigned date.
2nd September 1949	Delivered to Central Fighter Establishment, West Raynham.
31st October 1949	To 226 Operational Conversion unit, Stradishall.
12th January 1950	Flying accident. Initially Cat 3R later changed to Cat 4R. Repaired at Glosters and retured to service 16th November 1950.
20th November 1950	To 203 Advanced Flying school, Driffield.
24th October 1951	Flying accident, Assessed Cat 4R by 43 Group. Sent to Glosters December 5th, 1951. Repairs completed 14th May 1952.
15th May 1952	To 208 AFS, Merryfield
10 March 1953	to 215 AFS, Finningley
6th August 1953	Cat 4R flying accident, Sent to Glosters 22nd September. Repairs not completed until 30th June 1954.
2nd July 1954	To 33 MU Lyneham
9th December 1954	To 12 Flying Training School, Weston Zoyland.
17th June 1955	To 38 MU pending refurbishment
27th Feb 1956	To A V Roe, Cat 4 Refurbishment. Repairs began 2nd March completed on the 25th July 1956.
26th July 1956	To 12 MU, Kirkbridge.
16th March 1959	To 33 MU, Lyneham
29th June 1959	To RAF College of Air Warfare, Manby (3 Squadron). One of 14 T7's on station.
31st Jan 1961	To 33 MU, Lyneham
30th August 1961	To 5 MU, Kemble
12th October 1961	Returned to 33 MU Lyneham
25th January 1962	To 5 FTS, Oakington
27th February 1962	to 8 FTS, Driffield
13th August 1962	Returned to 3 Sqn, RAF College of Air Warfare, Manby.
August 1962	Acceptance check and port engine change, servicing complete 25th October 1962.
10th July 1963	To 63 MU for Cat 3R repair. Returned to College of Air Warfare, RAF Manby on the 9th August 1963.
June 1964	Declared Cat 2
March 1965	Manby Meteor T7 strength reduced to 13 aircraft. Reduced further to 6 aircraft in April 1965
3rd May 1965	To 5 MU, Kemble
23rd July 1965	Non-Effective airframe
16th August 1966	To 5 MU Apprentice School, Kemble for ground instruction as 7917M
1980's	Gate Guard at RAF Woodvale. Photo
February 2002	Under rebuild by the Meteor Flight at Yatesbury to airworthiness. To fly again in 2004/ 2005?

On 12th January 1950 it suffered a heavy landing (details of accident report on file) and went back to Glosters for most of that year. It came back on the line on 20th November 1950 at 203 AFS Driffield until after a further accident, 25th September 1951 (no details). It went back again to Glosters this time for 6 months. When it was released in mid-May 1952 it went to 208 AFS Merryfield for ten months before arriving at 215 AFS Finningley in March 1953. Details are on file of an accident at Worksop that occurred on 15th August 1953 when on a cross-country flight which suggests that a whole new centre section would be installed whilst back at Glosters, this time for almost a year, before it went into storage at 33 MU.

In December 1954 it was issued to 12 FTS Weston Zoyland for six months before returning to store and then during a long period in storage the aircraft was selected for a complete CAT 4 refurbishment at A. V. Roe (probably due to its low hours and good condition) and did not fly again until issued to the Flying College Manby in June 1959. It was there until January 1961. After further storage it shows brief service with 5 and 8 FTS before returning to Manby on 13th August 1962 for the rest of its flying life. An accident is recorded there on 11th July 1963 which was repaired on site (approximately 30 days). There is no record but it is probably the one recollected by a Meteor Flight member, Tony Cross, where an undercarriage leg was not properly locked down on landing.

From then on ground instructional airframe duties were its role and then gate guardian at Woodford until fortunately taken indoors by an Engineer Officer who was struck by its fine condition. A point of interest is that the spar bolt holes show no evidence of having been reamed as they would if they had reached the necessary period of fatigue life (approximately 30%) and that this section is in remarkably good condition.