Exports - Syria
Following on from the decision of the Egyptian government, Syria placed an order for F8 fighters and two T7 trainers in 1950. Although built and used in Britian to train Syrian Air Force pilots at Moreton Valance their first two T7's were not delivered due to an arms embargo with the aircraft going on to serve with the French Air Force instead.
Following the lifting of the arms embargo two former RAF T7's were delivered in November 1952 followed by twelve F8's between December 1952 and March 1953. An additional order of 7 F8's and 2 FR9's refurbished by Flight Refuelling at Tarrant Ruston were air-delivered via France between March and July 1956. The Syrian Air Force also operated a small number of nightfighters following the delivery of six ex RAF NF13's in June & July 1954.
Meteor F.8 412 of the Syrian Air Force in 1956 (History in Illustration)
Syrian F8's were involved in the Suez crisis of 1956 with one of them successfully intercepting an RAF PR Canberra on the 6th November. In service they were Camouflaged in brown and green with a light gray undersurface.
News
17th Feb 2010:
Hywel Evans brought the Meteors of Rasin El Aboud in Syria to my attention, They are on Google Earth at N36 11.22 E037 34.31. There are twelve scattered to the north of the main runway, possible decoys or wrecks with two more in a compound to the SE with some MiG21's and a MiG23. The airframes may be restorable as the desert is a great preserver of aircraft but you need to get up close to find out. Its probably an operational airfield so that is likely to be a real problem at the moment, The Google Earth imagery is dated 1st June 2009.
