The Gloster Meteor Cornerstone of the jet age and British aviation history

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Gloster Meteor F8

The F8 (G.41K) was the ultimate development of the Meteor day fighter. Developed by Gloster to keep the Meteor competitive with the newer jet fighters that had begun to appear following the end of WWII it featured more powerful 3,500 lb thrust Rolls Royce Derwent 8 engines an entirely new tail, Martin-Baker ejection seat and retractable gyro gunsight.

The new tail of the F8 featured came from the Gloster G.42 (E1/44). Although it never entered production the tail from this fighter which would have been powered by a 6,000lb thrust Nene turbojet cured the pitch problems that had occurred in RA382 as a result of its extended fuselage and additional fuel in a new 30 inch section behind the ammunition bay.

FAB 4414, 1°/1° Grupo de Aviaçâo (GAvCa), Brazilian Air Force, Santa Cruz, after 1962.

Early production F8's had a new blown canopy although the rear section was metal for additional strength. Later the canopy became a fully transparent unit which greatly improved visibility for the pilot. The first production F8, VZ438 flew in September 1949 and was delivered to 1 Squadron RAF in December. The F8 was exported in large numbers with the exports comprising a mixture of new build and refurbished ex RAF aircraft. Nearly 1,200 F8's were built including over 300 by Fokker under license in the Netherlands for the Dutch and Belgium airforces.

Over 60 F8's were allocated by Gloster for trials continuing the contribution of the Meteor to aviation development. A significant number of these were modified to be refuelled in flight and allocated to 245 Squadron which almost exclusively flew Meteors that were modified in one way or another. As with the F4 many F8's ended their lives as target drones again being converted by Flight Refuelling. One of these, WK800 still survives at RAF Llanbedr in Wales although it is thought that this is to be retired from service in the near future. Many others served on the RAF as target tugs well past their official retirement in the mid sixties. The last Meteor to roll off the Gloster production line was F8, WL181.