MALTA AVIATION MUSEUM
Gloster Meteor F8 WF714
 Gloster Meteor F8 |
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Chronology
On Tuesday, May 3, 2011 a third Meteor for our growing aircraft collection arrived at our museum straight from the United Kingdom.
The Meteor was acquired for the Museum by one of its leading benefactors, David Doulton, who served with the RAF at Ta’ Qali during those years with 600 Squadron and who has already procured a number of other aircraft for the Museum.
The Museum is considering repainting it in the colours of David Dalton’s 600 Squadron as a sign of appreciation for the huge support he has given us over the past decade.
The Malta Aviation Museum at Ta’ Qali re-assembling the hundred and one parts that make up a Gloster Meteor Mark F8.
The assembly team led by the Museum’s aircraft restorer David Polidano burnt the midnight oil in getting the 60-year-old aircraft back on its undercarriage legs.
This aircraft can be seen in the main exhibition hangar.
Brief History
The Meteor was the first operational jet fighter to enter service with the Royal Air Force in the summer of 1944 and its first task was to shoot down or cause to crash by destabilizing the gyros of the hundreds of Nazi secret V1 weapons that were raining down on Britain after D-day.
The Meteor continued in production into the early fifties and was exported to air forces the world over. Improvements and modifications over the years led to the Mark F8 which was a day fighter and the Marks NF 11 and 14 which were night fighters equipped with radar.
Meteors were a common sight in Malta’s skies in the fifties and early sixties and the latest specimen at the museum sports the markings and insignia of 500 Squadron of the Royal Auxiliary Air Force which was deployed to Malta during summer camps at Ta’ Qali.