Gloster Meteor NF14T WS774
![]() Gloster Meteor NF14T |
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![]() Gloster Meteor NF14T |
![]() Gloster Meteor NF14T |
Chronology
Sandy Mullen, John Holder, Sid Griffiths and Alex Walsh have gifted the Foundation with a fully restored Gloster Meteor night fighter Mk 14. David Dalton has paid for the transportation costs to Malta.
WS774 arrived at Malta Aviation Museum during December 2006 in a dismantled state following a land/sea journey on a 40 foot trailer directly from UK.
The Meteor NF 14 was re-assembled at the Malta Aviation Museum for public display in the Main Exhibition Hangar.
Brief History
Meteor NF14 was the final Meteor night-fighter to be produced. First flown on 23 October 1953, the NF 14 was based on the NF 12 but had an even longer nose to accommodate new equipment pushing total length to 15.5 metres and a larger bubble canopy to replace the framed T 7 version. Just 100 NF 14s were built; they first entered service in February 1954 beginning with No. 25 Squadron and were being replaced as early as 1956 with the Gloster Javelin. Overseas, they remained in service a little longer, serving with No. 60 Squadron at Tengah, Singapore until 1961. As the NF 14 was replaced, some 14 were converted to training aircraft as the NF(T) 14 and given to No. 2 Air Navigation School on Thorney Island where they served until 1965.