Aeroplane Photographic Archive

GLOSTER METEOR F.8 WE970
With the two-seat Gloster Meteor the subject of this month's fascinating “from the cockpit” account by David Ogilvy (Aeroplane magazine April 2008; Wot — No propellers?, pages 74–79), the type is seen here in the rather more warlike form of the F.8 day fighter. Photographed for The Aeroplane, WE970 appeared in the magazine on May 11, 1951, in an article in which it was test-flown by Derek D. Dempster. The correspondent reported that “Rolling is a sheer joy and I was tempted to devote most of the flight indulging in the strenuous art of jet aerobatics.”

Seen here minus the ventral fuel tank and flying out of Moreton Valence, WE970 was one of 120 aircraft completed within the third F.8 production batch, and was built by Gloster. It saw service with No 611 Sqn before being used on target tug duties at Gibraltar, and was finally scrapped in June 1959.

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