Meteor T.7 G-BWMF (standing for “Great Britain Whittle and Meteor Flight”) makes a fly-by during its first post-restoration flight at Kemble on June 14. Credit: Ian FrimstonGloster Meteor T.7 WA591 flew for the first time in 46 years at Kemble, Gloucestershire, on June 14, following a 15-year restoration by the Meteor Flight. Test pilot Dan Griffith was airborne for 30min, the machine performing well as he took it up to 10,000ft to evaluate its stalling characteristics. The only problem encountered was a malfunctioning undercarriage-down-and-locked light, which righted itself before landing.

The former RAF trainer previously served as a gate guard at RAF Woodvale in Cheshire. In 1995 it was saved from an uncertain future by Colin Rhodes and a group of like-minded enthusiasts, who set up the Meteor Flight at Yatesbury Airfield in Wiltshire to restore it to fly. Sadly, Colin was killed in a freak accident in August 1997, but work continued. In October 2005 Coventry-based Air Atlantique Ltd became involved, providing an approval and support mechanism to prepare the aircraft for a Permit to Fly.

The Rolls-Royce Derwent engines were rebuilt by CFS Aero Engineering at Coventry. In March 2009 WA591 went by road to Kemble, the airfield where it had made its last landing on May 3, 1965, before going into No 5 Maintenance Unit’s Apprentice School for ground instructional use.