The F.9/40 first prototype, DG202, after assembly in the Milestones of Flight Hall at Hendon on October 10. Credit: Iain DuncanGloster F.9/40 (Meteor) prototype DG202 was fully assembled in RAF Museum Hendon’s Milestones of Flight Hall by October 10, following the move down from the RAF Museum’s Cosford, Wolverhampton, site at the end of September.

Going in the other direction was the museum’s Kawasaki Ki-100, which was due to have gone on display at Cosford by the end of October.

Although DG202 was the first F.9/40 manufactured, problems with the delivery of Whittle W.2B engines from Rover at Coventry meant that DG206, the fifth prototype, became the first to fly, at RAF Cranwell on March 5, 1943. On July 24 that year at Barford St John Aerodrome, Oxfordshire, DG202 finally took to the air with Gloster chief test pilot Michael Daunt at the controls. It continued to fly on crucial trials and development work until the summer of 1945.