Gloster Meteor - Design

Design

The Meteor's construction was all-metal with a tricycle undercarriage and conventional low, straight wings, featuring turbojets mid-mounted in the wings with a high-mounted tailplane to keep it clear of the jet exhaust. Typical of early jet aircraft, the Meteor F.1 suffered from stability problems at high transonic speeds, experiencing large trim changes, high stick forces and self-sustained yaw instability (snaking) caused by airflow separation over the thick tail surfaces. By 1945, the Meteor's design was considered "orthodox", lacking many of the aerodynamic features that had been discovered and utilised on the jet fighters that rapidly followed. The Meteor shared a similar basic configuration to its German equivalent, the Messerschmitt Me 262; incidents were reported of pilots on both sides mistaking one aircraft for the other.

The Meteor F.1 was powered by the Whittle W.2 engine design, that was manufactured by Rolls-Royce. The W.2B/23C turbojet engines produced 1,700 lbf (7.58 kN) of thrust each, giving the aircraft a maximum speed of 417 mph (670 km/h) at 3,000 m and a range of 1,006 miles (1,610 km). The Meteor Mk.I was 41 ft 3 in (12.58 m) long with a span of 43 ft 0 in (13.11 m), with an empty weight of 8,140 lb (3,823 kg) and a maximum takeoff weight of 13,795 lb (6,270 kg).

A total of 890 Meteors were lost in service with the RAF (145 crashes in 1953 alone), resulting in the deaths of 450 pilots. Contributory factors in the number of crashes were the high fuel consumption and therefore short endurance (less than one hour) causing pilots to run out of fuel, and difficult handling with one engine out, due to the widely set engines. The casualty rate was exacerbated by the lack of ejection seats except in the F.8, especially in the training version T.7 and F.4 fighters relegated to training/conversion duties.