Gloster Meteors - Painted White

[Phil Perry]

White-painted Gloster Meteor F Mark III, EE239 'YQ-Q', of No. 616 Squadron RAF Detachment is pushed to its dispersal point at B58/Melsbroek, Belgium.

 

A flight of Meteors was detached from 616 Squadron to 2nd TAF to provide air defence against the Messerschmitt Me 262, being joined by the whole Squadron in March 1945.

 

During the initial deployment, the Meteors were painted white to aid identification by other Allied aircraft.

 

 

 

[Bruce Tuncks]

I didn't know that Phil. Did those Meteors actually fight against any 262's in the war?

 

 

[Phil Perry]

I didn't know that Phil. Did those Meteors actually fight against any 262's in the war?

HAHAHAAHA. . .I just asked that question myself on another part of the Historical thread. . .( Fairey Battle ) they only had a couple of months between deployment of the Squadron and the end of the war. . . Winston shoulda taken more notice of Frank Whittle earlier on eh ? Could well have seen off the Luftwaffe in late '43 if he had. . .

 

Although, having said that . . .I have ben told tht the ME-262 outclassed the Meteor,. . .but it would hve been better than trying to fight them with much slower propeller driven machines I would have thought. . .BUT that is pure conjecture on my part mate. ***edited to add** reading through the Churchill papers, the Whottle jet engine had been rested in mid 1943, and the ME-262 did not enter service until much later than this. SO, Ergo, if the Meteor, or something lije it had been released earlier. . .Who Knows ? ( My Historian mate says I'm a twot but the timeline is there. Regrettably, the British were having to do lots with little at the time. . .)

 

 

[Nightmare]

As far as Mr.Google is concerned, no such action ever took place. The Meteors were primarily tasked with taking on the V1s, to the great disappointment of their pilots who were itching for combat with the ME262s. The top brass forbade them from going over enemy territory in the fear one may fall into enemy hands.

 

 

[Phil Perry]

As far as Mr.Google is concerned, no such action ever took place. The Meteors were primarily tasked with taking on the V1s, to the great disappointment of their pilots who were itching for combat with the ME262s. The top brass forbade them from going over enemy territory in the fear one may fall into enemy hands.

Yeah. . .that describes the Briitsh Politico-Miltitary mind at the time mate. . . going back to 1066,. . .'Hey, King Harold, Your Majesty, I've just invented this crossbow thingy it can kill with much greater accuracy than our bows my Liege. . .KING : Don't be silly,. . I do not wish any of our valuable men to be killed playing with this new fangled Frippery AND,.. .What if the Normans get hold of it ! ! ! !. . Begone varlet. . ..'

 

 

[onetrack]

It's O.K., Phil - because we (the Allies) regularly got hold of the Axis stuff - and either got good use out of it, or gave the Huns or Nips a good taste of their own medicine!

 

Seem to recall a few captured German 88mm guns were put to good use, to pound advancing Huns! - and captured Japanese machine guns were used against the Japs plenty of times.

 

The Aussies used plenty of captured Axis vehicles and weapons in the Middle East. But they reckoned the Italian Fiat trucks were crap.

 

I can recall one old Aussie WW2 veteran telling me how the Aussie troops in the ME in 1941, were angry, when they captured German equipment - and found the Germans driving around in new Chevy trucks and cars! - while the Aussies were struggling to get decent supplies of any kind of vehicle! This came back to the Germans utilising "cash and carry" to buy vehicles off the Americans, between 1939 and Dec 1942, before the U.S. entered the War proper.

 

 

[Birdseye]

Then the communists in power in the UK post-war gave the technology to the USSR that resulted in the effective engine in the Mig-15. Incidentally the same commies were also responsible for cancelling another great aircraft, the TSR-2. Puts all this crap about dual-nationality and Federal government into perspective...irrelevant nonsense.