Gloster A-3J Sea Meteor - US Navy, 1976

[Mark]

1935, Peterhouse College, Cambridge university.

"I say old chap, you couldn't lend me a fiver could you?" Frank asked one of his classmates. The Royal Air Force had been kind, in fact tremendously generous, in allowing the young pilot and apprentice engineering officer a break from the routine of flying duties. Engineering was always his first love and the ideas that bounced around his head were to change both military aircraft and commercial air transport forever; 'Reciprocating engines are exhausted. They have hundreds of parts jerking to and fro, and they cannot be made more powerful without becoming too complicated. The engine of the future must produce 2,000 hp with one moving part: a spinning turbine and compressor.' There was one problem though, he was broke and no investor was forthcoming with the funds. And so it was on that Thursday afternoon that his best friend and room mate dug into his pocket and extracted the crisp five pound note that would ensure that Flg Off Frank Whittle would keep the patent for his invention, the turbojet engine.

30th September, 1938, Downing Street, London.

"My good friends, this is the second time in our history that there has come back from Germany to Downing Street peace with honour. I believe it is peace for our time. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts. And now I recommend you to go home and sleep quietly in your beds." Neville Chamberlain had never felt so buoyant. He had just returned from Germany and over a cup of Earl Gray with that very nice Chancellor, Adolf Hitler, whom he decided was an awfully top chap, had agreed with Herr Hitler that he was not going to go on a shopping spree around Europe. In fact Herr Hitler had decided to listen to the British Politician and let the Czechs and Slovaks keep there own homes and land. After all, what was a few more acres of space to the German Chancellor? The next day, that nice man Herr Hitler summoned his military aides "Invade Sudetenland wizout ze delay!!! Schnell!!!"

30th April,1945, Berlin.

"Hello? Guten tag? Anyone home? Hello....!?" Corporal Tate had just stumbled across a rather poorly hidden bunker and it had obviously had some recent use. There were footprints from the scattering German troops and the evidence of a recently eaten meal at the table outside. "Hello.... Anyone in there?!!" Running from across the street, a US Army unit, part of the Berlin Infantry Brigade, called out to Tate. "Hey buddy! Whad'ya find there?" "Hello old bean! Good to see you chaps have arrived! Well, it looks like a hid......" The sentence was cut short by a single crack of gunshot. Hitler had just poisoned his lover, Eva Braun and on consuming a second cyanide capsule, shot himself. The Second World War was over in Europe.

2nd September,1945, USS Missouri.

Five months earlier, the United States dropped the two atomic bombs in Japan, forcing Emperor Hirohito to demand the surrender of Japan. Closely watched by General Richard Sutherland, Japan's foreign minister, Mamoru Shigemitsu, shakes visibly as the nib of the ink pen touches the formal Japanese Instrument of Surrender. He signs his name. After six bloody years and between 50-70 million casualties (sources vary) the Second World War was now over. General Sutherland welcomed the peace deal and called the President. "Mr. President, the Japanese have formally surrendered, the conflict is over." "Heck, way to go General!"

Later that day, the President addressed the nation. "The thoughts and hopes of all America, indeed of all the civilised world, are centred tonight on the battleship Missouri. There, on that small piece of American soil anchored in Tokyo Harbour, the Japanese have just officially laid down their arms. They have signed terms of unconditional surrender.......God's help has brought us to this day of victory. With His help we will attain that peace and prosperity for ourselves and all the world in the years ahead"

President Harry S. Truman forced those last words out, for only he knew the real truth. The United States was bankrupt and plagued with future strikes and austerity, the once might industrial strength of the USA would flounder and they would be customers to everyone else. In fact it was not until late 1968 that the US began aircraft construction having collaborated with Britain in the development of the Grumman / de Havilland FGR-14 Tomcat.

1st January 1946, Chequers.

"So Frank, tell me what you've got planned next?" The former Prime Minister had became good friends with Group Captain Frank Whittle and had invited him and his family to Chequers for the New Year's celebrations.

"Mr. Churchill, Sir, I have some very good news planned not only for my company but for the nation as a whole!"

"Go on..." Churchill leaned across and lit his cigar, then reclined in his armchair by the roaring fire, a glass of Cognac in hand. "...tell me."

"Sir, the turbojet engine has been developed beyond even my own initial plans and the Gloster Meteor has now become the finest fighter aircraft in the world! This morning I received a telegram from the United States. Do you know Major General Oliver Echolls, Sir?"

"Never heard of the bugger! What's his game?"

"Sir, Major General Echolls writes cheques. Big cheques, Sir. He is the United States Chief Material Officer and he wants to buy Meteors for the US Navy."

"Good show that man!" Churchill was always on the lookout for a good sale of arms and Britain had become the World's largest exporter of military aircraft. The previous year, Churchill had lost a fortune to Harry Truman in a poker game and would see the US dependancy on Britain for all her military equipment as payback.

"We are developing the Sea Meteor at this time Sir, the initial trials have been excellent but after the French placed their order for the Meteor F.6, The Royal Air Force want the Metor to be further developed and all our resources are in that area at the moment Sir. But we've still got a handful of F.1s in storage at RAF Kemble. So, the plan is to convert them to Sea Meteors and let the yanks have those!"

"Well, Frank, you'd better get on with it then...."

...to be continued

Edited October 18, 2012 by Busdriver

[tc2324]

Forget the model...., loving the story...

[Mark]

Right, off to work with this one! The kit is the Tamiya Meteor F.1, which I've got a couple of and so don't mind messing around with one. The boxing I have has the Fieseler Fi.103 included. The markings will be US Navy... More to follow!

Usual Tamiya quality, I seem to remember there being an issue with the speed brakes as apparently Tamiya looked at Cosford's Mk.1 which has a F.3 wing with speed brakes. I think I'm right but stand corrected if not. Anyways, this is the revised tooling with the wings having been amended to delete the speed brakes, although they are still present on the sprue.

[Procopius]

Excellent! Do you know what scheme you'll paint her in yet?

[Col.]

Welcome to the GB Mark. That back-story is a cracker.

[Mark]

8th June 1947, HMS Implacable, Firth of Forth, Scotland.

"Running into wind now, Sir!"

Captain Charles Duffett had only just taken command of the Royal Navy's Implacable class aircraft bearing the same name. He was well aware of the ship's less than grand career, having been responsible for the attack on two Norwegian ships carrying Allied prisoners of war, killing 2,571 onboard, one of the largest maritime disasters ever; the vessels were apparently mistaken for being German troop transports. He stood on the bridge with binoculars in hand as the tiny speck on the horizon grew larger and larger. It was certainly a fine day on Scottish waters and there was no sign of any tension as the converted Meteor F.3 turned a long swooping base leg before turning finals.

"12 knots across the deck, Sir!"

It was important to always get the aircraft carrier into wind, effectively reducing the groundspeed that the aircraft touched down with. Any extra energy would hopefully be absorbed by the arrestor wires, which may not be able to cope and then an immediate go-around would have to be flown on the remaining length of deck and with 12 knots headwind, Captain Duffett was feeling comfortable. He need not have worried though, for at the controls of the converted Meteor F.3 was Royal Naval Test Pilot, Captain Eric 'Winkle' Brown, a veteran of hundreds of deck landings. Fresh from the testing of the Sea Vampire, the lessons learned with operating turbojet aircraft from aircraft carrier decks were applied to the larger Meteor and the F.3 had the later F.4 undercarriage and although retaining the F.3 wing, had the larger Derwent 5 engines.

In the cockpit, Captain Brown turned finals and lined up with the carrier's deck. He always planned for the worst and keeping the engines at a high thrust setting, the nose held high, the prototype Sea Meteor rushed across the bow and settled onto the deck, rapidly decelerating as the arrestor wires were captured by the crude V-frame hook, a seemingly bolted on, last minute addition from a donor Sea Hornet. This was to be the first ever deck landing of a twin-engined turbojet aircraft aboard a British aircraft carrier.

Writing the post flight reports was always a chore but necessary in his role and he had little to say. "...it was simple to land on the deck and a great improvement on the Vampire in the excellent acceleration which its Derwent 5 engines gave for going round again."

Also on board that day was a highly impressed Major General Oliver Echolls.

"Heck, that man's got balls!" exclaimed the General as Captain Brown performed another flawless landing. He was aware that the last operation from a United States aircraft carrier had involved a few battle scared Grumman Hellcat fighters and these were already rotting at the land stations they were now based at after the last cruise of an American aircraft carrier the previous winter. He was naturally a little jealous of the prowess and professionalism of Britain's Royal Navy and her Fleet Air Arm and wondered whether the United States Navy would ever recover her former glory days.

"Well, I've seen enough Captain! You can tell your seniors that we'll take it!"

...to be continued

Edited October 18, 2012 by Busdriver

[tc2324]

Spot on.

Looking forward to the next update.

[Mark]

Thanks all! Not quite sure what scheme yet, I do have a very nice spare sheet from a Hasegawa A-4 Skyhawk that has donated some parts to this build. It's the VC-2 'Blue Falcons' Bi-centenary sheet and I'm going to have to think of something quick if I want to use that scheme from 1976! Maybe those US Navy mechanics were able to keep the Sea Meteor in service until then? Who knows? You'll have to keep reading the instalments!

But in the meantime, back to the model...

So far, so good. It's a Tamiya 1/48th kit which essentially means it builds itself! But as this represents a much later development of the airframe (and we are talking much mater!) the avionics have been updated with a new instrument panel and the side panels were also added to enable the pilot to control the new systems incorporated into the aircraft during her 30 year service life. The addition of the Escapac 1A-1 was certainly a relief for the pilots! Enough words, here are the photos...

[Col.]

30 years? Wow they must have been really skint! Who would even think of keeping such a complicated piece of military hardware in service for that long. That's like the RAF still using rescue helicopters from the 60s or fighter-bombers from the 70s...

Intersting update in the 'pit Mark and I'm sure the bang seat was a popular addition for pilots.

[SkippyBing]

30 Years, barely worn in, look how long they've had the B-52 and the KC-135 in service!

[Mark]

That's like the RAF still using rescue helicopters from the 60s or fighter-bombers from the 70s...

Well.... you don't say!

[Mark]

Meanwhile, back in March 1944, London, The Air Ministry.

"For God's sake man! Whittle, the government has just offered you £135,000 for your damned company and you tell them to take a flying leap?! What on earth man?!"

Frank Whittle was astonished at the arrogance of the civil servant begging him to sell his company. The small minded bureaucratic twits always offended him; he had a lengthy memory and remembered well those long nights preparing for his next meeting the following day with some big-wig from Whitehall only to be told to come back with a better proposal. "Turbo whats? Utter balderdash! The Rolls Royce Kestrel and her developments are well ensured success in the supremacy over any foreign air force!" The bureaucrats were right of course, to a point, but Whittle knew the potential of the turbojet, he had a faith that those stupid politicians did not. He knew that the development of the reciprocating piston engine was limited, there could only be one possible outcome, he knew, he had not only a faith but an utter belief in what he was doing. The government had literally offered him a sum, albeit a not insubstantial sum, for the total rights to Power Jets Ltd and the company's intellectual property.

Not knowing what he was doing at first, but as he left the office of the cabinet minister, he simply flicked up a middle finger. "Hmm, that felt good! Maybe it'll catch on?" he thought as he strode out into the dreary afternoon weather.

Late summer, 1947, Power Jets Ltd., Rugby.

"Sir, the United States Department of Procurement on the phone for you, Sir."

"Thank you Jenny, patch him through will you?"

"Frank! How the hell are you?!"

Major General Oliver Echoll's familiarity always made Whittle cringe, he'd never actually met the man and here he was asking him 'how the hell' he was! Americans! But then there was business at hand...

"General, Sir! I was just about to call..."

"Well, Frank! So, How are those jets coming along?"

"General, we have news!"

"Frank, tell it to me straight, y'hear! Bad news first..."

Frank Whittle would not have become the delight of the Britain's industrial manufacturing scene without reverting to a few political side-steps himself and he knew the American's weaknesses; always aim for their pride, never show your own weakness and just let them hear what they want to hear...

"General, there is no bad news, it seems yours are bigger than ours!"

"Glad you noticed Whittle! You old son of a gun...!"

"Well, Sir, your carriers are a lot bigger than ours and after they've been brought back into service, they will certainly be the best that equip any naval fleet, why, even ours!"

"So what does that mean to the order of these turbojet fighters, Frank?"

"May we revert to first names General? It might be more comfortable?"

"Why not Frank, I've been doing it all the time!"

"Well, Oliver, we have established a performance category that befits the longer deck length of the United States' currently mothballed carrier fleet. You see, you simply don't need the Power Jets Derwent 5 engines on the Meteor F.3 airframe. It's a simple calculation that, being an intelligent man, I won't bore you with but the original Power Jets W.2/700 has enough power for your requirements and the savings are enormous in terms of initial cost and servicing. The aircraft we are proposing to you now is the A-3J Sea Meteor!"

Frank Whittle had the General's ear the moment he mentioned the word 'savings.' Major General Echolls was more than aware of the state of the United States economy. John Wesley Snyder was a close friend of President Truman and had, as Secretary of the United States Treasury, pledged to form a stable post-war economy. The purchase of jet fighters did not fit into his plans at all and so any savings would be a relief to the Government. He held his breath as the phone rang at the US Treasury. "John, it's Oliver, great news from the limeys! they're giving us a discount!"

The next phone call Frank Whittle made was to an old friend, Senior Air Staff Officer 12 Group, Group Captain Edward Donaldson. Donaldson was not unfamiliar with the Meteor, having successfully clenched the airspeed record the previous year in the newly developed Meteor F.Mk.4.

"Frank! Always a pleasure! How's tricks old boy?!"

"Edward, glad you could spare me a moment! All's well and we've just got the go ahead from America for the Sea Meteor!"

"Splendid! Splendid! Congratulations all round! Champagne at yours then?!"

"Well, yes, but we have just one problem though, we seem to have run out of space on the production line and so we sold them the, err, well, we sold them the F.1..."

Raucous laughter was heard over the phone as the Group Captain spilled his afternoon tea on the dog, sat patiently at his feet.

"You sold them what?!"

"Well, Edward, we don't have any F.3s or F.4s, the RAF want some sort of night fighter and the French want the F.6, so how about those F.1s your looking after at Kemble, you know the ones destined for fire service training?"

...to be continued

[TaiidanTomcat]

That is looking great!!

[F-32]

Great stuff, I'm enjoying this one

[Kallisti]

Haha enjoying the story as much as the build, well done that man!

[tropical thistle]

Really really enjoyable back story!

Wish it was really true ;-)

[Mark]

Thanks all! If only it was true!!

[Daniel]

Great story, appreciate the effort.

Dan