54 Sqn Meteor 8s

[cmatthewbacon]

Can anyone with a copy of the appropriate Cold War Shield volume or other reference sources enlighten me as to the schemes 54 Sqn Meteor F8s wore in the months before they were replaced by Hunter F4s? My father in law flew them and remembered them as camouflaged, with the solid-backed canopy, so that’s how I built one for a collection for him. My researches suggested he might have been mid-remembering, but hey, it was his model. He’s passed now, and I have the display. With the arrival of the new Airfix kit, I fancied building one, and thought I might do it as his mount (not to replace the other one…). But rather than just build a clone, it might be nice to do it in a “what if not?” scheme…

Any info much appreciated.

best,

M.

[Dominic McEvoy]

M,

 

CWS Vol 1 shows 54 Sqn F8s with finishes in both metal (with solid backed canopy) and camouflage (with clear canopy), so is not definitive.  I'll have a look through other references over next day or so to see if they are of more use.  Standby...

 

Dominic

[Dominic McEvoy]

M,

 

Further to above, Tony Buttler's Warpaint 22 (pg 24) has an illustration of a metal WH378/N from early 50s with solid backed canopy.

 

I've gone through the rest of my reference books but can find nothing definitive for you.  However, photos of ac from other sqns at or about that time show a mix of canopy types on a mix of natural metal and camouflaged Meteors, so it's perfectly possible that his memory was correct.

 

Hope this helps, and happy modelling!

 

Dominic

 

 

 

[cmatthewbacon]

Thank you @Dominic McEvoy. I’ll get my brother in law to take a look at his logbooks and get some serials (I’d need to do that anyway for the build…) and see if he ever flew WH378…

 

Thanks for looking!

All the best,

Matt

[T-21]

The full clear canopy was introduced in mid 1953 to give better all round visibility. Later production F.8s had the deep breather wider engine intake widened by four and a half inche's to give an extra 240lb of thrust per engine(Derwent 8). Camouflage started to appear in late 1953/1954 with the WL serial batch, and the rest of squadron aircraft followed. Some silver F.8s were still in use  as late as September 1954.

Edited August 30, 2022 by T-21

[petetasker]

'Meteor Glosters first jet Fighter' by Steve Bond (MCP 1985) has a black & white photo (page 105) of a 54 Sqn F.8 WK673 with later fighter style canopy and two tone camo. If you want to see the photo I'll pm it across to you. Unfortunately no other details in the description other than it was a MAP photograph.

[XV571]

In the 54 Squadron section of John Rawlins' "Fighter Squadrons of the RAF" there is a photo of Meteor F.8 WL143 coded 'Z'. WL143 is in camouflage with the full clear canopy type. The code appears to be yellow as it's similar in tone to the yellow of the fuselage checks. The caption states it was retained as a 'Hack' when 54 Squadron converted to Hunters (they first received F.1s but exchanged these for F.4s after only 6 months).

 

'Fighter Squadrons' notes that 54 Sqn operated Meteor F.8s from March 1953 to April 1955. The following Serials/Codes are listed:

 

WA772/A, WH343/M, WH397/K, WH471/Z (presumably replaced by WL143), WK669/X and WK711/C

 

There are no dates given but I'd guess that at least the first three were High Speed Silver overall (not natural metal 😉) with solid backed canopies.

 

HTH,

 

Jonathan

[petetasker]

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