Trent Meteor

[RAYMAC]

The Trent Meteor was alledgedly scrapped in 1949 or 1951, BUT, I can remember seeing a Meteor with props in the Hangar at RNAS Bramcote, the FAA Air Mechanics School in 1955, was it an hallucination ???
its been bugging me for years !!!

[SLF-Flyer]

G.41A Meteor F.Mk Is. These had Welland engines and a clear-view canopy. The first Meteor was traded to the United States for a Bell YP-59A Airacomet, the USA's first jet fighter. One was used in an experimental design for the world's first turboprop-driven plane. This aircraft, the Trent-Meteor, used reduction gears on the engine to drive a propeller shaft with a five bladed propeller. It was equipped with longer-stroke landing gear to give clearance for the propeller tips.

Found at Warbird Alley: Gloster Meteor (http://www.warbirdalley.com/meteor.htm)

I think I am correct in seeing a photo of it in the 50's and not on the 1st April.

[chevvron]

This thread would be better off in AH & N.

[DaveReidUK]

The published histories of the Trent Meteor (EE227) suggest that it was Struck Off Charge in 1949, without explicitly saying that it was scrapped at the time.

So it's possible, I suppose, that it survived for a few more years as a Navy instructional airframe.

Edit: However this post on ARRSE Whats this, any plane spotters in? (http://www.arrse.co.uk/aviation/43945-whats-any-plane-spotters-104-print.html) suggests that it was demodded in 1948 before being scrapped the following year.

Either that, or some FAA engineering apprentices were having a laugh with a bog-standard Meatbox and a couple of gash props ... :O

[SLF-Flyer]

Photo can be found at :-

Gloster Meteor F I - Trent (http://tanks45.tripod.com/Jets45/Histories/Trent/Trent.htm)