Way back in 1950-53 my father was a flying instructor at an FTS at Heany, in the then Rhodesia. They used Tiger Moths, later Chipmunks and Harvards. They had cases of students being chopped because they refused to go on to advanced jet training, such was the Meteor’s (Meatbox) reputation. Later on in life I read an article in the Flying Training Command Flight Safety magazine, so it must be true, about somebody who arrived for his advanced flying course, possibly Driffield.
He warned in to the students mess and was allocated a room. Apart from the Effects Officer’s sealing wax on the door jamb, not unusual in those days, he was amazed to find the room was immaculate. It was redecorated and had brand new furniture, new washbasin, the lot.
After unpacking he took a stroll around the mess to suss out his new surroundings. When he got abeam his room he was horrified to see a frontal view of a Meteor in new brickwork. The room’s previous occupant had attempted a single engined overshoot below his personal critical speed.
In those days asymmetric flying was taught with one engine shut down so you had no chance if you fouled it up.
At Oakers in 1961 they still had a Meteor flight for those too leggy to eject from a Vampire. The instructors, wizened and haggard blokes in their early thirties, took me up for a couple of rides. If you are in the front pull yourself down under the wing, in the back, flop onto it. They also explained the theory of the Meteor ‘phantom dive’ that used to kill quite a lot of people. Ruddy noisy inside a T7. Loads of canopy noise but compared to the Vampire you could hardly hear the engines.