The question was asked what is the significance of the open airbrakes comment?
I'd suggest he was just painting a picture of the day when the accident happened and he could equally have said "it was a nice sunny wednesday afternoon" or such like. The airbrakes on the meteor were inboard of the engines and on both the upper and lower surfaces of the wing - ie so that they would significantly increase the drag with no disruption of the airflow over the ailerons, which is a very benign configuration and very unlikely to contribute to an accident.