I have just come across a review of a book called "Meteor - Eject" by Nick Carter. The book contains statistics about loss rates, can anybody who served in the 50/60s confirm these - they seem horrendous?
1. 150 total losses in 1952
2. 68 lost after running out of fuel
3. 23 lost doing official low level aeros displays
4. 890 lost in total
5. 436 fatal accidents between 1944 and 1986.
I was quite shocked to see these statistics.
I recall being told that it was the Avro Shackleton that held the dubious reputation for killing off more aircrew during peace time than any other aircraft in the Royal Aircraft.
I even found it written on the web. See here:
in that article it states:
More good men have died in Shackleton crashes than in any other RAF aircraft type in peacetime.
though I am sure that must be incorrect.
I suppose why people thought that it was the Shackleton that held this dubious record was because a Shackleton crash although relatively rare could result in ten fatalities at a time. On the other hand a Meteor crash would only kill one or two and although far more frequent it would hardly make the news at the time.