Gloster Meteors...

[Wedg1e]

...two of them, in flying condition (and regularly used!), in a hangar where I was working today

To say the cockpit is snug is an understatement, thre's more room in a coffin. Must have been odd to the pilots of those early jets, to find their feet only a couple of feet from the nosecone, after decades of having 10 feet of engine in front of them... I was hoping for a photo or 12 but as the ejector seats are permanently live there's a ban on mobile phones in the hangar. Humph.

Apparently there are three others being brought up to airworthiness with a view to getting all 5 flying together! Now that would be a sight...

In the next building is a DUKW and a pile of spare Meteor engines, neither of which have been made for about 60 years!

[Crafty_]

The book I'm reading at the moment has a fair bit about meteors in it as well as other early jets, its not a bad read so far:

[magpie215]

Wedg1e said:

...two of them, in flying condition (and regularly used!), in a hangar where I was working today

these 2??

[Godalmighty83]

5 of them in flying order?!

For gods sake noone tell cameron or he will have the navy weld arrestor hooks to the back of them and declare them carrier capable.


Joking aside it would be great to have a wing of the old girls again, its quite disturbing how so many historic models have been completely left to rot risking large chunks of aviation history with nothing but a few black and white pictures in a museum.

[Simpo Two]

So mobile phones set off ejector seats as well now do they? I always thought you had to pull a handle.

[Wedg1e]

magpie215 said:

these 2??

Could be!

[Wedg1e]

Simpo Two said:

So mobile phones set off ejector seats as well now do they? I always thought you had to pull a handle.

Well so did I, guess there's more to it than meets the eye

[Ginetta G15 Girl]

Simpo Two said:

So mobile phones set off ejector seats as well now do they? I always thought you had to pull a handle.

I imagine it's some H&S stuff worrying about stray RF affecting the detonators.

Having said that, if you've ever been witness to a bang seat going off, then maybe it's not a bad thing being uber careful?

Edited by Ginetta G15 Girl on Friday 11th May 00:12

[perdu]

Hmm

If it IS those two I imagine the owners/operators are well informed enough about bang seats to believe them if they say

TURN OFF YER BLOODY PHONES!!!


Nice pictures by the way, lovely old has beens* saving the futures for the "about to be s" and the "already ams"

• really do need a tongue in cheek smiley

[fatboy69]

There are at least two of these planes slowly rotting away at Staverton Airport here in Gloucester. Seems a little ironic that they are decaying outside when they should, at the very least, be under cover.

There is talk, & hope, that one day soon Staverton will get some sort of building in which they can house the Javelin that is also sitting outside.

I hope so as these iconic aircraft deserve a better home. (I am not in any way criticising anyone at Staverton. I just find it hard to understand why they have been left outside to decay as they have done).

[Glosphil]

Crafty_ said:

The book I'm reading at the moment has a fair bit about meteors in it as well as other early jets, its not a bad read so far:

My father-in-law has that book and I spent part of last weekend reading it. Very good. A long section on the Swift, Hunter and DH110 breaking the sound barrier at the Farnborough Air Show and the crash of the DH110 that tragically killed and seriously injured a number of spectators.

[Wedg1e]

perdu said:

Hmm

If it IS those two I imagine the owners/operators are well informed enough about bang seats to believe them if they say

TURN OFF YER BLOODY PHONES!!!

It is, and as you say, they are. Actually the notice doesn't say 'Turn off your phone', it says 'No phones allowed'. The Meteors are still in use as flying testbeds (you can see the rear cockpits are actually open in the pics).
As an aside, I can't remember the last time I had a member of staff of ANY company tell me that they were proud to work there. I bloody well would be as well.

[Rowan138]

Crafty_ said:

The book I'm reading at the moment has a fair bit about meteors in it as well as other early jets, its not a bad read so far:

excellent literary choice
i have the hardback folio slipcased version of it somewhere, my incessant charity shop bookbuying is paying off!!

[eharding]

Wedg1e said:

It is, and as you say, they are. Actually the notice doesn't say 'Turn off your phone', it says 'No phones allowed'. The Meteors are still in use as flying testbeds (you can see the rear cockpits are actually open in the pics).
As an aside, I can't remember the last time I had a member of staff of ANY company tell me that they were proud to work there. I bloody well would be as well.

Now then, Wedg1e, I thought you were in the radio-isotope-burn-your-nads-off business.

What would a bunch of bang-seat vendors be wanting with your ungodly black-magycke devilry?

[Wedg1e]

eharding said:

Now then, Wedg1e, I thought you were in the radio-isotope-burn-your-nads-off business.

What would a bunch of bang-seat vendors be wanting with your ungodly black-magycke devilry?

I am. Radioactive isotopes are just one form of non-destructive testing, there are others; some of which said client makes use of in order to ensure bangability of said seats

I hear that the Yankeedoodles require copious quantities of seat-shaped lifesavery so the boffins are having to forego their traditional hand-beaten-on-the-thigh production techniques in favour of something computer-numerically-controlled and whizzy.

It was enough to make you want to hear Land of Hope & Glory over the Tannoy, I tell you

[hidetheelephants]

I'd be fascinated know how a bit of weak RF is going to initiate a mechanical device that triggers a precussion cap on a rocket motor? Having the safety/disarm pins in the seat would be of more use. There's more chance of a phone setting light to spilt avtur(no doubt there's plenty about with 1st gen gas turbines!) than firing the ejector seat.

[richw_82]

Wedg1e said:

...two of them, in flying condition (and regularly used!), in a hangar where I was working today

There's a Meteor NF11, and a T7 at Coventry. Both are airworthy.

[spitfire-ian]

fatboy69 said:

There are at least two of these planes slowly rotting away at Staverton Airport here in Gloucester. Seems a little ironic that they are decaying outside when they should, at the very least, be under cover.

There is talk, & hope, that one day soon Staverton will get some sort of building in which they can house the Javelin that is also sitting outside.

I hope so as these iconic aircraft deserve a better home. (I am not in any way criticising anyone at Staverton. I just find it hard to understand why they have been left outside to decay as they have done).

http://jetagemuseum.org/default.aspx

[Tango13]

hidetheelephants said:

I'd be fascinated know how a bit of weak RF is going to initiate a mechanical device that triggers a precussion cap on a rocket motor? Having the safety/disarm pins in the seat would be of more use. There's more chance of a phone setting light to spilt avtur(no doubt there's plenty about with 1st gen gas turbines!) than firing the ejector seat.

The seat is designed to be bolted into the front of an aircraft that will be pumping out all sorts of RF from its radio, radar and digital data links. It will be flying through hostile airspace with all sorts of radar trying to track it but can be fired by a bit of weak RF from a mobile phone?

I'd say it's bugger all to do with a rogue RF signal and a whole lot more to do with camera phones and industrial espionage.

[Simpo Two]

Ginetta G15 Girl said:

Simpo Two said:

So mobile phones set off ejector seats as well now do they? I always thought you had to pull a handle.

I imagine it's some H&S stuff worrying about stray RF affecting the detonators.

Having said that, if you've ever been witness to a bang seat going off, then maybe it's not a bad thing being uber careful?

It's the 'what if/you can't say it won't' school of thought. If an RF frequency could be determined that fired ejector seats, why, just point your Tx at the incoming enemy squadron...


It does however raise the prospect of an alternative firing system for the current generation of pilots though. Text 'EJECT' (or possibly 'OMG') to 1234...