Corgi 1/72 RAF Royal Air Force Gloster Meteor F.3 EE239/YQ-Q (AA27402)

Description

Up for sale is a brand new 1/72 RAF Royal Air Force Gloster Meteor F.3 EE239/YQ-Q (AA27402) by Corgi

First flying in 1943, the Gloster Meteor was the RAF’s earliest jet fighter. It entered service with No.616 Squadron in July 1944. Jet aircraft at this time were considered extremely top secret and therefore the Meteor was limited in its combat use. Often painted white to aid identification by other Allied planes and avoid being mistaken for German planes, the F3 was despatched in 1945 along with 616 Squadron to 2nd TAF to provide air defence against the Messerschmitt Me 262. Later that year, the Squadron was operational in the Netherlands supporting the Canadian Army in its efforts to clear the Germans out of Holland, engaging in ground attacks due to not encountering a single enemy aircraft on its sorties. Designed as a turbojet-powered fighter in a time when piston-engined aircraft still dominated the skies, the Gloster Meteor first flew on March 5, 1943. The Meteor was the first British jet fighter and the only Allied jet aircraft to see service during WWII. It debuted around the same time as the German Me 262, but was not used for dogfighting-instead, Meteors were used to combat the V1 Flying Bomb. The Meteor’s service during WWII was limited, but it saw combat during the Korean War and was used by the Royal Australian Air Force and by the Air Forces of more than a dozen other nations until its ultimate retirement in the 1970s.

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