Editing Gloster Meteor (section)

===Second World War===
[[File:Royal Air Force Fighter Command, 1939-1945. CL2946.jpg|thumb|Meteor F.1 of No. 616 Squadron]]
[[No. 616 Squadron RAF]] was the first to receive operational Meteors: a total of 14 aircraft were initially delivered. The squadron was based at [[RAF Culmhead]], [[Somerset]] and had been equipped with the [[Supermarine Spitfire|Spitfire VII]].<ref name ="bb 48">Butler and Buttler 2006, p. 48.</ref> The conversion to the Meteor was initially a matter of great secrecy.<ref name = "shack 28">Shacklady 1962, p. 28.</ref> Following a conversion course at [[Farnborough Airfield|Farnborough]] attended by the squadron's six leading pilots, the first aircraft was delivered to Culmhead on 12 July 1944.<ref name= "Mason p.339"/>{{#tag:ref|Aviation author Edward Shacklady noted that pilot conversion was "surprisingly easy", and that the main problem encountered during training was often becoming accustomed to the Meteor's tricycle undercarriage.<ref name = "shack 30">Shacklady 1962, p. 30.</ref>|group=Note}} The squadron and its seven Meteors moved on 21 July 1944 to [[RAF Manston]] on the east [[Kent]] coast and, within a week, 32&nbsp;pilots had been converted to the type.<ref name = "shack 30"/>

The Meteor was initially used to counter the [[V-1 flying bomb]] threat. 616 Squadron Meteors saw action for the first time on 27 July 1944, when three aircraft were active over Kent. These were the first operational jet combat missions for the Meteor and for the RAF. After some problems, especially with jamming guns, the first two V-1 "kills" were made on 4 August.<ref>Shacklady 1962, pp. 30–31.</ref> By war's end, Meteors had accounted for 14&nbsp;flying bombs.<ref>Geoffery 19 July 1945, p. 70.</ref> After the end of the V-1 threat, and the introduction of the ballistic [[V-2 rocket]], the RAF was forbidden to fly the Meteor on combat missions over German-held territory for fear of an aircraft being shot down and salvaged by the Germans.

No. 616 Squadron briefly moved to [[RAF Debden]] to allow [[United States Army Air Forces]] (USAAF) bomber crews to gain experience and create tactics in facing jet-engined foes before moving to [[RAF Colerne|Colerne]], [[Wiltshire]]. For a week from 10 October 1944 a series of exercises were carried out in which a flight of Meteors made mock attacks on a formation of 100 B-24s and B-17s escorted by 40 Mustangs and Thunderbolts. These suggested that, if the jet fighter attacked the formation from above, it could take advantage of its superior speed in the dive to attack the bombers and then escape by diving through the formation before the escorts could react. The best tactic to counter this was to place a fighter screen {{convert|5,000|ft}} above the bombers and attempt to intercept the jets early in the dive.<ref>Shacklady 1962, pp. 31–32.</ref> The exercise was also useful from No. 616 Squadron's perspective, giving valuable practical experience in Meteor operations.<ref name = "shack 32">Shacklady 1962, p. 32.</ref>

[[File:Gloster Meteor III ExCC.jpg|thumb|left|Meteor F.3s with original short engine nacelles]]
No. 616 Squadron exchanged its F.1s for the first ''Meteor F.3''s on 18 December 1944. These first 15 F.3s differed from the F.1 in having a sliding canopy in place of the sideways hinging canopy, increased fuel capacity and some airframe refinements. They were still powered by Welland I engines.<ref>Green 1968, p. 55.</ref> Later F.3s were equipped with the Derwent I engines. This was a substantial improvement over the earlier mark, although the basic design still had not reached its potential. [[Wind tunnel]] and flight tests demonstrated that the original short [[nacelle]]s, which did not extend far fore and aft of the wing, contributed heavily to compressibility buffeting at high speed. New, longer nacelles not only cured some of the compressibility problems but added {{convert|120|km/h|mph|order=flip}} at altitude, even without upgraded powerplants. The last batch of Meteor F.3s featured the longer nacelles; other F.3s were retrofitted in the field with the new nacelles. The F.3 also had the new Rolls-Royce Derwent engines, increased fuel capacity and a new larger, more strongly raked [[bubble canopy]].<ref name = "shack 45"/>

Judging the ''Meteor F.3''s were ready for combat over Europe, the RAF finally decided to deploy them on the continent. On 20 January 1945, four Meteors from 616 Squadron were moved to [[Melsbroek Air Base|Melsbroek]] in Belgium and attached to the [[RAF Second Tactical Air Force|Second Tactical Air Force]],<ref name="cl2934" /> just under three weeks after the Luftwaffe's surprise [[Unternehmen Bodenplatte]] attack on New Year's Day, in which Melsbroek's RAF base, designated as Allied [[Advanced Landing Ground]] "B.58", had been struck by piston-engined fighters of [[JG 27]] and [[JG 54]]. The 616 Squadron Meteor F.3s' initial purpose was to provide air defence for the airfield, but their pilots hoped that their presence might provoke the Luftwaffe into sending [[Messerschmitt Me 262|Me 262]] jets against them.<ref name ="bb 48"/> At this point the Meteor pilots were still forbidden to fly over German-occupied territory, or to go east of [[Eindhoven]], to prevent a downed aircraft being captured by the Germans or the Soviets.<ref>Shacklady 1962, pp. 32–33.</ref>

[[File:GlosterMeteorMelsbroek.jpg|thumb|Ground crew servicing a Meteor of 616 Squadron at Melsbroek, Belgium, 1945. The all-white finish used by the four F.3s sent to Belgium was to aid recognition by ground troops during familiarisation training before the operational F.3 aircraft arrived]]
In March, the entire squadron was moved to [[Gilze-Rijen Air Base]] and then in April, to [[Nijmegen]]. The Meteors flew armed [[reconnaissance]] and ground attack operations without encountering any German jet fighters. By late April, the squadron was based at [[Faßberg Air Base|Faßberg]], Germany and suffered its first losses when two aircraft collided in poor visibility. The war ended with the Meteors having destroyed 46 German aircraft through ground attack.{{Citation needed|date=October 2010}} [[Friendly fire]] through misidentification as Messerschmitt Me 262s by Allied anti-aircraft gunners was more of a threat than the already-diminished forces of the Luftwaffe; to counter this, continental-based Meteors were given an all-white finish as a recognition aid.<ref name = "shack 32"/><ref name="cl2934">[http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205211785 "CL 2934."] ''Imperial War Museum.'' Retrieved: 3 June 2012.</ref><ref name ="bb 49">Butler and Buttler 2006, p. 49.</ref>