Editing Gloster Meteor (section)

===Prototypes===
[[File:Meteor DG202G at RAF Mueum London in November 2011.jpg|thumb|Prototype Meteor ''DG202/G'' on display at the [[Royal Air Force Museum London]] in 2011. The "/G" appended to the [[United Kingdom military aircraft serials|aircraft serial]] denoted that the aircraft was to have an [[Royal Air Force Police|armed guard]] at all times while it was on the ground.]]
In August 1940, Carter presented Gloster's initial proposals for a twin-engined jet fighter with a [[Tricycle landing gear|tricycle undercarriage]].{{#tag:ref|Carter has concluded earlier that year that, in order to produce an effective fighter aircraft with a satisfactory rate of climb and armament payload, the first jet fighter should have a twin-engine arrangement.<ref name = "shack 10">Shacklady 1962, p. 10.</ref>|group=Note}} On 7 February 1941, Gloster received an order for twelve prototypes (later reduced to eight) under [[List of Air Ministry Specifications|Specification F9/40]].<ref name="James 245-7">James 1971, pp. 245–248.</ref> A letter of intent for the production of 300 of the new fighter, initially to be named ''Thunderbolt,'' was issued on 21 June 1941; to avoid confusion with the USAAF [[Republic P-47 Thunderbolt]] which had been issued [[Republic P-47 Thunderbolt#P-47 in Allied service|with the same name to the RAF]] in 1944, the aircraft's name was subsequently changed to ''Meteor.''<ref name="James 247">James 1971, p. 247.</ref><ref name="Intercep p144">Goulding 1986, p. 144.</ref>{{#tag:ref|Other names that were suggested for the aircraft included Scourge, Terrific, Terrifier, Terrifire, Tempest, Cyclone, Vortex, Wildfire, Avenger, Sky-rocket, Dauntless, Tyrant, Violent, Wrathful, Annihilator, Ace, and Reaper.<ref name = "shack 13"/>|group=Note}} During the aircraft's secretive development, employees and officials made use of the codename ''Rampage'' to refer to the Meteor, as similarly the [[de Havilland Vampire]] would initially be referred to as the ''Spider Crab''. Test locations and other key project information were also kept secret.<ref name = "shack 25">Shacklady 1962, p. 25.</ref>

Although [[taxiing]] trials were carried out in 1942, it was not until the following year that any flights took place due to production and approval holdups with the Power Jets W.2 engine powering the Meteor.<ref name= "Mason p.339"/><ref>Butler and Buttler 2006, pp. 11–12.</ref> On 26 November 1942 production of the Meteor was ordered to stop due to the delays at subcontractor [[Rover Company|Rover]], which was struggling to manufacture the W.2 engines on schedule;{{#tag:ref|Much of Rover's initial difficulty in producing the engine was due to a lack of time for experimentation, aviation author Edward Shacklady commented that the W2.B engine was "rushed into production long before it was ready for such a step".<ref name = "shack 40">Shacklady 1962, p. 40.</ref>|group=Note}} considerable interest was shown in Gloster's [[Gloster E.1/44|E.1/44 proposal]] for a single-engine fighter, unofficially named Ace.<ref>Shacklady 1962, pp. 17–19.</ref> Gloster continued development work on the Meteor and the production-stop order was overturned in favour of the construction of six (later increased to eight) F9/40 prototypes alongside three E.1/44 prototypes.<ref name = "shack 19">Shacklady 1962, p. 19.</ref> Due to the breakdown in the relationship between Rover and Powerjets and the availability of Rolls Royce's supercharger division, responsibilities for development and production of the W.2B engine were transferred to [[Rolls-Royce Limited|Rolls-Royce]] that year.<ref name="auto">Shacklady 1962, p. 41.</ref>{{#tag:ref|The jet engine development team at Rover transferred to Rolls Royce along with the work they had done improving on Whittle's design.|group=Note}}

On 5 March 1943, the fifth prototype, [[United Kingdom military aircraft serials|serial]] ''DG206'', powered by two substituted [[de Havilland Goblin|de Havilland Halford H.1]] engines owing to problems with the intended W.2 engines, became the first Meteor to become airborne at [[RAF Cranwell]], piloted by [[Michael Daunt]].<ref name= "Mason p.339">Mason 1992, p. 339.</ref> On the initial flight, an uncontrollable [[Yaw (rotation)|yawing]] motion was discovered, which led to a redesigned larger rudder; however, no difficulties had been attributed to the groundbreaking turbojet propulsion.<ref>Butler and Buttler 2006, p. 15.</ref><ref name = "shack 21">Shacklady 1962, p. 21.</ref> Only two prototypes flew with de Havilland engines because of their low flight endurance.<ref>Butler and Buttler 2006, p. 12.</ref> Before the first prototype aircraft had even undertaken its first flight, an extended order for 100 production-standard aircraft had been placed by the RAF.<ref name ='boyne 262'>Boyne 2002, p. 262.</ref>

The first Whittle-engined aircraft, ''DG205/G'',{{#tag:ref|Following the maiden flight of ''DG205/G'', Daunt commented that "As the result of this flight, it is felt that there are distinct possibilities for the F9/50 as an operational low level fighter".<ref name = "shack 23">Shacklady 1962, p. 23.</ref>|group=Note}} flew on 12 June 1943 (later crashing during takeoff on 27 April 1944) and was followed by ''DG202/G'' on 24 July. ''DG202/G'' was later used for deck handling tests aboard [[aircraft carrier]] {{HMS|Pretoria Castle|F61|6}}.<ref name="James p249">James 1971, p. 249.</ref><ref>Butler and Buttler 2006, p. 16.</ref> ''DG203/G'' made its first flight on 9 November 1943, later becoming a ground instructional airframe. ''DG204/G'', powered by [[Metrovick F.2]] engines, first flew on 13 November 1943; ''DG204/G'' was lost in an accident on 4 January 1944, the cause believed to have been an [[Jet engine compressors|engine compressor]] failure due to overspeed.<ref>Butler and Buttler 2006, pp. 16–17.</ref> ''DG208/G'' made its début on 20 January 1944, by which time the majority of design problems had been overcome and a production design had been approved. ''DG209/G'' was used as an engine testbed by Rolls-Royce, first flying on 18 April 1944. ''DG207/G'' was intended to be the basis for the Meteor F.2 with [[de Havilland]] engines, but it did not fly until 24 July 1945, at which time the Meteor 3 was in full production and de Havilland's attention was being redirected to the upcoming de Havilland Vampire; consequently the F.2 was cancelled.<ref name="Intercep p148-9">Goulding 1986, pp. 148–149.</ref><ref name="James p358">James 1971, p. 358.</ref><ref>Butler and Buttler 2006, pp. 20–21.</ref><ref>Shacklady 1962, pp. 27–28.</ref>