Editing Gloster Meteor (section)

===Construction===
From the outset, each Meteor was constructed from several modular sections or separately produced units, a deliberate design choice to allow for production to be dispersed and for easy disassembly for transport.<ref>Shacklady 1962, p. 12, 29.</ref> Each aircraft comprised five main sections: nose, forward fuselage, central section, rear fuselage and tail units; the wings were also built out of lengthwise sections.<ref>''Flight'' 25 October 1945, p. 445.</ref> The forward section contained the pressure cabin, gun compartments, and forward undercarriage. The centre section incorporated much of the structural elements, including the inner wing, engine nacelles, fuel tank, ammunition drums, and main undercarriage. The rear fuselage was of a conventional semi-monocoque structure. Various aluminium alloys were the primary materials used throughout the structure of the Meteor, such as the stressed [[duralumin]] skin.<ref name="auto1">Shacklady 1962, p. 12.</ref>

Across the Meteor's production life, various different companies were subcontracted to manufacture aircraft sections and major components; due to the wartime workload on producing fighter aircraft such as the [[Hawker Hurricane]] and [[Hawker Typhoon]], neither Gloster nor the wider [[Hawker Siddeley|Hawker Siddeley Group]] were able to internally meet the production demand of 80 aircraft per month.<ref name = "shack 13">Shacklady 1962, p. 13.</ref> [[Bristol Tramways]] produced the forward fuselage of the aircraft, the [[Standard Motor Company]] manufactured the central fuselage and inner wing sections, the [[Pressed Steel Company]] produced the rear fuselage, and [[Parnall|Parnall Aircraft]] made the tail unit.<ref>Butler and Buttler 2006, pp. 14.</ref> Other main subcontractors included [[Boulton Paul Aircraft]], [[Excelsior Motor Radiator Company]], [[Bell Punch]], [[Turner Manufacturing Company]], and [[Charlesworth Bodies]]; as many of these firms had little or no experience producing aircraft, both quality and interchangeability of components were maintained by contractually enforced adherence to Gloster's original drawings.<ref>Shacklady 1962, pp. 13–14.</ref>

From the Meteor F.4 onwards, Armstrong Whitworth began completing whole units at their [[Coventry]] facility in addition to Gloster's own production line.<ref name="auto2">Shacklady 1962, p. 54.</ref> Belgian aviation firm [[Avions Fairey]] also produced the Meteor F.8 under licence from Gloster for the [[Belgian Air Force]]; a similar licence manufacturing arrangement was made with Dutch company [[Fokker]] to meet the [[Royal Netherlands Air Force]]'s order.<ref name = "shack 74">Shacklady 1962, p. 74.</ref>