23 April 2013
On Monday 22 April, a retired Gloster Meteor T7 made its final flight to its new home in a unique fashion, arriving underneath a Royal Air Force Chinook helicopter.
Since the aircraft was retired from active RAF service, the Meteor had been the gate guardian at RAF Innsworth near Gloucester. However now that the base has been transferred to the Army as Imjin Barracks the aircraft became surplus to requirements.
Two of the Trustees from Jet Age Museum, Tony MacKinnon and Martin Clarke, paid £3,000 to acquire the aircraft and some of the Army personnel suggested contacting the RAF to enquire about the possibility of a Chinook to move the Meteor. Being an unusual load for the RAF air and ground crews and therefore a very useful training aid, an aircraft was allocated for the operation.
After being partially disassembled, ground crew attached chains and all was ready for the Chinook to arrive. The giant helicopter arrived from the RAF base at Odiham in Hampshire, had the strop attached to the hook underneath the aircrafts belly, before taking the strain and lifting the vintage jet trainer into the skies for one last time, for the short flight over to the Airport and the waiting masses.
The Meteor will now be on static display at the Jet Age Museum. The Museum currently has a new site in construction, hoping to open in early autumn 2013. The museum is entirely volunteer run, with approximately 300 members from across the world. Jet Age Museum is dedicated to preserving and restoring the aviation heritage of Gloucestershire and the Gloster Aircraft Company. For project updates, their webpage is at <a href=’http://www.jetagemuseum.org’ target=’_blank’>www.jetagemuseum.org</a>
(Image: Dan Knight)
