ACCIDENTS WOULD HAPPEN especially to the Meteor

The author has related his own experiences of flying the Gloster Meteor from 1951 to 1957 to the official accident record of the Meteor over this period. For example during this time over 50 Meteor pilots were killed “diving inexplicably into the ground”, while in 1952 a Meteor was written off every 2 days on average, and a Meteor pilot killed every 4 days. ALSO from 1945 to 1957: • 400 pilots were killed in 800 write-offs. • 200 write-offs occurred during approach and landing. • 80 pilots were killed by diving into the ground for no apparent reason. • Running out of fuel resulted in the write-offs of 56 Meteors. • Over 80 write-offs and 50 deaths occurred from collisions with other aircraft. • 38 Meteors were written off & 33 pilots killed during single engine flying practice, • Of the 100 pilots who attempted to bale out of a Meteor, 30 were killed.