Back in the Hot Seat It was a powerful moment on Wednesday when Meteor veteran Hal Taylor was reunited with the very aircraft in which he trained student pilots sixty years ago. The occasion was somewhat special: Hal headed up the Meteor Flight, the dedicated group who rescued our Meteor T7 from extinction. They persisted against massively mounting expenses and even somehow found the spirit to continue when their founder, Colin Rhodes, was tragically killed while working on the aircraft. When it seemed impossible to complete the project, Mike Collett stepped up with funding and resources from Air Atlantique. The result is one of the most stunning full restorations of recent years. At time of writing this blog, Meteor WA591 is the worlds oldest jet aircraft capable of flight. Shes been cared for by Classic Air Force since 2010, and recently Meteor Flight voted unanimously to donate her to the collection. Its a noble and great spirited gesture for which were humbly grateful. Hal presented the Meteor at a brief ceremony at Newquay in front of representatives of the group. Mike Collett thanked them for their determination and generosity, pointing out that In our view, this will always be your aeroplane. Hal then climbed aboard with creditable agility and departed with Dan Griffith in the front seat for what must have been an intensely nostalgic flight to Culdrose. The crowd at Newquay were treated to a spectacular formation fly-by and break from the Meteor and Jon Corley in the Jet Provost 3, then two more low passes by the Meteor, the last of which featured a climbing double aileron roll to show off the fighter plane agility of this wonderful old machine.
Posted on: Fri, 01 Aug 2014 18:12:44 +0000
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