Meteor F Mk.8 G.41K

This page is about the British jet fighter Meteor F Mk.8 G.41K. For other versions, see Meteor (Family).

Meteor F Mk 8 G.41K

Meteor F Mk 4 G.41G

Javelin F.(A.W.) Mk.9

Meteor F Mk 8 G.41K

Meteor F Mk 4 G.41G

Javelin F.(A.W.) Mk.9

Britain

V Rank

Battle rating:

AB	RB	SB
7.7	8.0	8.0

Class:

Fighter

Jet fighter

Research:61 000

Purchase:340 000

Show in game

Description

The Meteor F Mk 8 G.41K, an illustrious British fighter, marked a significant evolution in the Meteor series with its introduction in the late 1940s. Designed to rectify the limitations of its predecessors, it boasted a reinforced airframe to withstand the rigours of high-speed flight and upgraded Derwent 8 engines, offering enhanced performance and reliability. This variant saw extensive service with the Royal Air Force and other allied forces, playing crucial roles from air defence to ground support across various theatres of the Cold War.

Distinct from earlier Meteors, the F Mk 8 G.41K was enhanced with better aerodynamic features, aligning with the era's strategic demands. Its service history is marked by adaptation to diverse combat roles, evidencing the versatility and technological advancement of British aerospace engineering at the time. In combat, pilots lauded its improved rate of climb and top speed, making it a formidable adversary against the threats it faces.

The Meteor F Mk 8 G.41K was introduced in Update 1.29 and stands as a testament to British jet development's zenith. Being the highest performance variant of the Meteor family, the Mk.8 has extremely good flight performance, especially for its battle rating. It is armed with four 20 mm Hispano Mk.V cannons, and can also take RP-3, HVAR rockets, or two 1,000 lb bombs. While it looks impressive on paper, it is a plane that hates high speed. It compresses heavily above 700 km/h and takes a very long time accelerating past 800 km/h.

General info

Flight performance

Air brakes

Allows you to dramatically reduce the flight speed by releasing special flaps

Max speed

at 100 m962 km/h

Turn time23 s

Max altitude12 500 m

Engine2 х Rolls-Royce Derwent 8

TypeJet

Cooling systemAir

Take-off weight8 t

Characteristics	Max Speed (km/h at 100 m)		Max altitude (metres)	Turn time (seconds)		Rate of climb (metres/second)		Take-off run (metres)
	AB	RB		AB	RB	AB	RB
Stock	920	897	12500	24.1	24.7	33.6	31.7	325
Upgraded	976	962		22.2	23.0	47.4	40.2

Details

Features
Combat flaps	Take-off flaps	Landing flaps	Air brakes	Arrestor gear	Drogue chute
✓	✓	✓	✓	X	X

Limits
Wings (km/h)	Gear (km/h)	Flaps (km/h)			Max Static G
		Combat	Take-off	Landing	+	-
999	390	495	462	290	~11	~5

Optimal velocities (km/h)
Ailerons	Rudder	Elevators	Radiator
< 560	< 600	< 620	N/A

Engine performance

Engine			Aircraft mass
Engine name		Number	Basic mass		Wing loading (full fuel)
Rolls-Royce Derwent 8		2	5,496 kg		216 kg/m2
Engine characteristics			Mass with fuel (no weapons load)			Max Takeoff Weight
Weight (each)	Type		7m fuel	20m fuel	23m fuel
443 kg	Centrifugal-flow turbojet		5,953 kg	6,796 kg	7,020 kg	8,061 kg
Maximum engine thrust @ 0 m (RB/SB)			Thrust to weight ratio @ 0 m (100%)
Condition	100%	WEP	7m fuel	20m fuel	23m fuel	MTOW
Stationary	1,633 kgf	N/A	0.55	0.48	0.47	0.41
Optimal	1,633 kgf (0 km/h)	N/A	0.55	0.48	0.47	0.41

Survivability and armour

Crew1 person

Speed of destruction

Structural0 km/h

Gear390 km/h

• 38 mm Bulletproof glass in cockpit front.
• 12.7 mm Steel plate in the nose.
• 12.7 mm Steel plate behind the pilot.
• Critical components located at the front and wings of the aircraft (fuel, pilot, engine, controls)

Modifications and economy

Repair costBasic → Reference

AB3 331 → 4 743

RB9 354 → 13 320

SB11 949 → 17 015

Total cost of modifications109 800

174 000

Talisman cost2 200

Crew training98 000

Experts340 000

Aces1 800

Research Aces780 000

Reward for battleAB / RB / SB

130 / 380 / 600 %

202 / 202 / 202 %

Modifications

Flight performance	Survivability	Weaponry
Fuselage repair Research: 10 000 Cost: 16 000 480 Airframe Research: 7 600 Cost: 12 000 360 Compressor Research: 7 600 Cost: 12 000 360 Wings repair Research: 5 100 Cost: 8 200 240 Engine Research: 5 100 Cost: 8 200 240 G-suit Research: 5 100 Cost: 8 200 240 Cover Research: 8 300 Cost: 13 000 400 EFS Research: 8 300 Cost: 13 000 400		hispano_belt_pack Research: 10 000 Cost: 16 000 480 GLBC mk.3 Research: 7 600 Cost: 12 000 360 hispano_mk5_new_gun Research: 5 100 Cost: 8 200 240 GRC mk.7 Research: 5 100 Cost: 8 200 240 GRC mk.8 Research: 8 300 Cost: 13 000 400 GRC mk.9 Research: 8 300 Cost: 13 000 400 GRC mk.8 Research: 8 300 Cost: 13 000 400

Armaments

Offensive armament

Weapon 14 x 20 mm Hispano Mk.V cannon

Ammunition780 rounds

Fire rate750 shots/min

The Meteor F Mk.8 G.41K is armed with:

• 4 x 20 mm Hispano Mk.V cannon, nose-mounted (200 rpg top + 190 rpg bottom = 780 total)

At 8.0, the stock Hispano Mk V's are terrible since they are highly inaccurate and generally inconsistent, which is made worse by the fact that in most games aircraft will fly much faster than you, forcing firing ranges to be higher and reducing the window of time in which a shot can be made.

When they are upgraded, they are all round good guns for the BR sporting a good ammunition capacity and a decent velocity. The damage can be quite inconsistent however.

Suspended armament

List of setups (4)

Setup 12 x 1000 lb H.E. M.C. Mk.13 bomb

Setup 28 x HVAR rockets

Setup 38 x RP-3 rockets

Setup 416 x RP-3 rockets

The Meteor F Mk.8 G.41K can be outfitted with the following ordnance:

• Without load
• 2 x 1,000 lb H.E. M.C. Mk.13 bombs (2,000 lb total)
• 8 x HVAR rockets
• 8 x RP-3 rockets

Usage in battles

The Meteor F Mk 8 G.41K is a versatile platform for multiple tasks both in ground and air battles, featuring a competitive armament in air battles and tremendous firepower in ground battles. It is capable of dominating the air in air and ground battles.

When in air battles:

The Meteor has primarily 3 roles when it comes to air battles: fighter, attacker, bomber. At its br, the Meteor is one of the competitive jet section, not over exceeding in one side but not underperforming either.

As a fighter:

The Meteor is capable of being on par with many planes at its battle rating. Different from most other British fighters, but the same as the other Meteors and similar to the Swift F.1, it has a Boom and Zoom role when it comes to fighting as it will not be able to turn fight like the Vampire FB 5 or the Venom FB.4. It should be noted that the Meteor will not outrun most of the enemy jets encountered at its br unlike the Swift F.1. The pilot should maintain energy at all times since the acceleration is not great. When engaging heavier and bigger planes (like enemy attackers and bombers both player and AI) the pilot should always try to maintain either higher altitude than them to make Boom and Zoom or stay under their belly to take advantage of their weakspots (Tu-4 and B-29 are the exceptions for belly attacks as they have ventral turrets).

As an attacker:

The ordnance the Meteor carries is enough to do some ground striking, destroying pillboxes, enemy tanks, artillery outposts, anti air emplacements, etc. There is no rule on which armament the attacker should use, it all depends on the pilot's discretion, map, battle rating, etc. It is recommended to use ground targets belts due to the AP ammunition but universal belts may be enough to deal with light armoured vehicles and light pillboxes, leaving the ordnance for heavier and more armoured threats.

As a bomber:

Due to being a jet, it is able to be a lighting strike bomber. This means to fly the Meteor at a really low altitude (also known as lawn-mowing) with bombs (1,000 lb H.E. M.C. Mk.13 bombs are recommended for base bombing) with a 1.5-2.5 second time or assault fuse. When the Meteor is on a base, the pilot should drop the bombs really low to the ground to ensure accuracy as no bombsight is able to be used. It may require practice on how and when to drop the bombs. The 1.5-2.5 second time or assault fuse makes the plane be able to move to a safe zone away from the blast zone. When no time fuse is set, the Meteor will be forced to drop the bombs at a higher altitude or be prompt to be killed in the blast zone.

When in ground battles:

The Meteor has only 1 role in ground battles primarily (superiority fighter can be used but it is not recommended to do so), Close Air Support (CAS). The variety of ordnance is enough to be used in all situations depending on the pilot's discretion. RP-3 are launched in pairs (or in salvo depending on the pilots discretion and rocket settings) and will disable or destroy even the heaviest armour encountered with a couple of rockets. The con of rockets is that they are hard to aim, practice will be required. Bombs, on the other hand, are more forgiving when it comes to accuracy as the blast zone is bigger and are able to destroy one or more targets at a time, disable modules (tracks, barrel, engine, etc) or just mark them with fragmentation. The con of bombs is that a fuse might have to be added depending on the way the pilot wants to drop them (lighting strike, dive-bombing, etc), they are also heavier than the rockets, making the attacker more vulnerable to anti-air fire and dogfighting.

When it comes to just the 20 mm cannons, it should be noted that most vehicles the Meteor will encounter (Leopard 1, XM-1, BMP-2, etc) will have a poorly armoured roof which the armour-piercing shells will penetrate. Heavier targets (ZTZ-59D1, T-62, T-10M) will only be able to be killed with suspended ordnance as they will not be able to penetrate the roof.

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Engines are a massive improvement over previous models, with high speed and acceleration rates compared
• Great at turning below 650 km/h
• Good climb rate
• Controllable roll rate
• Able to carry RP-3 or HVARs (unlike other Meteors)

Cons:

• Hispano Mk V cannons have poor accuracy
• Wing controls tend to lose control ability at higher speeds
• Limited visibility out of the rear of the cockpit

History

Archive of the in-game description

Faced with an increasing quality in the standard of potential adversaries by the late 1940s, Gloster designers embarked on developing a new version of their Meteor fighter, designated the Gloster Meteor F.Mk.8 (Type G.41K). The first prototype F.Mk.8 was converted from a production F.Mk.4, before a full prototype flew on October 12th 1948. Production began in 1949 and, after the RAF stood up its first operational squadrons in 1950, export versions were then produced. The F.Mk.8 differed in a number of key areas from the F.Mk.4 on which it was based; the F.Mk.8 had an elongated fuselage and the tail assembly was changed, both features incorporated to increase stability. An extra 432-litre fuel tank was also added and a blown cockpit canopy was mounted to increase visibility. The F.Mk.8 was powered by Rolls-Royce Derwent Mk.8 turbojet engines producing 1,630 kg of thrust. The diameter of the engine's air intakes was increased, adding approximately 100 kg of thrust to each engine, bringing the aircraft's maximum speed to 950 km/h. The wing structure was significantly reinforced, with additional alloy steels being used in the framework. The nacelle structure was changed yet again to improve access. The F.Mk.8 had the F.Mk.4's 20mm British Hispano Mk.II cannons replaced by Hispano Mk.V cannons of the same calibre but with a higher rate of fire, reliability and ballistic characteristics. A standard mount to suspend HVAR missiles was provided under the wing panels. The F.Mk.8 was the first Meteor to be fitted with a Martin Baker ejection seat; the pilot's chances of survival in an emergency were significantly increased, but the large headrest impaired his rear view. 747 Gloster Meteor F.Mk.8 fighters were produced by April 1954 and were (at various times) in service with over 40 RAF squadrons. From 1950 to 1955, the Meteor F.Mk.8 was the mainstay of RAF Fighter Command. The F.Mk.8 aircraft were also accepted for service with the Air Forces of Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Denmark, Israel, the Netherlands and Syria. Meteors of the RAAF (Royal Australian Air Force) took part in the Korean War although they were outmatched by the more modern MiG 15; although several MiG 15s were destroyed by pilots of 77 Squadron RAAF, losses were heavier and the Meteor was re-roled to ground attack. Experience in the Korean War highlighted the fact that, even with significant upgrades to its original design, the Meteor was now outclassed by more modern fighters. Different Gloster Meteor versions were flown in training and auxiliary units until the last Meteor trainers were phased out of service with the RAF in 1965.

Media

Skins

• Skins and camouflages for the Meteor F Mk.8 G.41K from live.warthunder.com.

See also

Links to the articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example:

• reference to the series of the aircraft;
• links to approximate analogues of other nations and research trees.

External links

• Official data sheet - more details about the performance