Meteor F Mk.8 (France)

This page is about the Belgian jet fighter Meteor F Mk.8 (France). For other versions, see Meteor (Family).

▄Meteor F Mk.8

▄Spitfire FR Mk XIVe

◘Hunter F.6

▄Meteor F Mk.8

▄Spitfire FR Mk XIVe

◘Hunter F.6

France

V Rank

Battle rating:

AB	RB	SB
7.7	8.0	8.0

Class:

Fighter

Jet fighter

Research:120 000

Purchase:340 000

Show in game

Description

The ▄Meteor F Mk.8 is a rank V French jet fighter with a battle rating of 7.7 (AB) and 8.0 (RB/SB). It was introduced in Update "Seek & Destroy".

Belgium built a fleet of around 240 Meteor F Mk.8 jet fighters, starting with an order of around thirty aircraft from Gloster Aircraft Company in 1949. A larger batch of Meteors was then ordered from production lines in the Netherlands, built by Fokker. Following the completion of that order, Fairey subsidiary Avions Fairey constructed around seventy aircraft locally in Gosselies, Belgium. These aircraft would constitute a large part of Belgium's jet fighter fleet and served until 1963.

This aircraft's camoflage represents Meteor F Mk.8 'EG224' of the Belgian Air Force, currently on display at the Royal Museum of the Armed Forces and Military History in Brussels, Belgium.

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

Describe how the aircraft behaves in the air. Speed, manoeuvrability, acceleration and allowable loads - these are the most important characteristics of the vehicle.

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	922	895	12500	24.1	24.7	33.3	31.5	325
Upgraded	___	___		__._	__._	__._	__._

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	-

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 Gross Weight
Weight (each)	Type		7m fuel	20m fuel	23m fuel
443 kg	Centrifugal-flow turbojet		5,953 kg	6,796 kg	7,020 kg	7,511 kg
Maximum engine thrust @ 0 m (RB/SB)			Thrust to weight ratio @ 0 m (100%)
Condition	100%	WEP	7m fuel	20m fuel	23m fuel	MGW
Stationary	1,633 kgf	-	0.55	0.48	0.47	0.43
Optimal	1,633 kgf (0 km/h)	-	0.55	0.48	0.47	0.43

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 modifications102 400

162 000

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: 16 000 370 Airframe Research: 7 600 Cost: 12 000 280 Compressor Research: 7 600 Cost: 12 000 280 Wings repair Research: 6 400 Cost: 10 000 240 Engine Research: 6 400 Cost: 10 000 240 G-suit Research: 6 400 Cost: 10 000 240 Cover Research: 17 000 Cost: 27 000 640 EFS Research: 17 000 Cost: 27 000 640		hispano_belt_pack Research: 10 000 Cost: 16 000 370 GRC mk.8 Research: 7 600 Cost: 12 000 280 hispano_mk5_new_gun Research: 6 400 Cost: 10 000 240

Armaments

Offensive armament

The Meteor F Mk.8 (France) is armed with:

• 4 x 20 mm Hispano Mk.V cannons, nose-mounted (200 rpg upper + 190 rpg lower = 780 total)

Suspended armament

Describe the aircraft's suspended armament: additional cannons under the wings, bombs, rockets and torpedoes. This section is especially important for bombers and attackers. If there is no suspended weaponry remove this subsection.

Default weapon presets
3 x 100 gal external tanks 8 x RP-3 rockets

Usage in battles

The Meteor F Mk 8 (France) 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.

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.

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 (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

Following the establishment of the Belgian Air Force in 1946, its day fighter units originally standardised on the Supermarine Spitfire Mk.XIV. However, developments in military aviation made it clear that propeller-driven fighter types such as the Spitfire were verging on the edge of obsolete, and as early as 1947 the Belgian government expressed its interest in jet-powered fighter types. Following the evaluation and demonstration of both the Gloster Meteor and De Havilland Vampire at the Melsbroek Air Base in 1947, the former was selected to replace the Spitfires of the Belgian Air Force's no. 1 Wing at Beauvechain, with 48 Meteor F.4s (Belgian serials EF-1 to EF-48) being ordered on March 23rd 1949 to equip the Wing's squadrons, Nos. 349 and 350 Squadrons (16 aircraft each), with the balance initially being stored as attrition replacements before the decision was taken to use the aircraft to establish an additional squadron within the 1st Wing (No. 4 Squadron).

In April of 1948, Belgium became a co-signatory to the Western Union Defence Organisation, and as part of its defence commitments, a profound expansion of the Belgian Air Force was proposed, with its expansion to 12 day fighter and 3 night fighter squadrons. To fulfill these commitments, it was proposed to purchase no less than 288 Meteor day fighters - enough to equip 12 squadrons with 16 aircraft each (or 192 aircraft in total), as well as establishing a 'war reserve' of 50% (or 96 additional aircraft). Following the initial order of 48 Meteor F.4s, a series of follow-up orders was placed for the improved F.8 variant.

The initial order of Belgian Meteor F.8s was made in 1949, consisting of 23 aircraft diverted from an RAF order (Belgian serials EG-201 to 223) for service with 350 Squadron; these were followed by an order of 145 aircraft which would be built under license by Fokker at Schiphol Airport (Belgian serials EG-1 to EG-145) as well as an additional five ex-RAF Meteors overhauled by Fokker (Belgian serials EG-146 to EG-150). In addition, Gloster agreed to deliver 37 knock-down kits to Fairey Aviation for assembly at Gosselies (Belgian serials EG-224 to EG-260); Fokker in turn delivered an additional 30 Fokker-produced knock-down kits to Fairey Aviation for further assembly (Belgian serials EG-151 to 180).

Deliveries of the Meteor F.8s to the Belgian Air Force started in November of 1950, initially consisting of the diverted RAF order (November 1950 to February 1951); with deliveries of the Fokker-built Meteors commencing a month later (December 1950 to October 1954). The five additional ex-RAF Meteors were delivered in October 1951; and deliveries of Fairey-built Meteors commenced in August of 1952, lasting until October 1954. This steady stream of new aircraft allowed not only for the Belgian Air Force's existing day fighter squadrons to convert to the type, but also for a whole host of new squadrons to be established. Between 1949 and 1958, the 1st Wing at Beauvechain (349, 350 and 4 Squadron, all ex-Spitfire); 7th Wing at Chièvres (7, 8 and 9 Squadron, newly established in 1950); 13th Wing at Brustem (25, 29 and 33 Squadron, newly established in 1953); and 9th Wing at Bierset (22, 26 and 30 Squadron, all ex-Thunderjet); and the Fighter School, Target Tow Flight and 24 Squadron at Koksijde all flew the Meteor F.8; in addition, the 11th Squadron at Beauvechain, even though it was an All-Weather Squadron equipped with the Meteor NF.11 night-fighter variant, also kept a number of Meteor F.8s to allow its pilots to maintain their flying hours.

With the delivery of the Hunter F.4 from June 1956 onwards, the 1st, 7th and 9th Wing would quickly cede their Meteors; while the 13th Wing and 24th Squadron would be disbanded in 1958, leaving only the Fighter School and Target Tow Flight as the Belgian Air Force's sole remaining Meteor units. The latter unit disbanded on November 8th 1963, marking the end of 14 years of Gloster Meteor service in the Belgian Air Force.

Media

Excellent additions to the article would be video guides, screenshots from the game, and photos.

See also

Related development

• Meteor (Family)
  • Meteor F Mk 8 G.41K
  • Meteor F Mk.8 Reaper
  • Meteor F.8 (Israel)

Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era

• Me 262 (Family)
• Su-9 / Su-11
• Kikka
• F9F (Family)
• F-80A-5 / C-10

External links

• [Devblog] Dutch and Belgian Aircraft are Joining the French Tree!
• [Belgian Wings] Gloster Meteor F.8
• https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gloster_Meteor_F.8_%E2%80%98EG224_-_K5-K%E2%80%99_%2834339076780%29.jpg
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avions_Fairey