GLOSTER METEOR BRITISH JET AIRCRAFT ENGINE REPLACEMENT ROYAL CANADIAN AIR FORCE (SILENT) 49134

This raw, silent footage shows a Gloster Meteor, (probably tail VT196), in a hangar with maintenance crew working on it, and swapping out an engine. This particular aircraft was likely a Mark IV (VT196) which came to Canada in July 1953 for winterization trials, and this footage may date from that time frame. From January 1954 onwards this particular plane was used in developing the afterburner system for Canada’s Orenda engine. This enabled the aircraft to reach 20,000 feet in three minutes. VT196 went back to Britain in June 1955 where it was used in further experimental work until 1962. .The Gloster Meteor was the first British jet fighter and the Allies’ only operational jet aircraft during the Second World War. The Meteor’s development was heavily reliant on its ground-breaking turbojet engines, pioneered by Sir Frank Whittle and his company, Power Jets Ltd. Development of the aircraft itself began in 1940, although work on the engines had been under way since 1936. The Meteor first flew in 1943 and co