Early British Jets

IPMSStockholm Magazine

Raul Hrubisko

Part 1: Gloster's Contribution

In the beginning of 1938, British Air Ministry decided to put an order to Gloster for the

development of a new experimental aircraft powered by the new Whittle jet engine. With this

the British aircraft industry entered the jet age.

A contract E.28/39 for two prototypes was signed by the Air Ministry in January 1940 and

the first of these was completed by April 1941. Although the Gloster E.28/39 was not able to

achieve high speeds, it proved to be a capable experimental platform and paved the way for

Britain's first operational jet aircraft, the Gloster Meteor, followed shortly by others.

My collection of early British jet aircraft includes the following models, 23 in all:

Armstrong Whitworth A.W. 52 TS363 (P)

de Havilland DH 100 Vampire LZ548/G

de Havilland DH 100 Vampire LZ551/G

de Havilland DH 100 Vampire TG 274/G

de Havilland DH 108 Swallow Lo Speed TG283 (P)

de Havilland DH 108 Swallow High Speed VW120 (P)

Gloster G41 Meteor DG204/G

Gloster G41 Meteor DG206/G

Gloster G41 Meteor MKI EE214/G

Gloster G41 Meteor MKI EE240

Gloster G41 Meteor MKIII EE318

Gloster G41 Meteor MKIII TRENT (Ex EE227)

Gloster G41 Meteor MKIII HI SPEED EE454

Gloster G41 Meteor MKIII HI SPEED EE455

Gloster G41 Meteor MKIII EE416

Gloster G41 Meteor MKIV EE592

Gloster Whittle E28/39 Pioneer W4041

Gloster Whittle E28/39 Pioneer W4041

Gloster G.42 Ace TX145 (P)

Miles M 39A Jet Bomber U0245 (P)

Miles M 52 (Project E24/43)

Saunders-Roe SRA1 SR44 TG263 (P)

Supermarine 392 TS409

Gloster Whittle

The Gloster company built two E.28/39 machines, these were serialled W4041 and W4046. I

built the the W4041 in two different versions, representative of the early and late

configurations of this aircraft. Both models were made using the old Frog and Novo kits with a

few modifications.

Gloster Meteor

The Gloster Company received a contract F.9/40 for twelve prototypes from DG202 to

DG2013 on February 14th, 1941. The idea was to prove the viability of different engines and

configurations. I made only two of these prototypes.

DG206/G and DG204/G

DG206/G was the third prototype powered by the Havilland 2.300 lb Halford H.1 engines which

was the first F.9/40 to fly. Michael Daunt flew the aircraft redesigned as F9/40H for the first

time at Croswell on 5 March 1943.

The DG204/G (F9/40M) was powered by 1.900 lb Metrovick F.2 engines. The first flight took

place on November 13th, 1943 at RAE Farnborough. The aircraft was then lost on 1 April 1944

after only 3 hours and 9 minutes of flying time.

I used the old Airfix Gloster Meteor Mk III kit for both models but had to make several

modifications to them, such as: new canopies, new scratchbuilt engines, modified tails and a

few smaller items.

EE214/G

Positioned beneath the fuselage of EE214/G is the 100 gal external fuel tank which first flew on

the aircraft on 1st May 1944. This was intended as a cure for Meteor's limited range. This

design eventually led to the development for a jettisonable tank.

The model was made using an Airfix Mk III kit with an own vacuum formed canopy and

(obviously) a new external fuel tank

EE240

On 20th January 1945 four operational aircraft were deployed to Melsbroek in Belgium to

provide the base with air defence but also with the intention of drawing the German Me 262

units into combat. Despite a series of flights to display the new type to the Allied anti gunners

the pilots still found the odd round fired at them during sorties over friendly territory and in

another attempt to distinguish themselves from the Me 262 and to provide themselves a

measure of winter camouflage the aircraft were given a coat of white distemper over the

standard Dark Grey and Ocean green upper camouflage.

The model was made using an Airfix Mk III too with an own vacuum formed canopy.

EE318

The Meteor F Mk III of the 74 Squadron RAF stationed at Colerne, UK during 1945. These

markings are actually one of the options which came with the Airfix Meteor kit.

EE454 “Britannia” and EE455 “Yellow peril”

Before “real” production of F Mk 4 became available two late F Mk IIIs (EE454 and EE455)

were taken off the production line and modified to the F Mk 4 standard for use by the reformed

RAF High Speed Flight. The aircraft retained long span wings but were fitted with prototype

Derwent 5 engines with long nacelles. The aircraft were specially prepared for an attempt on

the world speed record. On 7 November 1945 Group Captain H. H Wilson CO of the ETPS flew

EE454 to an average speed of 606 mph in 4 hours setting a new record while Eric Greenwood,

Gloster's chief test pilot managed to achieve 603 mph in EE455.

I have cloned all the necessary pieces (fuselage, wings, etc) to make these two models

using the JP kit as a master piece because unfortunately it is no longer available in the market.

The wings were extended in scratch.

I bought the decals for the Yellow peril many years ago from Dutch Decal.

Due to the fact that the fuselage, tail, elevator were resin parts I had to use a lot of weight to

keep the balance. I even put weight into the engine nacelles.

EE592

This model represents a typical F Mk 4 powered by Roll Royce Derwent 5 turbojets. I used the

JP kit.

EE416

Martin Baker initially used a Boulton-Paul Defiant for their ejection seat tests but in November

1945 acquired a Meteor Mk III EE416, which had a second cockpit added in place of the

ammunition bay, behind the normal cockpit. The extra cockpit had no flying controls and was

intended only to accommodate a seat under test. Benny Lynch made the first succesful

ejection in the UK using a Martin Baker seat on 24th July 1946.

I had to perform some an important modification in order to add the second seat. In this

case is a Martin Baker Mk I seat which I bought from Aeroclub. Both the model and the canopy

are clones.

Trent (Ex EE227)

In February 1945, with the RAF's immediate needs catered for by the delivery of the improved

Meteor F.3, EE227 was converted back to F.1 standard and handed over to the Rolls-Royce

facility at Hucknall as a flying testbed for the newly developed RB.50 Trent propeller-turbine,

or turboprop. This kind of powerplant offered many of the advantages of the turbine power -

relative simplicity, high power and lack of vibration, combined with the proven capabilities of

the propeller: high aerodynamic efficiency even up to quite high Mach numbers. The Gloster

Trent-Meteor first flew on September 20th, 1945.

To make this model I used an Airfix Gloster Meteor Mk III as a base but with the following

scratchbuild modifications:

New nacelles

New spinner and corresponding propellers

New tail plane

Own canopy

The undercarriage was enlarged

Part 2: de Havilland and Others

de Havilland DH 100 Vampire

On April 22nd, 1942 de Havilland received a go-ahead for construction of two prototypes

of its own jet design. The first prototype originally called Spider Crab , LZ548/G, flown on 20th

September 1943 piloted by Geoffrey de Havilland Jr. Powered by a 2,700lb thrust Halford H.1

engine, it was airborne for 30 minutes. During this time the test pilot found some instability

above 400 mph.

The second prototype LZ551/G was the second Spider Crab to fly on 17th March 1944. It

had a revised shape fin and rudders. It was selected to carry out trials for Vampire suitability

as a naval jet fighter for operating from aircraft carrier. I has a different canopy.

The LZ548 and LZ551 were made from an Airfix kit with the corresponding scratch build

modifications on the tail planes. I made my own vacuum formed canopies.

The third Vampire that I made was the TG274/G which was the first production Vampire flew

from Salisbury on 20th April 1945 and was delivered to Boscombe Down during June 1945.

Javier Planells kindly donated a Marivox conversion to build this model.

The Vampire was did not see operational service during WWII, which is the reason why my

Vampire collection ends at this point.

Other Experimental Types of WW2 Origin

The following aircraft flew after the end of the conflict but I decided to build them because their development or testing was begun during the War.

Supermarine Type 392

Three prototypes of this aircarft were made under the specification E.10/44. These carried the serial numbers TS409, TS413, TS416. This aircraft displayed a large degree of commonality with the propeller-driven Spiteful. The first prototype flew in the middle of 1946. It was the first venture of Supermarine in the jet aircraft area.

I built the TS409 from an old Supermarine Attacker Frog kit. I had to reduce the fuselage by 5 mm and produce a new canopy.

SAROSR.A1

Inspired by the developments of the war against Japan in the Pacific, in 1943 Sir Arthur Rouge

of Saunders Roe conceived the idea of a small jet-propelled flying boat fighter.

Three prototype allocated serial TG263; TG267 and TG271 were accepted under the

specification E.6/44 but the design had appeared too late in the war. However, the first

machine TG263 was built. The maiden flight was made on July 16th, 1947.

The only kit of this unique aircraft available some years ago was the vacuum formed kit of

Formaplane which unfortunately was very basic. After a lot of work I was happy, even

completely satisfied with the result. For those interested in modelling the SR.A1, another.

much better kit is available now from Planet Models.

Gloster E.1/44

With the experience acquired after the Gloster Whittle and the Gloster Meteor, this company

proposed in January 1942 a refined jet fighter with a pressurised canopy and a maximum

speed of 485 mph at 30.000 feet. Specification E.1/44 was written around it.

In July 1947 as the first aircraft was being delivered by road to Boscombe Down for testing.

Unfortunately the vehicle jack-knifed under transport and the SM809 was damaged beyond

repair. Work was speeded up on the second airframe TX145, which took to the air on March

9th, 1948 flown by Bill Waterton. The aircraft performed quite satisfactorily.

This model was made using a vacuum form kit from Project X.

de Havilland DH 108 Swallow Lo Speed TG283 (P) de Havilland DH 108 Swallow High Speed VW120 (P) Armstrong Whitworth A.W. 52 TS363 (P)

These three models were included in my previously published article Tailless and Canard Experimental Aircraft

of the RAF.

Miles M 39A Jet Bomber U0245 (P)

Miles M 52 (Project E24/43)

These two aircraft only reached a project stage and therefore never flew. They were included

in another of my previous articles - 47 Miles of Scratchbuilding.