Gloster Meteor

TerryClark wrote:

Not sure when it was but I can remember an NF11 being ferried to Blackbushe from Farnborough by Neil Williams; I don't think it was WM167 'cos it was a bit later than 1975.
Anyway, the flight was booked out with ATC over the phone as normal, he called for taxy, took off and went.
When Commanding Officer Experimental Flying (COEF) returned from lunch a short time later, sh1t hit the fan; 'why had we (ATC) let him go as the flight hadn't been authorised and there was still paperwork to complete'.
We explained it wasn't our fault; it wasn't up to us to check authorisation sheets etc. in fact, until that day, we hadn't even known the aircraft was at Farnborough as it was in a hangar on the far side of the airfield from us and when/how it arrived we had no record.

Thinking back , as Neil was killed in late 1977, maybe the aircraft was '167.
When I heard what had happened to Neil, a chill ran down my spine; a few days previously, I had visited Blackbushe Tower where old Reg, the contrroller, ruefully told me he couldn't calculate a QFE because 'the guvnor (Doug Arnold) had given Neil the tower altimeter to use in the next He111 flight' which was the fatal one. Whether this contributed to the crash no one can tell though but gawd knows when it was last calibrated.

It was WM167. Picture of it at Blackbushe

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You can see the 'TT' markings on the underside; it must have been ferried in to Farnborough from Llanbedr then remained in storage pending disposal.

WS776 on gate guard duties at North Luffenham -

Photo taken in 1991 by Nigel Bailey-Underwood