Meteor F.3 EE310 at Church Fenton airfield.
In theory, 263 Squadron had just moved to Lubeck, Germany on 31st October 1946 but some of their recently allocated but unservicable Meteor aircraft remained at Church Fenton until they were made servicable. The undercarriage mechanism of Meteor EE310 appears to have caused some trouble and may have been why this aircraft did make the earlier move. The aircraft had been placed in a jig to test the operation and all appeared fine prior to a test flight. On 7th November 1946 the test flight was made but the nosewheel of Meteor EE310 collapsed on landing at Church Fenton airfield, before the aircraft could be stopped the port undercarriage also collapsed.
Pilot - F/Lt George Millar Donaldson RAF (49277).
The published history of Meteor EE310 is missing some details for 1946. It was taken on charge as new by 74 Squadron at Colerne on 1st June 1945 where it was coded "4D-P". It then moved to 263 Squadron but no date for the transfer is given in the published history. On 7th November 1946 it received a Cat.B/FA damage assessment following the incident at Church Fenton. The aircraft appears to have sat at Church Fenton in a damaged state for some months until being collected and transported to 38 MU at Colerne on 6th May 1947. It then passed to 32 MU at St.Athan on 7th October 1947 before returning to 38 M.U. (then at Llandow) on 4th July 1949. On 24th March 1950 it was taken on charge by 206 A.F.S. at Oakington. On 16th January 1951 it was flown to Westland Aircraft Ltd. at Yeovil then flown to 29 MU at High Ercall on 19th September 1951. On 1st January 1953 it was taken on charge by 210 A.F.S. at Tarrant Rushton. On 7th April 1954 it went to 33 M.U. at Lyneham. On 16th April 1956 it was passed to the Ministry of Supply for use as a ground target at P.E.E. Shoeburyness. After this nothing more is known of the aircraft.