This Gloster Meteor was on display at the Musée royal de l’armée et de l’histoire militaire or Royal Museum of the Armed Forces and Military History in Brussels.
After the Second World War, European air forces faced the challenge of modernising their fleets. For the Belgian Air Force, this meant transitioning from piston-engine fighters like the Spitfire to the new era of jet propulsion. The answer came in the form of the Gloster Meteor, a twin-engine fighter that had already made history as the only Allied jet to see combat in WWII.
Belgium became a major operator of the Meteor, eventually acquiring a total of 355 aircraft, more than any other overseas customer. The first to arrive were the Meteor F.4s in 1949, which equipped the Beauvechain-based 1st Wing. These were soon followed by the more advanced Meteor F.8s, a variant with a stretched fuselage, a redesigned tail, and a more powerful engine. The F.8s were so vital to Belgium’s air defense that many were built under license in the Netherlands and by the Belgian company Avions Fairey.
The Belgian Air Force also operated the two-seat Meteor T.7 trainer and the all-weather night fighter variant, the Meteor NF.11. The introduction of these aircraft allowed the Belgian Air Force to establish dedicated night fighter squadrons and modernize its pilot training programs. The Meteor era saw the formation of the “Acrobobs,” an aerobatic team from the 1st Fighter Wing at Beauvechain, which was a precursor to the famous “Red Devils” display team.
The Gloster Meteor was a workhorse for the Belgian Air Force throughout the 1950s, serving as the backbone of its fighter and night fighter squadrons. It wasn’t until the arrival of more advanced aircraft like the Hawker Hunter and Avro CF-100 Canuck that the Meteor began to be phased out. The last Belgian Meteor, a target-towing version, was retired in 1963, marking the end of a significant chapter in Belgian aviation history. Today, a few examples are preserved in museums, a testament to the jet that helped launch the Belgian Air Force into the modern age of military aviation.
