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| Date: | Tuesday 4 January 1944 |
| Time: | day |
| Type: |  Gloster Meteor prototype |
| Owner/operator: | RAE Farnborough (Turbine Flt) |
| Registration: | DG204/G |
| MSN: | |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1 |
| Other fatalities: | 0 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | Farnborough Airfield, Farnborough, Hampshire, England -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | Approach |
| Nature: | Test |
| Departure airport: | Farnborough Airport, Hampshire (EGLF) |
| Farnborough Airport, Hampshire |
The final engine used on the Gloster Meteor was the MetroVick F.2, built by Metropolitan-Vickers to a design from the Royal Aircraft Establishment. While the W.2 and H.1 both used centrifugal compressors, which were simple but less efficient, the MetroVick F.2 used an axial compressor.
This was more complex but also more efficient and was used by the main German jet engines. Both types are still in use in modern engines. The MetroVick F.2 powered Meteor F.Mk.1 DG204/G would be the fifth Meteor prototype to take to the air, on 13 November 1943, but it was destroyed in a crash on 4 January 1944, and would remain the only MetroVick powered Meteor. The ‘/G’ appended to the aircraft serial denoted that the aircraft was always to have an armed guard when it was on the ground.
The F.2 engine itself went on to be the basis of the Armstrong-Siddeley F2/4 Beryl and then the F.9 Sapphire, which was used to power a number of post-war aircraft, amongst them the Gloster Javelin and the Hawker Hunter
Written off (destroyed) on 4 January 1944, William Davie was piloting a Gloster F9/40 (DG204/G) a precursor of the Meteor Mark I, making a series of high-speed runs at height of 20,000 feet over Farnborough. During one of these runs the Meteor's port Metropolitan-Vickers F2 engine exploded. William attempted to abandon the aircraft but suffered a severe injury in exiting the cockpit and was killed when he struck the tailplane. William was 25 years of age. He is buried in the family grave in Old Monkland Cemetery - Grave/Memorial Reference: Sec. B. Grave 6 and commemorated on Mearns Parish Kirk, Glasgow Academy, Glenalmond College and Trinity College War Memorials.
Crew of Meteor DG204/G
Squadron Leader (72481) William Douglas Bow Symington DAVIE, RAFVR (Pilot) on assignment to the RAE Turbine Flight - killed on active service 4.1.44, buried at Old Monkland Cemetery, Coatbridge, North Lanarkshire, Scotland
Sources:
1. https://www.rafcommands.com/database/serials/details.php?uniq=DG204
2. http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/weapons_gloster_meteor_development.html
3. CWGC: https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2715879/william-douglas-bow-symington-davie/
4. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/69851559/william-douglas_bow_symington-davie
5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolitan-Vickers_F.2#F.2
6. http://www.manstonhistory.org.uk/jet-engine-development-the-gloster-meteor-and-the-v1-threat/
7. Air Britain Aeromilitaria Summer 2009: https://air-britain.com/pdfs/aeromilitaria/Aeromilitaria_2009.pdf p.68
8. https://www.mearnshistory.org.uk/index.php/history/mearnskirk-hospital/memories-of-nurse-margaret-crowley/35-ww2/196-william-d-b-symington-davie
9. https://www.hampshireairfields.co.uk/hancrash.html
Location
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 21-Jul-2009 21:54 | VHKDK | Added |
| 12-May-2012 17:25 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Date, Registration, Operator, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Other fatalities, Location, Phase, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 26-Jul-2023 19:15 | Dr. John Smith | Updated |
| 27-Jul-2023 13:33 | Dr. John Smith | Updated |
| 03-Nov-2023 22:35 | Nepa | Updated |
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