Corgi Aviation Archive Collector Series
AA35009 Gloster Meteor F.Mk 9 Diecast Model
RAF No. 208 Sqn, RAF Nicosia, Cyprus, 1956
With grateful thanks to Doug Johns is a rare colour p
hotograph of ‘O’ Oscar, which has appeared in FlyPast Magazine and was also a limited-edition model produced by Corgi of a 208 Squadron Meteor 9.
This suberb 
model is one of the Corgi 50th Anniversary celebration models. The very low production run of only 500 means that this will be extremely hard to find in years to come. Complete with optional undercarriage and airbrake positions, this is a De-Certificated model, which means the certificate has been removed and the box annotated to denote the fact.
Corgi’s own advertisement states the following:
With the arrival of the Meteors in Cyprus came new squadro
n markings of bars flanking the roundels comprising sky blue and yellow horizontal bands, denoting the “sky and the desert". These markings are still carried today on the Squadron’s Hawk aircraft at RAF Valley, Anglesey.
Gloster Meteor F.Mk 9
Designed as a turbojet-powered fighter in a time when piston-engined aircraft still dominated the skies, the Gloster Meteor first flew on March 5, 1943. The Meteor was the first British jet fighter and the only Allied jet aircraft to see service during WWII. It debuted around the same time as the German Me 262, but was not used for dogfighting – instead, Meteors were used to combat the V1 Flying Bomb. The Meteor’s service during WWII was limited, but it saw combat during the Korean war and was used by the Royal Australian Air Force and by the Air Forces of more than a dozen other nations until its ultimate retirement in the 1970s.
Product information
Corgi’s 1:72 scale Meteor series includes both early and late variants of the F. Mk 8. The early F8 variant features longer engine nacelles and obstructed visibility behind the pilot, with the latter featuring shorter engine nacelles with a larger intake and a full canopy. Four 20mm cannon guns - the aircraft’s main weapons – are visible just below the cockpit.
