Instructions were received that the unit was being re-equipped with a 'secret' aircraft. It was April 1944 and Sqn Ldr Lionel Watts DFC, the commanding officer of 616 (South Yorkshire) Auxiliary Air Force Squadron, was left wondering what was going on. The unit, based at Fairwood Common in South Wales, had been in existence for a mere six years and always flown high-altitude Supermarine Spitfire Ⅶs. On May 26, Watts and Fg Off Mike Cooper, one of die unit's most experienced pilots and die survivor of 3 bale-outs and a walk home through France, Spain and Gibraltar, left for Farnborough. There they discovered that the 'secret' was the Rolls-Royce Welland-powered Meteor jet.
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