The Malta Aviation Museum at Ta’ Qali has just finished reassembling the 101 parts that make up a Gloster Meteor Mark F8 it received from the UK last week.

The assembly team, led by the museum aircraft restorer David Polidano, burnt the midnight oil in getting the 60-year-old aircraft back on its undercarriage legs in the new main hangar.

The Meteor was the first operational jet fighter to enter service with the Royal Air Force in the summer of 1944 and its first task was to shoot down or cause to crash by destabilising the gyros of the hundreds of Nazi secret V1 weapons that were raining down on Britain after D-day.

It continued in production into the early 1950s and was exported to air forces the world over.

Improvements and modifications over the years led to the Mark F8, which was a day fighter, and the Marks NF 11 and 14, which were night fighters, equipped with radar.

Meteors were a common sight in Malta’s skies in the 1950s and early 1960s and the latest specimen at the museum sports the markings and insignia of 500 Squadron of the Royal Auxiliary Air Force, which was deployed to Malta during summer camps at Ta’ Qali.

The Meteor was acquired for the museum by one of its leading benefactors, David Dalton, who served with the RAF at Ta’ Qali airfield during those years with 600 Squadron and who has already procured a number of other aircraft for it.

The museum is considering repainting it in the colours of Mr Dalton’s 600 Squadron as a sign of appreciation for the huge support he has given over the past decade.