Rushed into action on 22 July 1944 to help counter the V1 threat, Britain’s Gloster Meteor I was the first jet fighter to enter RAF service. At low and medium altitudes the Meteor was faster than its piston-engined contemporaries, which in turn made it perfectly suited to ‘anti-Diver’ V1 operations.
On 4 August the Meteor scored its first V1 victory. Having just closed in on a flying bomb, Flg Off Dean of No 616 Sqn squeezed the trigger but his guns jammed. Using the Meteor’s superior speed, he was able overtake the missile and, using his wing tip, he tipped the craft over and sent it crashing into the ground.

This was the first time a jet-powered enemy aircraft had been destroyed by a jet fighter without a shot being fired! It was also the world’s first jet versus jet encounter.