An unusual formation

[garyscott]

Nice shot of the first Lancastrian, my guess its a publicity shot either in the run up to, or on the way to, Farnborough airshow. Possibly late 40's, early 50's?

[graham luxton]

Very interesting photo. The Lancastrian is a Turbojet Test Bed.

[rh226]

According to Wikipedia, this Nene-Lancastrian (VH742) set a "first". On 23 November 1946, it flew the very first international all-jet passenger flight from London to Paris.

[paddyboy]

That is one amazing photo

Thanks for sharing

Paddyboy

[Thunderbird167]

Rolls Royce Flight Test and Development Aircraft in Formation

The Meteor has Trent turboprops. I think the Vampire is the Nene development aircraft

This is before 1951 as the Hornet was withdrawn at this time

[jetnoise]

A rare shot indeed - what a variety of types - much more diverse than what we get these days.

Thanks for posting.

[Supra]

Definitely some Test & Evaluation Unit on a jolly? Aside from the modified Lancastrian & Meteor, I found at first-look the 'Mosquito' to be fitted with a very similar nose section/canopy to a Vampire? Then registered the squared-off wing / tail-plane tips & smaller engine cowlings. Hey!.. this is a DH103 Hornet, but a very early (pre-production?) model having a 'Mossie' tailfin without the later integral forward fillet for extra stabilisation.
Can't see anything special about the starboard Meteor & Vampire, but there probably is!
Very interesting photo & many thanks for posting.
Edit:- crossed with two previous posts.

[Thunderbird167]

The picture was taken in 1948 prior to the Farnborough Airshow.

The Meteor is probably RA490 the one with Metropolitan-Vickers Beryl Engines

[Thunderbird167]

Hey!.. this is a DH103 Hornet, but a very early (pre-production?) model having a 'Mossie' tailfin without the later integral forward fillet for extra stabilisation.

Standard Hornet F.1 which did not have the extra fillet which was a feature of the F.3