The Gloster Meteor was the first operational Allied jet fighter aircraft. First flying in 1943, it entered combat in the late summer of 1944, sharing the title of the first operational jet with the German Messerschmitt Me 262. The night fighter Meteors remained in service for many years after the war. In early 1946 Gp Capt Teddy Donaldson broke the world speed record in a Meteor IV EE549 at 616 mph TAS. Test pilot Roland Beamont had previously taken the same aircraft to its compressibility limit at 632 mph, but not under official record condition and outside its official safety limits.