While the French industry was struggling to recover, the British could show state-of-the-art war machines at the 1946 Salon. VB857 was a Sea Fury prototype begun by Boulton-Paul, but with the end of the war in sight, Sea Fury production at Boulton-Paul was cancelled and VB857 was completed by Hawker. Of the two Gloster Meteor F.4s, the rear one with the long-span wing is EE549, then holder of the official absolute world speed record at 991 km/h (616 mph). Photo from: Bibliothèque nationale de France - Gallica