when Waterton was at the Central Fighter Establishment, he was selected for the High Speed Flight, preparing for an attempt at the world airspeed record with the RAF's first jet fighter, the Gloster Meteor. He achieved an average speed of 614 mph with Meteor IV EE550, only two mph less than that of the team leader E. M. Donaldson who established a new record with EE549 on 7 September 1946. Gloster Aircraft Company Following the high speed flights, Waterton joined the Gloster Aircraft Company in September 1946 as a development test pilot. He became the company's Chief Test Pilot, primarily in charge of experimental flight testing their new designs, the Meteor family, the experimental Gloster E.1/44, and the delta-wing Gloster GA.5 which entered service as the Gloster Javelin. He also was involved in acceptance test flying on production aircraft. On 6 February 1948, Waterton set the world 100 kilometres closed circuit air speed record flying a Gloster Meteor IV at 524.95 mph, although his record was broken a few weeks later by Mike Lithgow in a Supermarine Attacker. In 1950, Waterton was loaned to Avro Canada for the test flights of the Avro CF-100 Canuck because as a Canadian by birth, and as an experienced test pilot, it was considered a public relations triumph for the parent Hawker Siddeley Group. On 19 January 1950, he piloted the CF-100 prototype on its maiden flight, and stayed on as the aircraft proceeded through its company development trials and throughout a United States Air Force "fly-off" competition in May 1950. On his return to Gloster in 1951, Waterton found that he was continually at odds with management and even though he continued test flying, gave his superiors an ultimatum to address deficiencies in the Javelin fighter, that ended with his discharge in 1954. Aviation correspondent Following his dismissal from Gloster, Waterton became an aviation correspondent for the Daily Express; his columns fearlessly criticising British aviation and its aircraft. In 1955, he collaborated with Daily Express sub-editor Timothy Hewat on a book covering the de Havilland Comet crashes: The Comet Riddle. The following year, Waterton published his autobiography The Quick and the Dead in which he accused the British aviation industry of being badly run, aiming for a quick profit and lagging behind the Soviet and US industry. Due to advertiser pressure, Waterton was fired by the Daily Express, and his departure was covered