So they decided while he was there he should pitch in and give the Japs a taste of the Mosquito. After he arrived they were informed the bomb would explode to close to the aircraft so he was no longer required to test it. Was sent up to Borneo to test a new cluster bomb. My father flew the first Mosquito attack on the Japanese in the South Pacific. Shame about the glue in the Far East, until they sorted it, but a great 'plane nonetheless. One of the finest, beautiful, versatile aircraft ever to fly. Went recently to the museum Potters bar & was in awe to be able to stand next to such a machine - wonderful day Why was it just used in bombing missions as a pathfinder?Ī superb beautiful multi role combat aircraft. I'm with "shel" ~ why didn't we use the faster, more elusive Mosquito as a major bomber in ETO? Even if it carried less ordnance than the B-17, it was a lot more accurate. My father, being a carpenter, but wanting to be a pilot, worked on repairing the Mosquitos when they returned from their sorties in the far east. To call a piece of shit just shows total ignorance of the aircraft. It was built to do a job and it did it exceptionally well. If it was a metal aircraft it would have been much slower. There is no doubt one of the short comings of the mosquito was that it was made out of wood, but it was built for a purpose and speed was an important factor. BTW A*****e, it's I before e, except after c. Quite well done with a lot of Mosquitos in flying sequences.
#THE LAST WOOD FIGHTER PLANE MOVIE#
Just saw the movie Mosquito Squadron with David McCallum, about using Barnes Wallis's Highball,a smaller version of the Dambusting Upkeep bomb to destroy a secret Nazi V rocket testing facility in France. I had the sad privilege in 1963 to see 4 Mosquitos from No 3 CAACU at RAF Exeter at RAF Chivenor during their farewell flypast of the stations they served as target tugs. Including 1,342 Mosquitoes built in Australia and Canada, total construction was 7,781 aircraft when production ended in November 1950Ĥ x 20mm cannon, 4 x 7.7mm machine guns, 900kg of bombs
For reconnaissance duties the Mosquito was the RAF's major long-range aircraft in this category, serving in Europe, Burma and the South Pacific. Mosquito fighters were to distinguish themselves in fighter-bomber, anti-shipping and night-fighter roles, and were to destroy some 600 V-1 flying-bombs in the defence of Britain. Mosquito bombers, which had entered service carrying a 907kg bomb load, were later to carry a 1800kg block-buster in a bulged bomb bay. PR Mosquitoes also had the distinction of being the last in RAF front-line service,īeing withdrawn in December 1955.
Many Mosquito variants were built within the three bomber/fighter/reconnaissance categories the first into service being PR aircraft which made their initial daylight sorties over Paris on 20 September 1941. Towards the end of the war Mosquito units were averaging one aircraft loss per 2,000 sorties - by far the lowest figure recorded by Bomber Command.
In fact later versions capable of higher performance showed that the original de Havilland concept of an aircraft too fast to be intercepted was correct. There had, of course, been some official misgivings that such an unorthodox aircraft could carry out its combat task and survive in the war skies over Europe. The Mosquito was to prove that it was more than capable of performing any task, and in the process is remembered as a truly outstanding British aircraft of World War II. The second and third prototypes were fighter and reconnaissance variants respectively. Power plant comprised two Rolls-Royce Merlin in-line engines, driving constant-speed and fully feathering propellers. Key to this performance was the lightweight wooden construction: a plywood-balsa-plywood sandwich producing a resilient but light fuselage structure which could accept an enormous amount of punishment, and yet retain its integrity.
When demonstrated to official guests at Hatfield, they were astounded to see its fighter-like manoeuvrability and its amazing performance with one engine feathered. This first prototype, of quite unorthodox construction, flew for the first time on 25 November 1940. However realisation of a prototype was delayed for one reason and another until the beginning of 1940. It was to carry no defensive armament, relying upon superior speed to evade enemy aircraft. Most aviation enthusiasts will know the usual stories of de Havilland's "wooden wonder", the all-wood bomber which was first planned by the company in 1938. Virtual Aircraft Museum / United Kingdom / De Havilland
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