"The Wooden Wonder" The De Havilland Mosquito's nick-name says it all. The aircraft was arguably the most versatile in WWII. Mosquitos served as fast bombers (go to Bombing!), day and night fighters (go to Fighting), bomber-escorts, Pathfinders, photo-reconnaissance (go to Photo-Recon), U-boat hunters, and as the Gestapo's personal nightmare. The mosquito concept of a light, unarmed and extremely fast bomber started life as a private experiment by de Havilland. Initially the RAF top brass met the mosquito with disinterest and scorn. To them there was no place in the modern RAF for an old fashioned all wood aircraft with fabric covered control surfaces. History went on to prove them wrong because 7,781 (including 212 in Australia) of these aircraft were built, and flown with extraordinary success. When the prototype was trialed on the 25^th November 1940 it achieved 624 km/h in front of stunned officials. (Bowman, 1995) (go to Performance) This speed placed it 32 km/h faster than the contemporary MK.V. Spitfire. Fitted with new engines the prototype achieved 703 km/h, the fastest any Mosquito has flown (Wilson, 1990). The Mosquito in flight above is from Web Birds.

The Mossie could deliver more bombs over time than its larger cousins, relying on its speed and manoeuvrability to evade interception. They shot down enemy bombers over London and clawed V1 flying bombs out of English skies. Over the continent Mossies harassed aircraft and airfields, and could drop a 4000 lb (1840kg) bomb on Berlin in broad daylight. Mossies targeted individual buildings with pin point accuracy, favourite targets were Gestapo headquarters. The wooden airframe was built without using the already overtaxed metal working industries, could soak up terrible punishment and still get its crew home, and was then easily repaired. (go to Construction) To view images of the Mossie click here!

Bombing

Most RAF pilots wanted to fly the Mosquito, especially the bomber crews for whom the Mosquito was such an improvement over their earlier aircraft. While normal payloads were four 250 lb bombs or four 500 pounders, the Mosquito could carry a 4000 lb (1840kg) "Cookie" across Europe safely. The mosquitos typically flew at roof top height while bombing, this combined with their speed rendered most flak ineffective. One mosquito returned from a raid on the railway yards at Flensburg with pieces of chimney-pot lodged in his nose after hitting a roof! On the 11^th April 1944 Mosquitos of 2 group, 2^nd tactical airforce flew to The Hague in Holland. Their target the Gestapo controlled Dutch Central Population Registry, which the Dutch Resistance had requested destroyed to prevent identification of false id. Papers. Armed with 500 lb incendiary/high explosive bombs, the three pairs of aircraft approached the target close to the Peace Palace. The second plane clearly saw the first's bombs skip through the front doors of the building. The target was totally destroyed and only one aircraft was slightly damaged. (Bowman, 1995) The record for most number of sorties in WWII is held by F for Freddie at 213! Image from Freddie page.

Armed with four .303 Browning machine guns and four 20mm Hispano Cannons, both nose mounted, the Mosquito packed a fearsome punch. Mosquitos shot down enemy bombers of all descriptions (over 1000 in 1943-44 (Bowman, 1995)), along with V1 flying bombs. On Intruder and Ranger patrols over Europe, Mosquitos shot down Bombers, night fighters, seaplanes and even the occasional Me 109 and FW 190. Armed with a 57mm cannon, the Mosquito attacked shipping and U-boats with marked success. Compare the Mossie to its RAF brothers, click here.

Figures for M.b35 variant (Bowman, 1997)

Construction

The Mosquito's wooden construction meant it could be made very smooth. The fuselage was made in left and right halves, which were shaped in concrete rigs and then joined. They were made of balsa wood between two layers of birch plywood. Cement was applied between the layers and they were held together with metal bands until set. The internal fitting were added and the two halves joined. The rest of the airframe was primarily made of Canadian spruce, with birch plywood covering. Engine mountings and hardpoints were of Walnut. The wing was built in one piece and attached to the fuselage later. 550 brass screws held the aircraft together, along with glue, initially Casein, but this was found to be prone to fungal attack and a synthetic glue called Beetle replaced it. (Bowman, 1995, Bowman 1997, Wilson, 1990) In Australia, the birch ply was replaced with coachwood ply for the first 70 aircraft, but it was found to lack the stiffness required for the wings and subsequently its use in wings was discontinued. Aviation-history supplied the image of the mould above. Australian Mossies were built by De Havilland Australia using more than 70 contractors in and around Sydney, including Holden.

To visit one of the best Mossie sites on the net, click here! (The Mosquito Page)

http://www.asmac.ab.ca/mossy.html

http://www.asmac.ab.ca/freddie.html

http://uboat.net/allies/aircraft/mosquito.htm

http://aviation-history.com/

http://www.web-birds.com/mosquito/mosquito.html

Image from Web Birds, visit Web Birds to see more great images of Mossies and other aircraft!

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