Mosquito.

[tdm34]

A sight to make the heart beat just a little faster! and according to the rumours there may be
one in the pipeline for the UK...

http://www.warbirdrestoration.co.nz/current.html

[Eric Mc]

Looking good. There are a couple of projects afoot to get a Mossie back in the air.

[OldJohnnyYen]

Looks great, for some reason I thought these were made of wood!

[Simpo Two]

5 machine guns and 4 cannon? Blimey. NF variant?

[Eric Mc]

OldJohnnyYen said:

Looks great, for some reason I thought these were made of wood!

They are (mainly).

Regarding the gun and cannon armed versions, these were mainly used as long range ground attack and anti-shipping aircraft. The famous Banff Wing conducred lots of anti-shipping sorties over the North Sea and Norwegian coastal waters.

[tdm34]

Simpo Two said:

5 machine guns and 4 cannon? Blimey. NF variant?

The fifth hole in the nose is for the gun camera,

4 X .303in Browning machine guns and 4 X 20mm Hispano Cannons are standard fit for most
Mossies

[Eric Mc]

tdm34 said:

Simpo Two said:

5 machine guns and 4 cannon? Blimey. NF variant?

The fifth hole in the nose is for the gun camera,

4 X .303in Browning machine guns and 4 X 20mm Hispano Cannons are standard fit for most
Mossies

Not the bomber versions, which were unarmed and had a glazed nose for the bomb aimer.

[tdm34]

OldJohnnyYen said:

Looks great, for some reason I thought these were made of wood!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7cVvYdLeek

Silver dope over the fabric covering which in turn is over the Ply/Balsa construction of the fuselage

Here's some of the parts prior to restoration, have a look at the build thread on AVSpecs website
what they're doing is nothing short of miraculous

Edited by tdm34 on Monday 23 January 08:46

Edited by tdm34 on Monday 23 January 09:02

[dr_gn]

tdm34 said:

What's the yellow circle for? I've seen it on a few WW2 aircraft, usually on a plate behind the pilot's head. Is it some kind of designation for armour plate?

[tdm34]

dr_gn said:

tdm34 said:

What's the yellow circle for? I've seen it on a few WW2 aircraft, usually on a plate behind the pilot's head. Is it some kind of designation for armour plate?

There's loads of conjecture regarding the Yellow circles, but it's generally accepted that
it denotes armour plate, but that particular part looks like it an intermediate cockpit bulkhead
looking at the flare rack thats bolted to it.

Here's the part post restoration.

[Hooli]

It'd be brilliant to see a Mossie fly again, they are as iconic as Lancs to me. Plus they would be the plane of choice if I could have anything as a private aircraft.

[Ayahuasca]

Beautiful aircraft. Made partly from Ecuadorian balsa.

[Eric Mc]

Excellenty article on this aircraft and its restoration in the latest Aeroplane Monthly.

[dr_gn]

tdm34 said:

There's loads of conjecture regarding the Yellow circles, but it's generally accepted that
it denotes armour plate, but that particular part looks like it an intermediate cockpit bulkhead
looking at the flare rack thats bolted to it.

Here's the part post restoration.

I'm surprised there are so many random holes drilled in it if it's armour plate. The holes through the yellow bit don't look like production holes either.

[Tango13]

Eric Mc said:

tdm34 said:

Simpo Two said:

5 machine guns and 4 cannon? Blimey. NF variant?

The fifth hole in the nose is for the gun camera,

4 X .303in Browning machine guns and 4 X 20mm Hispano Cannons are standard fit for most
Mossies

Not the bomber versions, which were unarmed and had a glazed nose for the bomb aimer.

There was also the 'Tsetse' Mosquito which had four Brownings and a 57mm Molins gun used for anti-submarine work. The Brownings were used with tracer ammunition to help the pilots aim before letting rip with the big gun.

[Eric Mc]

Impressive but not that effective. Only a small number were made. It was found that a salvo of 60lb rockets was faer more effective against shipping.

[onyx39]

OldJohnnyYen said:

Looks great, for some reason I thought these were made of wood!

I am sure they were called the "Wooden Wonder"

[Eric Mc]

onyx39 said:

OldJohnnyYen said:

Looks great, for some reason I thought these were made of wood!

I am sure they were called the "Wooden Wonder"

I woudn't wonder

They were.

De Havilland had a lot of expertise in building monocoque wood airframes. They had already built the DH88 Comet Racer and the DH91 Albatross - both wooden.

[Ayahuasca]

Carried a similar bomb load to a B17; here is one livening up Gestapo headquarters.

[Eric Mc]

Designed to a totally different philosphy and quite a few years later.