discussion Channel4 Tonight: Mosquito, "The Plane that Saved Britan"

[Guest]

In case anyone is interested (my next plane will be a mossie!).

Repeated tomorrow at 8 pm on 4seven.

Also, a sit-next-to-the-pilot flight in a Mosquito:

Also:

Battle Stations - Mosquito Attack - YouTube

 

[john i am]

Thanks for the post I will watch it tonight cheers

 

[colin m]

Nice one Steve. Probably my favourite aircraft.

 

[Guest]

Thanks, i didn't notice it was on so thats now my night sorted

 

[Guest]

For those who missed it, it is on 4Seven tomorow at 20:00.

 

[mossiepilot]

Thanks for the heads up, I've just recorded it to watch tomorrow.

Tony.

 

[Guest]

Just watched it , superb!

What a fantastic aircraft that is.

 

[Guest]

For those who missed it, it is on 4Seven tomorow at 20:00.

Thanks Roger recording at 8:00. Recording as it is wife's two hour soap exclusion zone.

Really great aircraft I think one of the best ever built in looks speed at the time delivery of armanents & the way De Havilland speculated & built it on that speculation.

Laurie

Steve if you build a mossie then go for Tamiya. Revell the one I made is OK but what I saw of the Tamiya it is a better model. Probably more expensive as well. Think both the Revell & Tamiya are articles as being built on this forum.

 

[john i am]

Just watched the repeat seems a shame that there is only one left that can fly

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[flyjoe180]

You guys might also be interested in this site:

Mosquito Aircraft Restoration, Auckland New Zealand

 

[Guest]

With so many multi-millionaires around now you would think that some would offer a wadge to get one built and flying, and get another Lancaster up in the air. If you have £25,000,000, what's an odd million or so. Now, if I won the Euro millions....

 

[Guest]

You guys might also be interested in this site: Mosquito Aircraft Restoration, Auckland New Zealand

I think that is the one featured in the movie that I posted above.

 

[flyjoe180]

Yes it is, it was restored in New Zealand and flown here for a few months prior to departing to the US. KA114 is finished in the markings of a 487 (NZ) Squadron machine that took part in the famous Amiens Prison raid.

 

[Guest]

A very nice & interesting film. I did some research for a film about the Mosquito & these are some conclusions of what might have been. I think a great chance was lost by bomber command with the Mosquito.

The essence in that the command was obsessed with heavy bombers without a realization, at least among the top commanders (although that might be stripped down to the top hat himself.) that they had the best bomber available in the world at that time. Compared to the Lancaster for instance. In the life of a Lancaster & the life of a Mosquito in very approx terms they dropped the same gross tonnage of bombs. Approx 25 mission Lancaster : 100 for the Mosquito. So it could be thought then that they were equals..

But first & foremost there were only two Crew for the Mossie & 7 crew for the Lanc. Those were the crew members lost who either died or became prisoners when one or other aircraft was destroyed. Perhaps not a nice thing to dwell on but those are the facts. Each crew member had to be taught his discipline. 7 Lancaster 2 Mosquito.

The Mosquito was infinitely the cheapest to build. There was no need for expensive guns in the Mosquito. It only had two engines compared to the Lancs 4.

The equal mission of a Mosquito’s flight time was near half the time in the air as that of a Lancaster. Much less wear & tear on the machinery & also most important less stress on the crew than those of a Lancaster. A Mosquito was able to bomb targets in a more tactical manner going towards pin point rather than the blanket bombing of a Lancaster.

Given a Mosquito force as opposed to a Lancaster force, from the Germans point of view, it would have needed more fighters as there would have been 4 times the number of Mossies compared to Lancaster bombers. Morale would have suffered on the German side as they would have been over whelmed. Often wondered how well radar worked against a mostly wooden built aircraft.

Easy of course to view all this at the distance in time. Facts can be twisted & fitted but never the less the above shows what an aircraft this was. The above gives facts but also a serious look into another scenario. Neither is it an attack on the roll of a Lancaster & crews. It is an interesting view of what may have been under a different head of Bomber Command.

Mosquito was most adaptable & this is a serious list of its potential. No other aircraft is equal then has been or now is in it’s potential.

Bomber tactical

strategic

Pathfinder

Night Fighter against German bombers over England

Night fighter intrusion over Germany against German night fighters

Both speculatively & in support of British heavy bombers over Germany

Day Fighter over Britain & Germany

Convoy protection & Submarine destroyer

Carrier aircraft

Low level bomber

Nuisance Bomber over Germany to disrupt factory performance

VI doodle bug destroyer

Reconnaissance missions.

Flew to Sweden bringing evaders & escaped prisoners back to Britain

Resistance duties

Special Duties of which there were a number but not enough with the potential of this aircraft.

A just lovely aircraft with such beautiful lines. Amazing that military aircraft born for such horrific duty can be so attractive.

Laurie

 

[AlanG]

With so many multi-millionaires around now you would think that some would offer a wadge to get one built and flying, and get another Lancaster up in the air. If you have £25,000,000, what's an odd million or so. Now, if I won the Euro millions....

There are a few WWII aircraft for sale around the world at the moment. I know of a Fw190 D9 ($1.2m) and a Bf109 E3 ($4.5m) for sale