The De Haviland Mosquito is one of my
favourite aircraft of all time.
It was called the "wooden wonder" because in a
wartime era of shortages of steel and more pressing projects to take up the
time and skills of specialist workers the designers and maufacturers made best
use of the natural resource of engineering grade timber. Spruce, birch plywood and
Ecuadorean balsa were in plentiful supply during the war and were not
considered strategic materials.
It was already a well tried and tested process
pioneered in the earliest aircraft that wood, particularly when covered with
a thin layer of doped ie stretched and chemically treated fabric, makes for a remarkably
smooth, aerodynamic surface free of rivets and seams and therefore minimising
that enemy of speed, drag.
There was no requirement to build and set up expensive custom made facilities to make a wooden plane as existing furniture factories, cabinetmakers, luxury-auto coachbuilders and piano makers could quickly be drafted in as subcontractors to make the individual parts of the plane. Battle damage could be repaired relatively easily in the field, in effect taking the form of makeshift bandage patching without compromising airworthiness.
Rapidly pressed into active service in the early years of the war exactly 7,781 Mosquitos were eventually built with 6,710 of them delivered during WWII but such was the quality of the aircraft that production continued up until 1950.
The lightness and strength of construction made for a very fast and nimble plane but not to compromise versatility for a number of strategic roles, in fact earning it the accolade of the world’s first, true, multi-role combat aircraft. It served as a bomber, fighter, night fighter, U-boat hunter and reconnaissance plane.
There was no requirement to build and set up expensive custom made facilities to make a wooden plane as existing furniture factories, cabinetmakers, luxury-auto coachbuilders and piano makers could quickly be drafted in as subcontractors to make the individual parts of the plane. Battle damage could be repaired relatively easily in the field, in effect taking the form of makeshift bandage patching without compromising airworthiness.
Rapidly pressed into active service in the early years of the war exactly 7,781 Mosquitos were eventually built with 6,710 of them delivered during WWII but such was the quality of the aircraft that production continued up until 1950.
The lightness and strength of construction made for a very fast and nimble plane but not to compromise versatility for a number of strategic roles, in fact earning it the accolade of the world’s first, true, multi-role combat aircraft. It served as a bomber, fighter, night fighter, U-boat hunter and reconnaissance plane.
However, as with
many such aeronautical marvels there was, with peacetime, a refocusing of
priorities.
The immediate post war period saw the emergence of jet propulsion which relegated even the fastest propeller aircraft into the history books.
There was little alternative or civilian use for the Mosquito unlike, for example the Dakota transport which found its way into many commercial airline fleets.
There was also little time for nostalgia other than from those who had flown or serviced them and only a handful of airframes and even less in flying condition have survived to the present day.
Only three Mosquitos are today in flying condition, one in Canada and two in America.
It has been a long planned dream of dedicated Mosquito enthusiasts to restore a plane to full flying status and a charity “The Peoples Mosquito” hopes to resurrect the remains of a Mosquito night fighter that crashed at RAF Coltishall, in February 1949, while serving with No 23 Squadron.
There has been little to go on by way of technical information for the restoration on this intended scale of an aircraft that is 70 years old. There could be former technicians still alive but even if one of the last in the RAF to work on the Mosquito they would be of some senior age even though potentially sharp and lucid in their memories.
A significant step forward in the ultimate Mosquito project occurred very recently with the discovery just hours before disposal to landfill of more than 20,000 original wartime engineering blueprints for the wooden wonder during the clearance, prior to demolition of the old de Haviland aircraft factory in Broughton, Cheshire.
They seem to have been archived and forgotten about in the factory filing system or just regarded as obsolete given that the drawings were stored on the long abandoned media of card mounted microfilm.
The resource includes what are thought to be the world’s only complete set of engineering drawings for the plane.
As well as being a unique historic record their content of invaluable technical details will it is hoped prove vital in making sure that the rebuild dream is able to comply with the strict aviation safety standards which would make the difference between a return to the skies or a static gate guard.
It was fortunate that the discovery was made by an engineer at the mothballed and condemned factory premises who recognised the drawings and their significance.
Whether an urban myth or the truth it appears that one of the greatest admirers of the Mosquito was Herman Goering, Germany’s wartime aviation minister, who is reputed to have said that the aircraft turned him “green and yellow with envy”. In a reluctant compliment to the revolutionary design and technical advancement of the plane he is also reported as saying that "The British, who can afford aluminium better than we can, knock together a beautiful wooden aircraft that every piano factory over there is building.They have the geniuses and we have the nincompoops"
The restoration will cost an estimated £6m but with only a fraction of the money raised so far.
There is no
doubting the enthusiasm of those in and supporting the charity but as with the
now ill fated "Vulcan to the Skies" project there is a very long way to go to
realise the dream and it can be fraught with difficulties, trials and
tribulations. The immediate post war period saw the emergence of jet propulsion which relegated even the fastest propeller aircraft into the history books.
There was little alternative or civilian use for the Mosquito unlike, for example the Dakota transport which found its way into many commercial airline fleets.
There was also little time for nostalgia other than from those who had flown or serviced them and only a handful of airframes and even less in flying condition have survived to the present day.
Only three Mosquitos are today in flying condition, one in Canada and two in America.
It has been a long planned dream of dedicated Mosquito enthusiasts to restore a plane to full flying status and a charity “The Peoples Mosquito” hopes to resurrect the remains of a Mosquito night fighter that crashed at RAF Coltishall, in February 1949, while serving with No 23 Squadron.
There has been little to go on by way of technical information for the restoration on this intended scale of an aircraft that is 70 years old. There could be former technicians still alive but even if one of the last in the RAF to work on the Mosquito they would be of some senior age even though potentially sharp and lucid in their memories.
A significant step forward in the ultimate Mosquito project occurred very recently with the discovery just hours before disposal to landfill of more than 20,000 original wartime engineering blueprints for the wooden wonder during the clearance, prior to demolition of the old de Haviland aircraft factory in Broughton, Cheshire.
They seem to have been archived and forgotten about in the factory filing system or just regarded as obsolete given that the drawings were stored on the long abandoned media of card mounted microfilm.
The resource includes what are thought to be the world’s only complete set of engineering drawings for the plane.
As well as being a unique historic record their content of invaluable technical details will it is hoped prove vital in making sure that the rebuild dream is able to comply with the strict aviation safety standards which would make the difference between a return to the skies or a static gate guard.
It was fortunate that the discovery was made by an engineer at the mothballed and condemned factory premises who recognised the drawings and their significance.
Whether an urban myth or the truth it appears that one of the greatest admirers of the Mosquito was Herman Goering, Germany’s wartime aviation minister, who is reputed to have said that the aircraft turned him “green and yellow with envy”. In a reluctant compliment to the revolutionary design and technical advancement of the plane he is also reported as saying that "The British, who can afford aluminium better than we can, knock together a beautiful wooden aircraft that every piano factory over there is building.They have the geniuses and we have the nincompoops"
The restoration will cost an estimated £6m but with only a fraction of the money raised so far.
Personally I cannot wait to see and hear a Mosquito taking its place amongst the ranks of that rare category, that of classic aircraft that can actually fly.
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