PLANE TALK
WWII Aircraft from A-Z
De Havilland Mosquito
Perhaps the most useful single type of Allied aircraft produced in WWII had the most difficult acceptance, because it was wooden, in contrast to the then-new trend for all duraluminum. The combined efforts of Patrick Hennessy, under Lord Beaverbrook, Geoffey de Havilland’s persistence, and Air Marshall Sir Wilfred Freeman of the Air Council in Britain, would finally overcome resistance.
Wooden construction and stressed-skin covering, originated in 1934-‘35 DH Comet low-wing racers, were continued in the limited-production DH four-engined Albatross and came to fruition in Air Ministry specs for a twin-engine medium bomber with top speed not less than 275 mph, general reconnaissance and general-purpose. With two-stage Merlin engines, some as high as 1,635 hp, the Mosquito’s top speed would be 439 mph. Its ability to escape hostile fighters actually occurred on initial flight tests, one easily outpacing three BF-109 fighters at 23,000 feet. Lightening the aircraft by deleting defensive armament altogether saved one sixth of its weight and shortened both production and delivery times. Another saving: it needed a crew of only pilot and navigator/bombardier. More than 7,600 were manufactured.
Roles often were treetop-level precision attacks on Gestapo headquarters, prisons, V-weapon sites, airfields, road and railway targets, and submarine yards. One very long-range attack was an overwater mission to Oslo to bomb the Gestapo HQ and disrupt a rally of Norwegian fascists and quislings. It was a round trip of 1,100 miles and four hours and 45 minutes.
Others became night fighters, with strengthened wings to allow violent maneuvers in air-to-air combat. They had front and rear radar to sense enemies’ IFF and AI radar, and four Hispano 20-mm cannons. High-altitude versions had Rolls-Royce Merlins capable of handling nitrous oxide injections for short power bursts, and broad paddle propellers. They even had pressurized cabins. Range was extended with wing-mounted drop tanks. Internal or external bomb and rocket racks were options.
Recon ones had three vertical cameras: an F.52 20-in or 36-in. high altitude recon camera, a K.17 survey and mapping camera with a 6-in. lens, plus a single lower-fuselage-mounted F.24 camera. An F.24 Universal Oblique camera was also fitted for day or night photography.
Mosquitos were excellent ship-killers, including submarines as well, especially when equipped with a 57-mm Molins automatic gun, with 24 armor-piercing rounds carried. It was also used on some ground targets. Strengthened and modified bomb bays of Mosquitos even allowed as much as a 4,000-lb. bomb, called the ‘Cookie,’ HC bomb to be dropped from the plane. The first one, known also as the ‘Dangerous Dustbin,’ was dropped on a raid over Dusseldorf.
A different function assigned to Mosquitos became assisting main bombers by using ‘blind bombing’ from high-level altitudes, called Oboe, very accurate inasmuch as it used navigational aids such as Gee and H2S. New roles became primary when the war neared an end: daylight marking; dropping leaflets over German POW camps; and using Oboe to find drop areas for the large RAF and USAAF bombers doing food drops over German-occupied Holland.
A most humanitarian, final role.
by Herb Hill