WHAT AIRPLANE IS THIS?

British DeHavilland Mosquito Mk VI

There are many stories about how and why the DeHavilland Aircraft Company had R.E. Bishop design the remarkable D.H. 98 Mosquito back in 1938. Some stories claim that DeHavilland brought the concept of a fast, unarmed twin-engined bomber to the RAF and were turned down so they then developed it on their own.

Another story is that the RAF would not even view the revolutionary bomber’s 1939 first flight so the test pilot buzzed an RAF base a few days later when some of the big “Brass” were there on an inspection tour. Reports say that this “flat hat”, routine was topped with a 400 mph, single-engine low pass and a zoom climb to over 10,000 ft. still on only one engine.

Another story is that the RAF people were convinced that DeHavilland was living in the past when they suggested an all-wood airplane in the era of all-metal fighters like the Spitfire and Bf-109 (nearly all metal had they did have fabric covered control surfaces). They suggested that he spend some time in a rest home and sell the company to someone sane.

Actually, there is some truth in each of these stories. The RAF did think, at first, that DeHavilland was a little bit “old fashioned” (read “out of touch”) for wanting to build an all-wood airplane. But when they were shown the plans, with its unique light weight laminated fuselage that didn’t need stringers or many interior formers to maintain its shape, its two powerful Merlin engines stolen from the Spitfire and its compact size, they had some second thoughts. Interestingly, some stories say that the epoxy adhesive we use in modeling today was developed while designing the Mosquito. But that has not been confirmed.

The RAF’s second thoughts translated into a March 1, 1940 order for 50 Mosquitos. One of these 50 was to be built as a Mk II fighter prototype according to Specification F.21/40. So there really was an order placed before the first Mosquitos were built, but the order did not happen until after DeHavilland spent their own money on the design process.

As for the test flight, it was not quite as the old stories tell. The high-speed single-engine fly-by did happen. But it occurred well into the prototype testing program and the single-engine top speed attained was more like 300 mph and that included a long dive from altitude. The resulting “zoom” climb topped out closer to 7,000 ft. but that performance is still impressive for its day. (Hey, you would not want to try that maneuver 20 years later in a single-engined F-4 Phantom because it would not happen too well.) Something the stories do not tell is that high-speed fly-by also included a slow roll before the climb.

From that flight onwards, the RAF wanted this airplane as much as a day and night fighter as it did for a high-speed bomber. The first fighter version, the Mk II, was powered by two Rolls Royce 1,300 hp engines and reached a top speed of 370 mph on its May 15, 1940 Maiden flight. Not bad for an all-wood airplane. The trim little twin could climb at 3,000 ft. /min. and fly almost 1,700 miles. The prototype flights were so impressive that the RAF added 28 fighter versions to the initial 50-bomber production run.

The first Mk II’s were setup with early AI Mk IV and V radar sets and used as night fighters (Photo 1). They were mostly painted black. But No. 23 Squardron got hold of some Mk II's, put a few bombs in them, took out the radar and started raiding France and the Low Countries. Nothing the Germans had could even come close to catching these speedy little bombers. The Mosquito reigned invulnerable over the Continent for the next four years until the early German jets became operational. Even then, an intercept was extremely difficult because of the Me-262’s limited endurance.

As good as the Mk II's were, there was room for improvement. The Mk II was a great night fighter and an OK day fighter. Its limited bomb-carrying ability reduced its daytime effectiveness as a fighter bomber however.

The next version, the Contest Photo aircraft, was created by adding four external bomb racks, two on the fuselage behind the cannons and two on the wings outboard of the engine nacelles. Two Merlin engines optimized for middle-altitude performance were installed and eight rocket racks were added to the wings (photo 2). The Mk VI could make 379 mph at 13,000 ft., climb 2,000 ft. / min. fully loaded 3,000 lb. heavier than the Mk II and at 3,500 ft. / min. clean and fly more than 1,200 miles full loaded. The Mk VI had four .303 machine guns and four 20 mm cannon in the nose.

The Mk VI went on to become a truly effective fighter bomber and ground support aircraft. 2.305 Mk VI’s were built and served on every front. The Australians built this version and called it the FB Mk 40. There were many more Mosquito fighter Marks built, including the Mk 38, which could reach speeds over 420 mph. Many countries operated the Mosquito fighter bomber after the War, including Norway. The contest photo is an FB Mk VI of No. 344 Squardron RNorAF that was taken in June, 1949 while flying over the Tyin area of Norway.

The Mosquito, in all its bomber and fighter versions, was an unqualified success and helped to save lives by shortening the War. It is really sad therefore, that so few of these fine aircraft exist today. The very reason for its success, its light-weight wood construction, is also the reason almost none are left. Wood does not age well outdoors and the weather has destroyed just about every one of the thousands of Mosquitos that were built. A few are left in Museums but we know of only two that might remain flying. One belongs to the Battle of Britain Flight in England and the other was rescued in Mexico and restored. However that news is old and this Mexican aircraft may also have succumbed to time. Hopefully, more have been restored to flight, but we don’t know of any right now.

As for the clues:

“Many countries operated the famous, high-performance DeHavilland Mosquito, including Norway." -- Since the contest aircraft was obviously not in British Colors, we thought it was a good idea to mention that other countries also operated the FB Mk. VI Mosquito to make sure the non-British marking did not disqualify the contest photo airplane from consideration.

“The Me-410 had a two-man crew in a large center cockpit. The rear crew member manned a rear-facing machine gun." – There is no rear-facing crew member in the contest airplane and no rear machine gun showing. The cockpit area is actually quite small for an airplane of this size.

“The Bf-110G had twin vertical fins in the rear, two crew members and did not have prominent nose guns" – The contest airplane has just one vertical fin and it surely does have some very prominent guns sticking out the front.

“The P-38 had three fuselages and twin vertical fins. The center fuselage was short while the two long fuselages held the engines and extended back to the rear fins.” – This one is fairly obvious since the P-38 description is about as far away from the contest airplane as two twin-engined aircraft can be.

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