Twitter
Facebook
***image1***Naming something “the best” is necessarily a subjective judgment, but there can be little debate that the best combat aircraft of World War II was the RAF’s twin engine de Havilland Mosquito.
It was the most outstanding night fighter and reconnaissance aircraft
developed by any side during the war, and was also a superb long range heavy bomber and fighter bomber.
Remarkably, the Mosquito – “Mossie” to its crews – was constructed almost entirely of wood!The Mosquito’s ancestor was the diminutive, twin-engine DH.88 Comet high speed racer, developed in 1934 and made of wood to reduce weight and to simplify production. In 1938, de Havilland offered the British Air Ministry a proposal for an unarmed, twin engine wooden bomber, but it was rejected since the RAF wanted all-metal, heavily-armed bombers.
There was a stalemate, as one historian noted: “de Havilland saw no reason to modify the proposal and the Ministry saw no reason to accept it,” but finally, in January 1940, a single prototype was ordered. The prototype was a beautiful machine with a two-man crew sitting ahead of a large bomb bay and the most powerful engine available, the Merlin 61, on the wings.
The first Mosquito flew in late November 1940 and showed a top speed of 437 miles per hour, making it the fastest aircraft in the world at the time – a distinction it was to maintain until 1944. Its performance was so outstanding it was
quickly ordered into large scale production in three versions – reconnaissance, bomber and day/night fighter.
In July 1941, the first Mosquito PR Mk. I’s were delivered to RAF reconnaissance units and, by the fall, were flying regular missions over France and Germany, where their speed and altitude performance made them immune to interception by German fighters. Meanwhile, work continued apace on the bomber and night fighter versions.
The NF Mk. II night fighters were equipped with radar and with their high speed and heavy armament (four 20-millimeter cannons and four machine guns), quickly established themselves as the best night fighters in the world, though they were not allowed to fly over enemy territory because the RAF was afraid one would be shot down and the radar compromised.
The first B Mk. IV bombers were used as harassment raiders and for post-strike photo missions as well as long range, low-level precision strike missions, including a strike that knocked down the walls of the Gestapo prison in Amiens and let the
prisoners escape and another on a Gestapo building in the Hague that destroyed all the records of resistance fighters.
But the bomber version really came into its own when it was equipped with an extremely accurate blind bombing/navigation system, Oboe. Oboe’s
accuracy increased with altitude and, because Mosquitoes could fly almost twice as high as a normal RAF bomber, Mosquitoes became night pathfinders, dropping flares precisely over the target for the RAF’s large night raids.
As the war progressed, the Mosquito went from strength to strength. More powerful engines and pressurized crew compartments allowed reconnaissance Mosquitoes to fly higher and faster over Germany and escape even the new Me-262 jet fighters. Relaxed rules of engagement allowed Mosquito night fighters, now equipped with the American SCR-720 radar, to devastate the formidable German night fighter force.
And an enlarged bomb bay allowed bomber Mosquitoes to carry a 4,000 pound bomb – the same bomb load as the 10-man, four-engine American B-17!Note: If you are interested in seeing these aircraft in action at low level, rent the movie, “633 Squadron.”
