The Merlin is it for me...
It was sometime in the summer of 1984 when myself and three other lads, (who frequent Pprune from time to time), missed the transport across the airfield to the hangar. Not a big deal, it was a nice sunny morning with the hint of mist still on the ground so a nice walk was in order. Since Shawbury was a training station nothing much ever happened before 0800hrs. Imagine, therefore, our surprise when we were stopped by the traffic lights at the main runway.
I looked up the slope to see a single landing light about a mile or so out. On either side of the landing light I could vaguely make out an engine, a propeller engine. My immediate thought was "It's a Mosquito... But it can't be... There aren't any flying any more".
I told the lads what I thought and they collectively agreed that there were no longer any serviceable "Mossies" left. But as we watched it approach we became more and more convinced of what we were seeing . Finally, when it was about a quarter of a mile out there was no longer any question and we stood in stunned silence as two Merlin engines "grumbled by" at idle as the Mosquito landed not 30 feet in front of us. Truly one of those "magic moments" for me.
Right at the end of the video below is almost exactly what we saw and heard.