Experienced Mosquito pilots are getting very thin on the ground now. I knew a few, and they always spoke of the a/c in very,
very glowing terms. Sure, if you look at the figures - especially the blue-line speed, and compare it with more modern, more benign machines, it might look a bit scary. In truth, many, if not most wartime a/c would feel a bit scary to modern pilots, especially when bombed-up and full of fuel....
and in the dark... The records show that the Mosquito had a vastly lower rate of loss than the Lanc' for example. It was not unusual for damaged a/c to fly home all the way from Germany on one engine, - and never drop below 200mph to boot. They also flew home with heavy damage.
I have an excellent wartime book, 'Low Attack' by W.Cdr Wooldridge. I think they were 105Sq. and based at Marham from memory. They'd been using the Blemheim previously and were glowing in their praise of the Mossie. It was light years ahead.
Unlike many modern 'warbird' pilots, wartime crews flew these a/c all the time and often at night. They knew the limitations of the a/c very well and acted accordingly. Sure there were accidents (Tony Ben's brother was killed in an EFATO in a Mossie for example.). At least the Mossie would
fly on one engine and even accelerate and climb if correctly handled. Many other types of that period were very vulnerable to an EFATO and were only going one way after an engine failure ..... DOWN. Many heavily-laden bombers crashed on t/o, especially at night.
For around three years there wasn't
anything in enemy hands that could catch it. The
PR versions roamed the length and breadth of Axis-held Europe with virtual impunity at up to twice the altitude of most a/c. The Mossie could carry the same load as a B17, faster, higher and further, for vastly less casualties, less fuel, less materials, less manpower to produce etc....oh, and they were churning them out from furniture factories. It was also the original 'MRCA', and filled every role and flew in every theatre - a truly amazing record.
The Mossie was a military a/c, mostly flown under combat conditions. Any narrow discussion of one very narrow aspect can give a very false and distorted impression to what was, arguably, the finest a/c of the war. As an a/c to go to WAR in, it was absolutely in a league of it's own....