Biggin Hill Mosquito
 

Just spotted this on Flypast:

https://www.facebook.com/BigginHillH...angar/?fref=nf

Wow! Wonderful news and best wishes to the team with this fantastic endeavour.

Absolutely and having worked with these guys on their 2-seat Spitfire at Duxford this year, you couldn't wish to meet a more professional and pleasant team of engineers and pilots.

I hope that they can stick it together with proper epoxy glues instead of the CAA insisting they shoot a load of horses.

FED - I am with you on that, and it would be fantastic to see a Mosquito fly again in the UK

There might be another flying Mosquito in the works The Plan | The People's Mosquito

I wish them well, but it needs to be stressed that they are building a Mosquito replica, not a Mosquito.

...okay, slight "thread drift", but it still concerns Biggin Hill and a (flying) De Havilland Mosquito... :ok: :cool: ;)

https://flyaspitfire.com/2023/02/06/...t-biggin-hill/https://flyaspitfire.com/2023/02/06/...t-biggin-hill/

https://flyaspitfire.com/2023/02/06/...t-biggin-hill/

https://flyaspitfire.com/2023/02/06/mosquito-at-biggin-hill/
​​​​​​​

This would make a great addition to the 'What Made You Happy Today' thread. :ok: :)

In 1963, I put on my ATC cadet uniform and hung around at Bovingdon for a couple of days; plenty of Mosquitos to be seen!.

Yes and as one who was in the audience for the Hatfield RAeS Mosquito anniversary symposium (and helped publish the book thereof), I would have said it was impossible to build a real Mosquito.

So, is this the ex-highball spec B.Mk.IV, DZ452, that has been for sale for for a while, by AvSpec, being advertised at $9m fully complete and flying?
Would be a crying shame if so, to 'convert' this into a FB.VI, instead of its original B.IV configuration, especially given the rarity of the B.IV.
I can't think of any other Mossie project available, given they say it will be the 5th Mossie by AvSpec, and there was confirmation by Maurice Denholm of AvSpec last month and photo's posted of the former Glyn Powell owned, FB.26 in the hangar was being started on for a US customer, which will clearly be the 4th one they have done.
Even doing two alongside each other, I'd be surprised if they can do both in 3 years timescale, even having already done 3 of them.

Or I wonder if Maurice Denholm was being evasive by saying the ex-Glyn Powell FB.26 was for a US customer, and this is the one for Biggin Hill?
However, if so, it would be the 4th one not the 5th one? This FB.26 (Aussie built FB.6) was the project that was supposed to have been that the Pathfinder Trust had acquired but who seemed to have disappeared now without trace.

"Fly a Mosquito" ?

or "Fly in a Mosquito" ?

:O

Have seen suggestions that the BHHH FB.6 announcement may be the parts remains/identity of FB.6 TE881 that was acquired by AvSpecs from the late John Smith's estate.

Unfortunately, it seems that is as about as good as it's going to get if you want a Mosquito to be 'airworthy'. Seems the original glues that they used don't age very gracefully, so any original Mosquitos don't have the necessary structural integrity to be airworthy, even if 'rot' isn't an issue.
Further, the sandwich style construction doesn't really allow the wood bits to be disassembled and re-assembled with modern glues.

DaveReid,

I disagree. If you rebuild an aircraft and have to manufacture some parts, it’s not a replica. Of course, in the case of a Mosquito, that’s the wings, fuselage and empennage, but if the metal bits are original, then it’s a rebuild. 😄

Fair point - there are plenty of "rebuilt" Spitfires flying around where the best that can be said is that the serial number plate is original ... :O

DRUK,ref#12,room for another in `super-economy...the bomb-bay`....

The ex-Bob Jens, ex- Ed Zalesky B.35 (VR796) that was restored to airworthy in Canada over a long period and flew again in 2014, is all original structure, not a new build. Its the only all original structure Mosquito of the current 4 airworthy examples.

Despite many claims that Kermit Weeks B.35 (RS712) needs new wings, I believe from those that know Mossie's and have seen it in recent times, if he so chose to, its still in good enough condition structurally, to be returned to the air, despite it spending a couple of years in the heat and humidity of Florida before being flown off to a more suitable long term storage climate.

Not only Spitfires.

Which in the case of the 3 already done by AvSpecs, this was indeed the case, as there was sufficient remains of the aircraft for that to be true. Especially so in the case of the T.3 rebuilt for the ex-Paul Allen FHC, which was of course the ex-IWM Lambeth example that was pretty much a totally complete aircraft, that had just had a wing sawn off for hanging from the roof in Lambeth.
The People's Mosquito on the other hand, is going to be pretty much a replica, as what amounts to a data plate was dug out of a whole in the ground. They aren't even returning it to its NF.30 configuration either (if it ever gets finished)

From the photos I've seen, I'm not sure there was an awful lot left of TE881 that John Smith acquired the remains of many decades ago, and which AvSpecs have acquired from the estate, and which is likely providing the identity of the BHHH FB.6, although more than the TPM example. Much easier for AvSpecs to make what there isn't though, if built alongside the substantially complete ex-Glyn Powell project, not something TPM have access to in the same way.