Mossie : The Plane That Saved Britain
 

Just a heads up for those interested ...

http://i1004.photobucket.com/albums/...psc9dcef6a.jpg

Best ...

Coff.

Oh sh1t, I'm abroad at the moment, must e-mail no 1 son and make sure he records it for me.

"The Plane that Saved Britain". Must be a documentary about a woodworkers' tool that was used to build an aircraft.

You really had to 'chisel' that one out.

I "saw" that one coming, but I feel you hit the nail on the head.



..

Coff,

Thanks for the heads up on that, I've got the box set to record it. I have made a note on File, and as its on Channel 4 I expect to see some Adze :rolleyes:

Smudge :ok:

Seen a trailer for this the other day and also set for record, it looks great. I have to admit I hadn't realised just how important a role the Mossie played.

It was the first and possibly finest multi role combat aircraft (MRCA) fighter both day and night, bomber, reconnaissance, weather, anti shipping, airliner of a sort ended up as a target towing aircraft. In modern parlance the Phantom is the late 20th century near equivalent.

Hated by Herman Goering because the Luftwaffe had nothing to equal it, flown by the RAF and all its attended commonwealth squadron including the RAAF RNZAF RCAF USAAF to name but a few.

If a certain Danish brewer made aircraft they'd probably make Mosquito's.

Chatting in the bar in the mess at RAF Leuchars in the 1970s (as you do) there was a lively discussion between Ltng, F4, Harr and Bucc crews about the qualities needed for a strike aircraft. One very senior and respected Flt Lt Harr pilot suggested the following: Twin engine, two crew, good load capacity, long range, low radar signature, manoeuverable, relatively cheap to produce, capable of about 500kts, good low level capability, able to absorb punishment. He said gentlemen, I give you the Mosquito with turboprops, modern avionics and systems. Everyone agreed.

Thankfully, there are more than one existing.
 

There is one airworthy now, and more will be following. There are a number on static display. A very great aircraft, a major part of 54Phan's unbuilt plastic model collection.

ref GMST's post- twas the same feeling amongst several AD/GA F4 crew members at Coningsby in the mid 70's- mossie with modern radar, twin turboprops, SPIII and SW- stealthy, fast, inexpensive. Always wanted to make up a model of same.....

When I posted this thread ... I just knew Wensleydale was going to respond with his "one liners" :ok:

Note I refrained from saying "cheesy" :}

I agree that the Mosquito was a great aeroplane and when you think that the B17 for example could only manage a 4000 lb bomb load if going to Berlin.

The Mossie could do the same and have made (with a crew change, and re-arm) two round trips in one night and used less fuel, had better survivability, risked 2 crew (per sortie) instead of 8-10 in a B17.

The only problem was we didn't make enough of them and the policy to build 1,000's of Lancasters, Halifaxes, Stirlings, B17's, B-24's prevailed.

A great aeroplane, versatile in many roles and well-liked by those that flew them and apart from the high V2 and the gap in getting there there was little else to fault.

Just my 2 cents.

MB

You all forgot to mention that it is an utterly beautiful aeroplane too. Not an angle it doesn't look fabulous from - unless you were a German in the gunsights! ;)

Made me think of the Argentine Pucara, ground attack and counter-insergency aircraft.

Interestingly the Pucara did trials powered by Soya beans derived bio-fuel. I could imagine the nav shouting to the pilot "Give it some beans"!

for all its many many virtues it certainly never "saved" Britain

That would be the Hurricane & the Spitfire

The war in the air wasn't really decisive once the Germans invaded Russia

At a certain Tonka base in East Anglia in about 1987, we'd recently had our old radar replaced with a brand new on on a nice high tower. One sunny Saturday morning I'm pottering in the garden when I hear the roar of a pair of Merlins and look up just in time to see the BAe Mosquito above me, going like a bat out of hell, on it's way to a display. Commenting on this to an ATC colleague later on, he told me that the radar simply didn't pick it up until it was about a mile away and then lost it after only a few more seconds as it headed away.

Looks really good, I shall be watching!
From that picture I assume it was at least partly filmed at the DeHavilland Aircraft Museum at Salisbury Hall, near London Colney/ St Albans.
Visited there a couple of weeks ago and can highly recommend it, no ropes so you can get up close to the exhibits and see restoration work too.
Worth dragging the saucepans round now the school holidays are on!
http://www.dehavillandmuseum.co.uk/

HH:
Bit of a sweeping generalisation there, HH. I would contend that without the war in the air, the German invasion of Russia could well have been decisive in their favour. As it was it was a close enough run thing. Yes the distances and weather worked in Russia's favour, but so did massive western military supplies and reduced German ones culminating in the strategically decisive Battle of Kursk. Quite a lot of that could be put down to the western war in the air, don't you think?

Sounds half baked to me though perhaps it could have been flown by 57 Sqn?

As an afterthought - if you had eaten beans then you could 'av gas?