De Havilland Mosquito: How A Wooden Plane Terrorized Nazi Germany | Gaining Altitude | Progress
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- Опубліковано 25 сер 2024
- The Mosquito Reborn tells the story of a Mossie through archival footage and interviews with veteran pilots. We follow the incredible process of restoring a plane that hasn’t flown in more than 50 years. And, we’ll take to the skies with the world’s only known flying original Mosquito.
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A wonderful film, I remember seeing the now crashed British Mossie, flying with a Spitfire and Lancaster in Crich (Derbyshire England) Seven Merlin’s together - I’d love to see that again one day. Thank you for the film and thank you all for the restoration and the honour given to the flyers, the builders and designers, the deHavilland museum is a great place, if you haven’t been, go there and see the tiny field where the first prototype Mossie took off, stripped of everything to make it light enough to clear the sheds.
Geoffrey DeHavilland was cousin of famous GONE WITH THE WIND actress Olivia DeHavilland! She lived to be 103, or 104 years old! AMAZING woman and her awesome amazing cousin Geoffrey DeHavilland, creator of the famous DeHavilland "Mosquito, my favorite WWII aircraft!
And don’t forget her sister, Joan Fontaine.
A lot of dead Germans were gone with the wind.
The music of the ROLLS-ROYCE MERLIN. AWESOME ! ❤❤❤❤❤
Because it was a lot lighter and cheaper than all aluminium construction. It was also incredibly strong and gave the DH-98 Mosquito a real edge. With its two enormously powerful Rolls Royce Merlin Engines, together with its very light airframe and wing construction, it was incredibly fast, especially at ultra low level. With later models, It was easily capable of well over 400Mph and was almost as manoeuvrable as a Spitfire, but about 40 Mph faster! It was also capable of climbing at a continuous 2500fpm all the way up to 35.000 feet, so it really was an “All-rounder” and Multi-Role Combat Aircraft. Used in three main versions in the RAF, as a Fighter, a Bomber and Photographic Reconnaissance (PR). The Bomber version had an all glass nose and could carry a 1900 Kg/ 4000lb bomb load, while the Fighter variant had Eight Machine Guns, four 20mm cannon and four .303 machine guns in the nose. There was also the Photographic Reconnaissance (PR) variant, which was Unarmed, although they were used in a vast array of roles during and after WWII. It’s RAF Nickname was “The Wooden Wonder”!
As an aero, I'm fascinated by the fact that with a full bomb load, it's static margin would have been zero (0.0) because of the heavy bombs in the rear. That means the pilots have to stear constantly--no dead stick. For a WWII bomber, that would have been unheard of. So it's operational Static Margin would have been 0 to 10 percent, the same as fighters. Bombers usually would be designed with up to 20% (more like 10%) static margin for stability and controlability, but no maneuverability. At full load and zero static margin, it gave the aircraft total maneuverability at maximum load! Genius. At high gs the structural engineering, light weight wood airframe, and pilot performance comes into play. It's not a duck, don't fly it like one. My favorite plane of all time. I missed my call as one's first officer. Ironically, static margins of WWI planes like the Red Baron's had design negative static margins. It is the reason he was so successful. His static margin was negative 10% allowing him to let the plane out of control while regaining it on the down slope. Firing from up or down, he was on a partially uncontrollable flight path. We do that today in fighters and even huge aircraft. Every large or small commercial jet has a negative static margin. Pilots don't have to compensate. Computers stabilize all howdy toidy aircraft. All ac have to be dynamically stabil, meaning you can get ahead of it and have to. Static stability is not required except in undiluted gliders.
Centre of Gravity issues on the Mosquito?? You bet you're sweet arse there were!!! Aircraft could be trimed to fly hands off with a 1000lb load. 2000lb load was way out of limits and the aircraf had to be flown hands on until the bombs were dropped. 4000lb Cookie modifications on the B Mk IV and MK IX required a butt load of ballast putting in the nose to make the thing safe to fly. In the high altitude level bombing mission which was the bread and butter role of the unarmed Bomber where mission could last up to six hours, some natural stability with a bomb load fitted would have been useful as the Aircraft had no autopilot or powered controls. Most Mosquito crews that flew to Berlin on a 4 hour sortie were absolutely knacked when they landed. The Aircraft had to be flown 100% by the pilot and the Navigator (who also had to do the job of three other crew on a Heavy bomber) from engine start up to engine shut down.
It couldn't out manoeuvre any of the single engine fighters and it was only the early Spitfires that it could out run. Spitfire IX and Typhoon could catch it, as could the FW-190 and the Me-410. The fighter versions were good at fighting German Night fighters and bombers, but had massive issues in trying to catch and kill night attack FW-190 and Me-410 fighter bombers in 1943 / 44. Main defensive manoeuvre if spotted by an enemy fighter in all marks of Mosquito was RUN!!!
I got a kick out of each speaker searching for a better word than "noise" regarding the Merlins. Congratulations on completing your Sweet Mossie. I smile whenever I think of a reluctant Air Ministry delighted to have been wrong about the concept.
That’s one amazing plane, amazing construction, great performance - just an amazing story.
As a post WW II German I’m in awe and thankful it helped beat nazi Germany ! 🎉🎉🎉
Thanks very much for an inspiring and educational film about the history and development of the Mosquito.
A tribute to the Canadians and DH British design with RR engines
The fastest machine in existence! Wow! It makes me wish I was a part of these rebuilds.
When it made its maiden flight, the Mosquito was nowhere near the fastest airplane in the world.
Marvellous Mosquito
Sacrificed strength for speed and agility
England. Thank you, Canada, for all you have done over the years - and still are, it seems.
in the 80s I worked for fisher flying products in s e ohio. we built two mosquitos, one fabric covered two stroke and one all plywood with 2 4cyl 4 stroke engines. the fabric one would clime around 400 feet a min, on one engine.
Just Fantastic to see another Mosquito flying again.
I’ve sat in the cockpit of a mossie, I’ve rebuilt a few Merlin 20s, now all I need is a flight ! Ha my great uncle helped in the design of the gypsy engine & ran the DeHavilland small engine division for a while.
Excellent video
truly splended thank you guys and gals
You are doing a very important job very well
The Mosquito was the best attack aircraft that the Brits had, and the Spitfire was the best defense aircraft.
Britain had a large domestic furniture industry, well versed in lamination, in comprehensively equipped factories, well able to manufacture standardised parts. I can think of no more useful way to make use of that extensive skills base than building Mozzies.
Absolutely the best night-fighter of the war with more kills than the next two models combined. Almost the same bomb load as the B17, but could do two round trips to Berlin in the time it took the FF to do one, only exposing two crew, instead of ten.
The Amiens prison raid was an incredibly accurate low level attack, unmatched AFAIK by any other bombing raid in WW2. And finally, the safest combat plane of the war: the Mozzie brought her crew back home more reliably than any other plane on the allied side.
God Bless Don Campbell for finding a home for resoration
Built for a night fighter role the Mosquito was a camera from the highest hights of WWII, a ground attack bomber and the first low level precision bomber. Quite a plane!
Because, I think, wood was thought, at the time, to be better for making aeroplanes than concrete was.
Muy interesante video de este avión,me gustó desde que ví la pelicula "escuadron 633" me gustaría saber que nave lo acompaña en el vuelo al final del video,tiene la insignia de Uruguay
congrats to the team on compleation of the rebuild and my hat goes off to all who flew the mozzie in anger ( respect)
Wood: the original composite material. It's possible to make lighter structures from wood than from metal in some cases. This is such a case. The real disadvantage of wood at the time was glues not really up to the task of lasting very long and wood rotting over long periods. Neither of those were a big factor for a combat aircraft intended to not need to last more than 3-5 years.
The De Haviland Museum in England operates from the original development hangar near St Albans adjacent to Sir Geofrey De Haviland's house (long sold). They have the original prototype and lots of planes in various states. They will likely have all the drawings history left around. Even the google earth aerial picture is interesting.
Six RCAF squadrons flew Mosquitos. 400 Squadron was photographic reconnaissance. 406, 409, 410 and 418 Sqn were night fighters. Among other victories they shot down 92 V-1s. 404 Squadron flew for coastal command. 1,032 were built in Canada (Toronto). It's Armament was as exceptional as its speed: 4000lbs of bombs or 4x 303 + 4x 20mm cannon. It also provided the 'BOAC' wartime VIP passenger service to Sweden. This flew Niels Bohr to UK en route to Los Alamos. The Germans tried hard to interecept this service without success.
A few hundred Mossies were modified to carry one 4,000 lb HC "cookie" bomb starting 1944. Used for "nuisance" and "harassment" raids.
Mossies and Lanc's built in Canada were fitted with Lend Lease Packard Merlins.
Ball-bearing Run was the nickname of the war-time Stockholmsruten flight between Stockholm and Leuchars, Scotland between 1939 and 1945. After 1942 the flight was run by the Royal Norwegian Air Force, but for political reasons[1] operated as an ordinary BOAC Flight, the unarmed aircraft having civilian registration and the Norwegian military crew wearing BOAC uniforms and carrying British passports.[2] The Stockholmsruten was set up by the Norwegian Government, exiled in UK with the aim of transporting Norwegians having escaped from Nazi-occupied Norway. Several types of aircraft were used, but the backbone of Stockholmsruten was the Lockheed Lodestar.
Flying on the deck, clipping the treetops, at night, in enemy territory, searching for any movement and blasting it into shreads. Then they're gone again just as fast and all in a wooden airplane.
Wood glued fuselage stumbled into radar "stealth" by accident. Radar radiation was absorbed, and very little was reflected. It made the job of bombers Pathfinder a lot easier.
Two Merlins, radiators, landing gear, wheels, props, steel and electric cable plus four Browning MG's and four Hispano 20mm on FB's or up to 3,000 pounds of bombs on unmodified bombers.
yes beautifull and it still lives today ?? the A10
Wish we had a flying Mosquito in the UK to see, why don't we have one?
There was one, sadly destroyed in a fatal accident. The Mosquito museum has a couple, they tried to get one airworthy but it didn't work out.
they have one that taxis at east kirkby thats privately owned thats where the lancaster taxis the one there rebuilding to fly again also building a mosquito from origenal plans down the south of england under the heading of the peoples mosquito
My affinity with this beautiful aircraft we share a birthday 25 November i am only it little younger always its design just magestic
Could you make one out of titanium? I wonder what the cost would be
Neat!!
Is there a reason why the Aircraft Engines were installed to Rotate in the same Direction? In this case to Port, or Left. This is contrary to most Twin Engined Aircraft. Admiration and Respect to those that
Rebuilt her. What a wonderful Restoration Job. So Tragic to read of the Accident and Death of the two Air an that crashed and died doing a Fly Past. Respect and Condolences to their loved ones.
Aviation is a very unforgiving occupation. If there is a problem during a flight you can’t just pull over to the next Cloud and jump out.
This has been such an uplifting video despite the tragedy . Thanks for posting.
American twin engined aircraft originally did not have counter-rotating props, but after a series of accidents in the P-38 switched to counter rotating props on all twin-engined aircraft, but kept the 4 engined planes as they were because it did not affect flight safety.
The pressure on Rolls to produce Merlins did not allow them to produce reverse rotation engines or new gearboxes. It was probably the only real weakness of the Mossie. High power take-offs needed serious control because of the torque.
@@petegarnett7731 Mozzies were a handful on take off, so where the latter variant Spitfires for the same reason. Incredibly high torque. Rolls did their best on all levels to meet production targets under extreme pressure. When Packard started making Merlins they made a series of improvements to facilitate production and uniformity of all parts. and a couple of performance upgrades. However, the Merlin was fundamentally the same great engine.
The Ecuadorean balsa wood supplies were almost cut off by the U-boat campaign.
I thought that as well, however Rowland White has written a very good book about the history of the Mosquito wrapped around the Danish Resistance movement and the activities of No 140 Wing RAF which all meet up in the Shellhus raid in 1945. In it he covers the story of Wood supplies into the UK and the fact that it was very much a strategic material in the UK during WWII. The main issue with Balsa supplies were the Ecuadorean plantations couldn't supply enough of the stuff even if it wasn't sunk by U-boats. British teams had to go around south America to find a natural supply of the stuff. They found an Island which was covered in the right trees and set up a plant there in 1943, just as the U-boats were beaten.
Speed with 'sleek and light' construction made possible by special glues.
DeHavilland then followed with the first Jet Airliner the Comet..designed to be held together with GLUE! Unfortunately, a production manager from arch rival AVRO had rivets used to make sure..leading to fatigue. fatigue
Best plane? Depends on the mission.
1927 Lockheed Vega The fuselage was built from sheets of plywood, skinned over wooden ribs. Using a large concrete mold, a single half of the fuselage shell was laminated in sections with glue between each layer and then a rubber bladder was lowered into the mold and inflated with air to compress the lamination into shape against the inside of the mold. The two fuselage halves were then nailed and glued over a separately constructed rib framework.
It was best for the mission parameters for which it was designed but that doesn't mean it was the best in WW2!
it also doesn't mean it was not
Imagine if they had sent thousands to bomb Germany together. The BF109's attack and the Mosquito's shot them down in anger.
Why wood? Because there were a lot of skilled carpenters in those days. So you had the manpower and the material. Nothing out of the box. It was a very logical thing to do.
Didn't Soviets use wood making most of their aircraft to save aluminum for more crucial tasks as aluminum is complex process in making .
What a title for this Video.
Let us start a discussion what was the best plane in this war.
Was ist the Me 262 or the He 162 or the Horten H.IX, RLM designation Ho 229 (or Gotha Go 229 ) or even the Me 323 „Gigant“?
Or the Mustang or the Vought F4U-1A Corsair?
Or...
You may call this the most important britisch aircraft. But then you become real Problems with the Fans of the Spitfire.
You may add more examples for the best and/or most important aircraft in WWII.
though the plains you quote my be better tech they may not of had the a better impact on the war
The German jet like Me 262 were not as good as you think yes it was the start of the jet age but it had a lot of operation issue as do all new tech has.
The Mustang or the P-51 only got of the drawing broad when the RAF order it, the USAAF was not interested in in 1940 and it only become a star in 1943 /44 when the Mustang D come on line with the Merlin and drop tanks but was not as good in a dog fight as the Spitfires 9's and 14's was and USA pilots saying this
the Vought F4U-1A Corsair also come to late mid 1943/44 and it was not used in the ETW by the USAAF and by 43 /44 the Japanese air force is really on it knees
and yes and it was not till Spitfire Mk 9 enter the war the the got they real power
spare the dramatic intro music. it's a novelty wooden aero plane. Was good at what it did and made from available materials.
Hardly a novelty.
7,781 built. Show me any other plane from that era that was a more effective multi role combat aircraft. Sub hunter with an anti tank gun, pathfinder, precision low level bomber, too high to shoot down and too fast to catch aerial reconnaissance or VIP transport. Acknowledged on all sides as the best night-fighter of the war. Same bomb load as a B17 and could make two round trips to Berlin in the time the B17 could do one while only putting two lives at risk instead of ten. Despite undertaking some of the most technical and risk laden operations of the war, the Mosquito had the lowest casualty rate of any allied warplane.
Only thing that always puzzled me is why RR couldn’t provide cw and ccw motors.
DeHavilland Mosquito was use as a photographic reconnaissance aircraft, a light bomber, a night fighter, and a fighter-bomber, with varying degrees of success.
The PR version and bomber version had very good speed and adequate maneuverability, butvhad no way of defending themselves if caught. When the first entered service this was not a problem, but by mid-1944 they were far too vulnerable in every theater they fought in.
The night fighter version was better than the Bristol Beaufighter, but could easily outfought by the Heinkel He 219 in every way.
The fighter-bomber version was adequate at best. Any job done by the Mosquito could be done easier and cheaper by P-47s or P-51s or P-38s.
The glue used to hold it together could not hold its integrity in neither tropical nor arctic climates, and there were many instances of Mosquitoes coming apart in midair.
None of the variants had any defensive armament, and were completely unable to defend themselves except by running away like cowards.
The Mosquito had far too many flaws and weaknesses to be anything more than mediocre at best.
Amazing ignorance, it had the lowest losses of any plane in WW2, it fought throughout the war in Europe whereas the p38 had to be withdrawn from the European theatre as it was a sitting duck for German fighters. The glue problem was resolved quickly and it was operational in the far east afterwards. Its biggest advantage was that the airframe could be constructed without affecting the production lines of any other aircraft, once Rolls Royce licensed Merlin engine construction in the USA it could be built without any British manufacturing input at all.
PS the Heineken 219 could match the Mosquitos’ speed (404 mph) if it was the stripped down A-6 variant without weapons and radio systems. The 219 wasn’t introduced until 1942 and wasn’t in full construction until 1944, 3 years after the Mosquito. There were only somewhere between 200 and 450 Heinkel 219s made, there were over 8,000 Mosquitos!
it would be fabulous to see this plane with its original nose with the four machine guns, gas any one been in touch with de Haviland to see of they gave any in their spares department.
This one has the "original" nose. It was designed to be a high speed, high altitude unarmed bomber. The ministry forced the armament onto them. All other versions came later.
One of the most unwanted aircraft in history!
It was a British designed and build aircraft. Not a Canadian.
That's not a job, flying around in the north in a Mozi is the stuff of dreams!
The origional glue used was cascemite ,made from milk it gave a bad cream smell
Beautiful aircraft, a shame there isn't one flying in the land of its birth. If it looks right there's a good chance it'll fly right, de Havilland proved that pretty consistently. Bomber, reconnaisance, night fighter, fighter bomber. Was there a role it didn't do? I'm sure that it would never have been accepted for service had Geoffrey de Havilland junior not demonstrated single engine aerobatics to the observing big wigs. I think it would be true to say that the Bristol F2 of WW1 was the first real multi role aircraft and the Mosquito took on the role and carried it further. The saying about no old bold pilots id still instilled on student pilots today is as true now as it was then.
The justified claim, that the best plane of WW2, And, that it was made, chiefly of Wood; are fully interconnected.
👍👍😄
I hope it is looked after well and flown responsibly, remember the Bristol Blenheim lovingly restored and utterly ruined after only a few flights by an ignorant and incompetent pilot who failed the engines.
Hallelujah!!😂
De Havilland Mosquito the wooden wonder with exceptional trees with faster 500mph combat planes.
De Havilland didn't even come up with the concept of the high speed unarmed bomber. That honour goes to George Volkert back in IIRC 1937. Hell, he didn't even come up with the idea of using wood, that was the Air Ministry in 1938, a good year before the design work on the Mosquito started. The Air Ministry asked de Havilland to come up with a design to meet that specification but he refused and we ended up with the AW Albernarle.
Luv It. I got an idea. Mosi with P38 ALISON 1780 or WTF. prop rotation &torque ?
Child's model before plastic?
Woodglut plans are amazing!
Lol
i find the me 262 more beautiful. pretty one sided if u ask me
Its only around 65% wood.😮
Cool, your correct. Who invented EPOXY? Stop sniffen the glue. Good glue.🫡
Well, originally it was going to be 100% wood but, during the development phase, they discovered that there would be a problem sourcing wooden engines and wooden undercarriages, not to mention the wooden cannon they planned to fit. So, in the end, the only bit left that was pretty much all wood and glue was just the structure holding it all together and holding it all up in the air.
[CAUTION: Post prepared on keyboard previously used for the production of sarcasm, irony, blasphemy, profanity and other caustic comments. May contain traces.]
@@q.e.d.9112 now you know why it was called the wooden wonder.
Gota be a Brit to call it best. Great plane, but best hard call. P51, P38, Spitfire all pretty darn good. It was just a great plane.
Not a hard call at all, as a fighter bomber there wasn't a plane like it. It also was the fastest plane of the war until the jets came. It also carried the same weight in bombs as the B17. The Mosquito had a crew of two and the B17 had a crew of 10 . The Americans suffered horrific losses with the B17. The mosquito had the lowest loss rate of the war because of it's speed.
The Closest Rival will be American lockheed P-38 Lightning
Wrong. Very wrong. Not the P-38, but the P-61 was not only its rival, but it beat the Mozzie in one on one flight tests on July 5th, 1944 at RAF station Hurn, where it out climbed, out turned and was faster than the Mozzie. The RAF insisted that the results were kept secret, and they were until the 1950's. By the way, Lockeed did the same thing with the P-38 and the P-61 destroyed the P-38 in mock combat. See, you just learned something...
The tests were ran in May 1944, the Mosquito was faster but the p61 outturned and out climbed the mosquito, however the American in charge was convinced that the British deliberately underperformed as they couldn't spare any mosquitos from their own needs. There were a second series of tests in August that a stripped down, souped up version of the the p61 won in all tests including speed but these were also viewed with suspicion as the British were known to be not very keen on winning. The most telling fact was that he and everyone else believed that the p61 was too slow for it's designated role as a nightfighter, no one thought that of the mosquito.The mosquito was introduced in 1941, 8000+ were made, The p61 was introduced 3 years later in June1944, 153 wero made before May 1945 (end of the war in Europe) and 704 in total before its retirement in 1954. The Gloster meteor jet first flew in combat in July 1944, the p61 was immediately obsolete and as a result was redesignated as a long range, all weather day/night fighter. It was too late and too ordinary to make a significant contribution to the war in Europe and was a competent but unremarkable plane.
Because metal was scarce at the time.
The best WW2 aircraft are not made out of wood and glue, try the B-25 or B-29, I'm pretty sure these both had much greater impact than the wooden fighterbombers of the RAF
no the B29 never used in Europe and B25 though a great aircraft not as good as the Mossie
@@daniellastuart3145 I would have thought the B25 in a few ways superior to the mosquito, it was fairly fast, could be carrier launched for dramatic effects and eventually had 10 forward firing 50 cal guns that sank many a Japanese naval units, destroyers and other not so new boats. Possibly the mosquito was more diverse, and somewhat radar resistant because wood and glue don't reflect radar beams. The Doolittle raid truly impacted Japan by forcing hundred of fighters to stay in Japan instead of doing harm elsewhere
@@mikedearing6352 the Mossie had 6lb tank buster that also sunk ships it also landed on a aircraft carrier. I think the B25 was a great aircraft but i think the Mossi good do a lot more , it also forced the Germans to keep plans in Germany and Doolittle raid was that effect , just list to video you statement would be totally debunked
It is not the best plane of WWII. What a ridiculous statement. Every plane of worth had specific missions, some were better than others. The DH-98 was great at special bombing operations, night fighting, photo recon and Pathfinding for Bomber Command. But I wouldn't want to take on a gaggle of FW-190D's, Bf-109K's or ME-262's in it...or fly it in the Pacific Theatre where the glue softened up and warped the airframe or conduct repeated infantry-support ground attack in it. Liquid-cooled engines and wood air frames don't hold up well against radar-guided 20mm and 30mm AAA. However, it was one of the great planes of WWII. My father got a ride in one after his B-17 crash landed at a RAF Station in early 1945. The whole crew were ferried back to 8th Air Force Framlingham in a few DH-98's. He said the pilot did some pretty amazing maneuvers in it... By the way, the DH-103 Hornet was even better, probably the best twin-engined prop fighter ever made, and that was confirmed in the late 1940's when the RAF sent a demonstration team to the US and no twin engined prop plane we had could touch it. Probably one of the best handing aircraft ever built. You should do a video on the DH-103
It was brilliant, don't run it down!!!
@@EdwardThomas-mn5vd Run it down? Did you read my comment? Are you one of those under 30 people who get all their info from video games?
I'm not under 30 and my father was
An airframe mechanic in WW2 and i
Will always stand up for the Mosquito.
Wasn't the Hornet developed from the Mosquito!?
Further more the Mosquito crews
Were probably some of the bravest in any war.
There were other aircraft as equally good or better than the Mosquito
Who said that this is the best?