Wings of Valor: Restoring A De Havilland Mosquito For Future Generations | Gaining Altitude | Spark
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- Опубліковано 5 жов 2024
- Gaining Altitude: 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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Beautiful. My dad was a Mosquito pilot and I wish he could have seen this. RIP Dad.
Wonder if your dad knew my dad. My dad was a Spitfire and Mosquito mechanic in the RAF
@@MilesCobbett It would be interesting to know. My sister has all Dad`s log books and I can seem to get in touch with her any more. Must have changed phones and email accounts.
mine too - I wish I had asked him about it
Mine too, Photo reconnaissance, RAF Benson and Burma
My father too was a mechanic on spitfires and mosquitos. He was stationed at RAF Manston.
I’m in tears as the engines start and the plane is reborn. I cannot thank you guys enough.
It's great to see this restoration. My father was a cabinet maker in North London before the war and, although he volunteered for the armed forces, he was mobilised into the workforce to build Mosquitos at Hatfield. He would have been very pleased to see one flying again.
My mum also worked in a factory making parts of the wooden airframe
Not only astonishing you could restore it so meticulously but to have it fly again is way beyond incredible.
Gives me goosebumps to see her take to the air again...
Well here I am a year later watching this again and I can only imagine the joy and accomplishment of what you all achieved.
I take my hat off to all those involved.
no loud continous music drowning out the voices, that alone makes that great documentation special by itself
massive thankyou to everyone involved for keeping this beautiful aeroplane flying in perfect condition.
The Mosquito is one of the flight masterpieces in WWII. amazing restoration.
I cried when I saw one in a museum. I never thought I would ever see one. What a treat.
As a kid my Dad used to drive past an all silver Mossie. Unfortunately he never stopped so I could visit it - much to my regret!
The de havilland museum near London has restored the first prototype.
Imagine how I felt when I saw one crash in 1996 :( I think at the time it was the last flying example too.
We have one at the RAF Cosford museum
@@buffplums a beauty she is too! Sadly not flown since 1965 and highly unlikely ever to do so again as she's structurally unfit due to glue failure :( Apparently one of her engines has only had 50 hours use!
It's 2023, I'm a guy who is an ENGINE man.. I can hear the sound of my friends vehicles by the tone of their engine.. To this day there is no more beautiful sound than a Rolls-Royce Merlin Engine.. I live near an air museum, near Chino Airport, so I hear them regularly and it always makes me look up to see the aircraft...
What can you say to all the people involved except THANK YOU for bringing these wonderful machines to life again. Too many iconic aircraft down the years have been consigned to the scrap heap by successive governments an absolute disgrace.
TRULY!
J.C.
The greatest aircraft of WWII - thank you so much for getting this beauty back into the skies...
De Havilland had a penchant for building beautiful airplanes. From the Dragon Rapide to the Mossie, the Comet and even the old DH-4 of WWI had it's own beauty. I've long thought the Mossie to be the best most versatile all round British twin of WWII. My British and Canadian cousins knew how to put together an airplane. Well done lads. Well done indeed.
I flew in a Rapide at Duxford museum.
I was very sad about the de Havilland Comet being plagued by metal fatigue.
The de Havilland Mosquito was, in my humble opinion the very best, most succesful, and most outstanding aeroplane of WW 2.
It was built as a jack of all trades, that was so good it mastered them all.
No arguments here.
My dad was a Lancaster rear gunner and must've seen them in action, but never mentioned it
@@ianpodmore9666 well, it became a jack of all trades. Not quite all those trades were envisioned during conception… 90% of the discussion over the original envisioned concept with the air ministry was ‘fast unarmed bomber’
@@TheHarryMann Very true, but you get my point.
Wooden Wonder!
You can see that a lot of love. passion and emotion went into restoring that aircraft.
What a great documentary. The Mossy is such a beautiful plane and there is no mistaking the two 12 cylinder Merlin engines for anything else. Congrats to all those involved in the project, thanks to all the veterans who are still with us who flew these lovely machines and RIP to all those crew who never made it home, we owe you a great deal.
For all those involved over the many years and the no expense spared to restore this magnificent plane, I and all true aviation enthusiasts thank you, you have brought a piece of art back to life
Well done, guys, for keeping history alive. Awesome job!
RAF De Havilland Mosquito of Canada & UK >>> One of the Fastest Light Bomber of WWII ... Salute & Thank You So Much for the Team who restored this Beautiful De Havilland Mosquito for All Fans to Enjoy!
Your RIGHT! no matter what anybody says or what ever statistics are brought forth , this
plane has to be the most overlooked airframe EVER produced!
The Mosquito is an epic feat of man's ability to not only create but to fly. I was lucky enough to see the one rebuilt here in New Zealand fly for its first public airshow at Hood aerodrome. The sound alone of two merlins strapped to the same airframe made every sensory nerve of my body quiver like jelly and too also see this in person...Moment of a lifetime never to be forgotten🙏
I saw the Virginia-based Mossie fly about 6 years ago. I guess it was a NZ aircraft before moving to VA. Amazing sound and a beautiful bird.
I was there about 9 years old I’m 25 now but seeing that thing fly over the strip is still burnt into my brain
I saw the same Mosquito seen at Hood when it was actually being built in a warehouse in Drury which is south of Auckland. The bloke building it had plans for the wooden moulds and about 12 containers of recovered mosquitos from around the world.. It was a skeleton at that stage.. fast forward about 10 years and I saw that plane again when it flew into Tauranga. Its twin Merlin's were just gorgeous to hear.. I got to walk around it and even stuck my head up into the cockpit. And brother was it fast..It did Rotorua and back in about 21 mins. Lol. Gorgeous plane... Wonder where it is now...
At the age of 82, I have missed a good thing!
''Man's ability to create and fly''. Spoken like a true delusional Anglo liberal. It only shows the ability of white men to engineer and fly, nobody else. If you actually think the other peoples exploited by the British empire could have done this you are truly deranged. But unfortunately it was the deranged liberals who won that war and now destroy every ''Western'' country.
17:24 God bless you Sir. The faith you have in my generation is soo very gracious, I wish you could know how encouraging it is to even hear you say those words. It's only because you did it when you were 17 that I'm not charged with that same duty today. Thank you for your service
Wow that is a wonderful response and fills me with optimism. Thank you so much :0)
To me, this is THE iconic warbird of WWII. Such a radical, brilliant design. And the lowest casualty rate of any plane in Bomber Command despite the demanding roles it was assigned. As someone who was brought up on the Biggles books, it is exciting to see one flying again.
As someone who used to help with vintage aircraft restoration, I love watching these sorts of documentaries.
Brilliant! !
What an amazing aircraft. To see it fly after all those years and several owners. Fantastic.
3:49...
"I don't consider this a REAL JOB. It's a hobby and we get paid!"
This guy loves his work.
That is also the story of MY life.. Nobody could be so lucky.. I RETIRED when I left school and just continued my hobby as a source of income...Radio & TV engineer, but developing into Radio Comms. my hobby as Radio Ham.
BUT I did it twice...As a sax/clarinet player, I had a parallel career (er.. hobby!) taking me all around EU and two gigs in USA, playing jazz and Blues in Memphis and New Orleans.
To be frank, I never did an honest day's work in my life!
Retirement? Still hobbying with Ham Radio and gigging jazz until Covid 19 said "I'll put a stop
to HIS little gallop!" and closed down all the venues.
Great video. I used to own and operate a radio set which was used in the the Mosquito and the Lanc. The Marconi 1154/1155 combination. It was in my bedroom at my mother's house..If
she'd known just how much voltage I'd got in there, I would have instantly become a homeless teenager!
Great Video...Thank you!
For myself, one of the most beautiful aircraft ever made. Fantastic to see - well done you all.
Brilliant job, gents. History salutes you. Dad was a B 29 pilot so war birds are in my blood. This docu got me a little misty. Mosquitos don't get the airplay that the heavies do, but if any attack plane can be said to have won the war throughout the entire 1939-45 period, this plywood raptor deserves the brass ring.
Amazing work gentlemen! A living part of history, the Merlin’s sound sweet, the exhilaration I can only imagine. I would like to hear yall took it up to 40,000 and enjoyed the ride!
What a great documentary, no loud pointless music. Plenty of history and to see the people who actually flew the plane in anger was great production. Maybe a little more detail of the work involved getting it back in the air would have been nice?
But overall a great way to spend an hour watching one of my favourite planes being brought back to flying condition.
I agree. As an soon to be A&P . I wanted to see a little more of the Maintenance. I did tear up during this video.
@@markthompson4885 Hey Mark. If you teared up a little, you must have been Army. I was Marine. My eyes never tear up, but they did sweat a little.
@@CombatDoc54 spoke like a true Leatherneck! FYI: Eye Sweat is called Tears, outside the USMC! LOL
'Tear up' ... 'sweat'...
USAF = 'pucker factor'....
I'm with you there! No loud, pointless music!!! AMEN to that my brother, AMEN TO THAT!!!
Very well done Canada, you're doing an excellent job of keeping your aviation heritage alive, wish we had an original Mossie in the UK.
what an absolutely beautiful machine , and bringing joy to the men who flew them is priceless , thank you so much for getting another wooden wonder airborne again , we owe you a debt of gratitude , beautiful just beautiful ....
Shaun.
You cant say it any better than that, and I totally agree to it.
The Mosquitoe is in my top 5 all time. Along with the P51 Mustang , Spitfire , A10 thundbolt aka warthog , and F22 Raptor. Great job guys. I salute all who serve and have served. Much love and respect from here in Mobile, Alabama, USA
What a bird. Those lines, that ability and the sound of those merlins. Brilliant, and what a restoration saga for such a historically significant machine. Well done to everyone in the restoration and to the people who made this presentation too. Wonderful. 😁
Those Merlins are amazing !
11-------1
you said it Santa, The RAF sent a large number of them to India to after the War to shore up the RIAF that had done commendable service in Burma. Unfortunately the high humidity and temperatures resulted in the wooden laminated airframe to come undone! end of story.
Oh wow how spectacular thank you for restoring this historic plane. My father was in the RAF before during and after the war. I’m sure others feel the same it’s like their history being restored.
Seeing this video second time again, it does owns a soul, you people have restored the big history. Kudos to the team.
My neighbor Lionel Henning was a joiner by trade , and worked on the construction of Mossies in Walthamsow at Blackhorse Road during the war. He also told me that they were having a problem with the gluing process, and played apart in resolving it. In the 1990s I took him to Duxford to see a Mossy on static display, and he gave me and the guide there a memorable recollection of how he helped on the parts of construction.
Thanks to those people in this video for bringing that part of history alive again.
NEIGHBOUR! U!
It never ceases to amaze me how long a restoration takes compared to the 11 months from concept to first flight it took at the time .
I think there are a few good reasons for that. They're working with parts that already exist and trying to keep as many in the finished version as possible. The people at the time had no such considerations. In addition, the people who are completing the restoration will have other jobs, or be volunteers, and are clearly not working from original drawings, but from inspired guesswork, as the programme makes clear. And finally, the people back then had in imperative. Their survival was at stake. Happily, we have no such problem.
Not having access to the technical drawings and manual does not help either. I am always amazed how these people have the dedication and perseverance to complete decades long projects.
Wow, Just wow! God bless all the folks working for many years to make this beautiful airplane fly again. Very, very impressive.
Who would down vote something like this? Incredible restoration. Awesome to hear the veterans talk about their experiences.
We've got plenty of live Nazis in the USA to use it against, and there's no such thing a minor problem with a retract.
Eco warriors I would guess!
It's all smooth lines and curves.
Gorgeous kite and a good shout at being WW2's best all rounder
somehow the positive and great vibes the Mosquito emanates are being reflected by this magnificent restoration crew. Every one of those talking to us via the camera seems to be a loveable Mosquito lover.
We Found a long lost relative of mine in Brummen commonwealth cemetery Holland (near Arnhem) 5 years ago who died in his mosquito a week after D day, Flying officer Navigator/Wireless operator John Milne Simpson who was a 22 year old navigator and buried next to his pilot Flt lieutenant A.S.H Baillie, a humbling experience finding them, together forever bless them, RIP Fellas and thank you..
Beautiful aircraft. Well done to all involved to get it back in the air where it belongs. Massive respect to all Mozzie pilots from years ago. My dad was a big aircraft enthusiast. We would often go sit at an airport and just watch planes come and go.
The most versatile allied aircraft of ww2 and one of the best planes of the war period
What an amazing amount of perseverance. My hat is off to the workers and whom ever funded the whole thing. Congratulations.
What a marvellous achievement. Thank you. My father was a Mossie pilot in WW2. 109 Sqn Pathfinders, RAF Little Staughton/RAF Marham. I have his log books and medals.
What an outstandingly excellent programme. With Mossies so rare , I will never see another fly in my lifetime . The stand out plane of WW2. I was once stood in my back garden in England when I heard the unmistakable throb of Merlin engines approaching . Looking up , there was the Battle of Britain flight . A Spitfire , a Hurricane , and a Lancaster ( which I think was Lincoln at that time) . The sound of 6 Merlins in harmony sent goosebumps up and down my spine .
@Englishman inFrance . . . .You might well yet see one fly again very very soon, one is being re-built on The Isle of Wight, and should fly before long . . .Fingers crossed!!
Ahhh... the sound and fury of Merlins writ large...
My late father, who survived two entire tours in Bomber Command and who flew many aircraft types, described the Mosquito as his favourite aircraft. It was astonishingly fast, versatile and could fight its way where no heavy bomber could. He felt that the appalling number of deaths in Bomber Command (which suffered proportionally a higher death toll than any other arm within the British armed forces) could have been substantially reduced by deploying the Mozzy than the slower heavy bomber types.
There is a team in New Zealand who have restored several Mosquitos to flying condition. That includes manufacture of new fuselages. This team would probably benefit from talking to them
17:33 I hope you're right mate, even though wars won't be fought the same way again, they unfortunately will be fought.
Thank you to ALL our veterans and most of all, all those who never came home. you're not forgotten.
I very much loved this. My family built these in the Hatfield plant during WWII. It was wonderful to see what they had built flying and hear more of the history. Thank you.
Extraordinario avion !!!
It is making my eyes watering to see this. And the sound of those engines. Wooow
Ive had the pleasure of being in one. I was in the cadets 1466 squadron 1975 to 1977 . It was in a hanger but a beautiful aircraft. Well done.
This had me gripped for the full length of the programme. Thanks so much for uploading this excellent documentary.
Wow! Great video. Thanks to everyone who had a part in the project.
A fabulous aeroplane. I saw Kermit Weeks (?) Mosquito at Wycombe Air Park (Personal Plane Services) , before it was flown to the USA, long time ago now. I think the Mossie just has the edge on the Spitfire for grace and beauty. It makes me proud.
Around 20 years ago I was with my wife and her parents in a small village in North Yorkshire called Hutton le Hole when l heard what l thought was the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, a Spitfire and Hurricane flying in close formation. It wasn't, but it was a Mossie. The only one I've ever seen flying. Both my in-laws served in the army in WW2 and the look on their faces was unforgettable. As was the sound and sight of that aircraft. Once seen, never forgotten.
i can only guess what pride and satisfaction you felt when she flew, many thanks for your dedication.
Every so often I come back and watch this once again.
Beautiful plane,extraordinary engineers and mechanics.Wonderful story.The test pilot has titanium balls.I salute the men who flew these in war,true heroes.
agreed all but the titanium part planes design was well proven long ago the frame has undergone full restoration the engines are certified the props are certified , mechanical systems and our understanding of them are far greater now than when this craft was designed so it only comes down to trust of others professionalism its a flight like any other flight and not this crafts maiden voyage or this designs first flight,,they had the titanium
The test pilot is Steve Hinton, who is maybe the best pilot ever of WW2 aircraft. He flew the first flying Mosquito restoration which was done in New Zealand. He is head of the Planes of Fame museum, and has a restoration company.
@@loboheeler Geoffrey de Havilland Jr. was the test pilot..steve hinton is just a pilot probably a damn good one with more hours than i can imagine
Ok,I can accept that Mr Hilton is one of the greatest test pilots,but a one off airplane plenty pressure. The unexpected happens when you don’t expect it.He had the best of the best to rebuild such a particular machine,anything could have happened.So ,big balled Steve,the adrenaline junky.
in the summer of 1973 (I was 16) my mate's dad invited me to an air display at Hawker Siddeley Hatfield England. He was employed there as a sheet metal worker in the pressing plant. They had on display a flying Mosquito which I recall had been built at the Hatfield factory during 1944. it was an amazing sight and sound both when parked and during its flying display.
Thank you very much for putting this video together. All involved have a lot of heart and soul.
Amazing documentary about a often forgotten part of aviation history... Glad this one was completed and flying again and hope it will continue flying as well as will not be the last to be airborne again
I was. in the Hornet Raf squadron and it was the fastest plane in the world, James Parlett, age 94 years,
A lovely documentary, and it awakens memories for me, as well, back to the age of 2 1/2. Refugees from eastern parts of Germany, we emigrated in ‘51, first for 3 years to Montréal. Our parents helped make ends meet by sub-letting a room to a de Havilland employee, an ex-POW fellow German. He got use of our bath one evening a week. Decades later, I was doing a Urology expertise; the patient (same guy!) surprised me with our common past, and clammed up. Mom reminded me, laughing, when I asked her why that could be.
Weekly shouting matches:
“Please, shut the vent window - Stop fogging up the whole apartment!”
“I’ve gotta breathe, too, dammit!”
Job well done. That is the best looking Mosquito I have seen. Since I can remember the De Havilland Mosquito has always been my favourite WW2 aircraft.
My uncle turned 100 years on Dec. 10th 2020. He was a navigator/photographer on 540 sqdn. at RAF Benson. He's still with us and regales us with loads of memories. He has lots of original recce. photos which I have digitised so we'll have a permanent record. There's one at RAF Cosford Museum which close to where we live. It was in the 622 Squadron movie. Great documentary guys, pity the habitual 'dislikers' are here!
I visited the De Havilland Aircraft Museum Salisbury Hall, Shenley, London Colney AL2 1BU well worth a visit. This is where it was designed and the prototypes built. What a day we had going into planes and talking to the veterans.
and now, they are rebuilding ''The Peoples Mosquito'' there, to flying standard, google the title for details AND, DONATE, to speed things up.
some things should just be and this old trusty gal flying in this century is one of them. just beautiful
Thank God for these dedicated men who keep history alive , congratulations ,makes me feel fantastic ,The Mossie & The Lannie my favourite planes of all time, video like this just makes a man smile ,tear up a little as well !👏👍🖖❤
It's is a good thing that those Gentlemen came...We can never honor them all enough for the sacrifices they made and what the had to go through and what they had to do
Thank you for this very cool documentary. I had the pleasure of watching both of the 'restored' Mosquitos in NZ fly in the last few years. Interesting listening to the comments about how the NZ team are helping with it, but not giving them credit for what they have really achieved;- they have recreated the aircraft moulds to form the fuselages from scratch, mostly without any technical drawings at all, and scrounging any Mossie bits worldwide over almost 30 years. I knew a RAF Wing Commander 30 odd years ago when flying gliders (WC Claude Rennie RAF) we used to, at the end of the day, get him drunk to get him to tell us stories of his air time in them. He said, with tears " it was the most beautiful airplane, but a complete bitch on takeoff. Sometimes he'd have to use brakes as well as throttles to keep it on the runway.
I was there for the first display at Ardmore. The crowd went silent as she first flew over. Wow what a feeling! I understand that the pilots spoke to an ex-RAF Mosquito instructor who actually trained the Chinese to fly theirs. he passed on the current technique to take off which was to hold on the brakes and advance to around half power, release the brakes and slowly advance the throttles to take off power as she heads off down the runway and she wouldn't swing. Works a treat! Similar technique to the Griffon powered Spits.
At 51.28 the tears began ! So beautiful.
A brilliant video, thank you those who were involved with it's making and a huge thank you for those veterans of WW2 who flew them, and told us their stories., so sad about the F for Freddie crew who were killed at Calgary, but it was caused by pilot bravado and so unnecessarily caused two deaths and the death of F for Freddie. RIP the three of them. My wife and I visited the US last year and stayed in Wisconsin, and visited the EA museum at Oshkosh and saw the Mozzie featured in this video
Superb film.. I ADORE Mossies, and here in the UK, where they were designed and [mostly] used.. we HAVE NOT GOT ONE ~ NOT ANY.! flying, which is very sad.
Thank you for this.. it was a joy to watch.
Carlisle UK
I well remember the Mossie that flew in the UK back in the 1980/90s until it crashed sadly killing both crew. But the speed that thing could move at, it's agility and the sound of those engines was something I will never forget. To see this one fly again bought back wonderful memories of the aircraft I knew.
Was that based at Blackbush - Camberley because I saw one take off fromt there sometime c June 1984 to attend the Normandy celebrations. My Father was going to crew one as Navigator at the back end of the war but ended up on Lancs instead - he said due to the low losses being sustained in Mozzies as he called them
The historians of the future will thank you for all your diligent work.
A very well done to every member of the team. A wonderfull restoration.
I used to watch these fly at air shows in the 80's in the UK. Well, you don't just watch them, you experience. I was immediately enthralled by the sound and speed of them, as much as I was the Spitfire, and it encouraged me to learn to fly..... and those 2 Merlins in unison were just amazing. I can't wait to see one fly again.
Excellent and very informative production about one the most famous aircraft in WWII ! And congratulations that you gave former pilots and mechancs a possibility to tell us about their very personal experiences.
My favourite Allied twin engined fighter-bomber. So beautiful, graceful, and lethal. Wonderful to see her fly.
A piece of history flying is better than setting in a museum never getting to do what it was born to do fly. Thank you guys for the video awesome job.
What a great job and interesting watch. The level of workmanship involved in this project is amazing.
Amazing
Tom Burdge is my Grandpa, was so proud he was asked to speak for this. He passed away the other day at 101 years old. I'm so very honoured to be his grandson. I'm glad this still lives on the internet.
I love seeing these old war hero's brought back to life, thank you for uploading it. Another piece of history saved for all to see and hopefully remember the cost of war.
Totally agree with that last comment, my favourite aircraft, wish there were more
Such an important and amazing part of history, this documentary brought me to a tears! Thank you for sharing ❤️❤️❤️
Magnificent!! I am happy to see F for Freddy airworthy and doing graceful things in the Air!! Thanks to all the Mechanics and technicians responsible for her being present and helping a younger generation see these marvelous machines 🔝💜💜
Well done everyone in keeping history alive.
It's been a pure joy to watch this. Thank you.
These guys are "ordinary" HEROES!!!!!!
Yes. And I think that can be said of just about all the military personnel of the time.
It justifies my thinking that wars are won and lost by technical design and exquisite engineering under extreme pressure and backed by a competent government who deploys people who trust the ones who engaged them and to put their lives totally in their hands because they love the beautiful equipment they were delivered and the soul enshrined within. These aren't planes...their a condensed collection of extraordinary minds with a will to survive no matter what.
AMAZING , the deadication by all involved over the years to rebuild and fly the Mosquito . DH , has been part of my early years as my farther and mother worked on the Vampire and the sea vixen until the factory at Christchurch closed . Thank you for the video and an amazing aircraft .
In 1980, I worked at the largest Multi Disciplinary Design firm in Europe, Building Design Partnership based in Preston Lancashire. There was an old guy who worked there, who said as an apprentice, he worked on the Mosquito as a joiner. They where timber framed and were built in Salmesbury outside the limits of Preston. As a 27 year old I was in awe of this guy who was part of the team that built these iconic planes. Epic.
That was something! The Mosquito fasinated me from a boy to now, at 67years.
ME too 65 now.
Interestingly the Australian built Mosquitoes were slightly stronger due to using Coachwood, which was the same timber used for 303 rifle stocks.
Those Mosquitoes had to survive in the tropics which were the worst conditions encountered for the plane and a testament to the builder’s skill in glues and paint.
Terrific video. What a great restoration of a magnificent airplane. Thank you all
beautiful plane, perfect example of an out of the box concept that succeeded.
Thank you for showing us a treasure historic beautiful air plane.
All my Uncles served in WWII (In all theaters) and I was always a rapid history fan. I loved the aircraft of that era and was fortunate to live near Oshkosh. The Mosquito always fascinated me. That you gentlemen so very much for keeping the era of history alive.