I thought I knew my WW2 aircraft but I had completely overlooked the strategic importance of the mosquito until seeing this documentary. A multi role aircraft predominantly made from wood and produced in kit form in a cottage style industry from all corners of the uk so that no one attack could wipe out its continued production. Excellent film. Might have to visit my local model shop and build something for the cabinet !
A fine history of a wonderful airplane by a great aircraft manufacturer. De Havilland's concept of lightness and speed proved very successful and adaptable for many roles. Plus, it's one of the most beautiful aircraft produced in WWII in my opinion. Building it out of plywood was genius and saved the project from being scrapped in 1940. Good show, lads.
one of the greatest things i have seen on youtube..thank you for posting..even as a young lad making airfix models of the mossie i knew it was a special aircraft..cheers
Bit of a non-sequieur, but did you notice that near the beginning, a scene of GDH with his design team, a cup of tea is being passed along from person to person. How very British.
I should like to add my voice to the many here and say this is a thoroughly marvelous and interesting documentary - especially the "live" footage of the low level RAF raid. The statistics on the Mosquito's success are truly astounding! I had never realized! Many thanks!
My favourite aeroplane - worked with a guy 30 years ago who flew them during the war. Never flew - in anything - again after the war ended. When I asked him, he said he reckoned he'd used up all his luck with all the impossible things they were asked to do.
What an amazing aircraft, possibly the most effective of WW2 it seems nothing could catch it and its ability as a multi role aircraft were unequalled. We should have made 1000s more.
Well, that may have been a bit exaggerated for propaganda purposes, but there is little doubt individual carpentry businesses did make a contribution. More so the larger furniture businesses in places like High Wycombe, which were already turning out mass-produced furniture: they were very easily switched to direct aircraft production in quantity: something the enemy would never have thought possible (and some British brass-hats might well have agreed with). Moreover, as the film states, many repairs were within the competence of an ordinary carpenter, who might have been in the RAF, or who would have already been tooled up and been informally drafted in to help at the local base, probably as a DH subcontractor.
@@allenwilliams1306. Yes Allen and there is a book published called the 'History of Aviation in High Wycombe' I think which mentions the furniture industry here (about 100 factories back then?) and how it changed during WW2. Some of these companies made parts for the Mosquito and further up Amersham Hill in High Wycombe is a place named De Havilland Close I think.
@@jimlassen9422 Is it not so that Goring was infuriated ( as well as amazed) by this extraordinary plane and declared that 'Every piano making firm in England is making them!'...Being a ww1 veteran ace, he understood the virtues of planes with a lot of wood in the design. So, he wanted a German version made, which wasn't easy to accomplish. The TA 154..But he was a man obsessed and even called his version Mosquito. How unoriginal...But no, there were probs in their design, never got past proto level.
My Great Grand Father flew Beaufighter for 60 sorties and was shot down twice, he then flew 280 sorties in Mosquito without issues, he then flew Tempests being shot down once by ground fire , he died in his bed aged 96, his favourite plane was the Mosquito but he never went into details of his missions as he lost to many friends
A recent anonymous and quite scurrilous copyright claim against this public information video has been dropped following my appeal. Many thanks to UA-cam..
Anyone with any religion is a bit of a worry. Luckily people believing in sky fairies are becoming the minority around the world and a good thing to. Socialist EU countries. Oh you mean the wealthy ones with a high standard of living and culture it would be a pleasure to live and work in. They have a terrible thing like universal healthcare for everyone, good retirement options, very low crime rates etc. Clean safe countries with high levels of education. Yes the opposite of the US in every respect and much better for it.
Just before the 26 min mark some nice clips of 105 squadron which joined with 8 Group PFF in June 43. The wing commander is John Wooldridge DFC DSO who was also a screen writer and composer who wrote and produced the 1952 Dirk Bogarde film Appointment in London, the story of a Lancaster bomber pilot.
When i heard of there wood construction a while back i was amazed. But now i wonder why they always talk about how the spitfire saved the day. In my view the Mosqhito was the best engineered plane ever. It wasnt just a fighter. It was everything and put together in wood workshops. What an amazing feate of Engineering and abillity.
I agree. Today it would be called a multi role aircraft. Way ahead of its time. Herman Goering watched them with envious eyes "And now they have an aircraft that is better than anything we can produce and can be made by any woodwork shop on the country"
Many thanks for posting this excellent video, a remarkable aeroplane, one of the best aeroplanes of WWII, and of course British , I have the original on Video, so I will have to watch it again.
I shewed a picture of the mosqito to my oldest. I had argued yhat there is a warbird that is undeniable stunnibg whether ones cares for aircraft or not. Her reply was: You are right that loks like the ideal ”aeroplane” from the world of ideas.
It was 2 years after the introduction of the Mosquito that the DH Vampire flew using the DH Goblin turbojet which also powered the first USAAF jet aircraft. The Vampire also had wooden components although not as extensively as the Mossie
My late uncle Jack Weir was radio operator navigator on mosquitos flying from Leuchars to Sweden in unarmed civilian marked planes. They would load up the bomb bay with ball bearings and then take off. They would then circle up as high as they could before flying over Norway for home losing height as they went to try and outrun the FW190s.
Sir Geoffery was a brilliant engineer and leader. He has what we Yanks and Brits have lost. Fortitude!! We rather whine and point fingers than grab our bollucks. Then march on like men.
I was fortunate enough to meet John Cunningham many years ago, he lived nearby and his navigator, Jimmy Rawnsley was my fils best man. I clearly remember him saying it was a beautiful plane to fly.... fast, but a sod if you stalled!
German had tried a similar high speed wooden fighter bomber, the Ta-154 dubbed the "Moskito". But it failed miserably as the Germans did not fully understand the concept like the British do
Fantastic film and amazing aircraft. I think it says alot about British industry that the most brilliant aircraft they made in the war, and the quickest from drawing board to mass production, was constructed using essentially pre-industrial techniques and materials, by 400 small self employed subcontractors on piece-work. English craft skills at their most ingenious. And I bet those subbies did well out of it, - making essentially furniture in their living rooms and selling it to the Air Ministry at war prices I would have liked to have a piece of that. Here's some pocket money son help me out on this :-)
Ssblahm The Mossie was NOT the fastest from design to manufacture. Mustang was done in 117 days and Lockheeds first jet the P80 was also about 120 days !!! !
Even Germany recognized the worth and success of the ‘Mosquito’ by introducing the Ta 154 late in the war, not many made & certainly not very successful!
@@warplanner3258 Bomb load of 4000 lbs vs B17 of 3500(agreed that the B17 carried a greater variety) fighter, submarine buster with the cannon, recon, night fighter, precision bomber, pathfinder, and LANDED/ TOOK OFF from a carrier. IMO the number 2 is the B25. Couldn't be a fighter or recon, but also fitted out with cannon and took off from a carrier. Both great aircraft
I think I saw this film - or one very like it - way back in 1962/63 when I was at school. We had an aeronautical society, and you could borrow films in those days free except postage for schools. Saw all the old SBAC Farnborough films as well. Great days. And it was a state school, so no privileged treatment, in case you ask!
When Goering saw a technical report of one that had crashed, he said ‘The British have geniuses for aircraft designers. We have nincompoops’. (Yep, the word is the same in English & German)
Beautiful, elegant and fast. I have several old plastic models completed as reconnaissance and fighter/bomber types. There are some real Mossies still around. Calgary is not too far away if it is to see a flying Mossie. Is it just me, or do I hear "Flight of the Bumblebee" or "The Green Hornet" whenever I see one flying?
I don't usually like the Jingoistic style of movies like this but this one is deserved and if anything slightly understated Ah to think if they had built mossies instead of heavy bombers.........
My favourite ww2 plane , a beautiful plane and very versatile I would have liked to see one built in aluminium to see what its performance was like also it would be built to last as as the they were built of wood and wood rots .
There was no interest to make it in aluminium as the birch plywood/balsa sandwich has a better ratio rigidity/strength/weight. A wood sandwich has a density more than four times lighter than aluminum. In clear for the same weight by square foot the wood panel is at least 4 times thicker, is at least 64 (4³) times more rigid, and two times stronger. In this range of size, speed and stresses a wood sandwich will be only beaten by a high tech composite sandwich. Besides it's a monohull, insensitive to metal fatigue, corrosion, loosening rivets and cracks problems. The beauty of the method, although being very labor intensive, is that the plane was made by carpenters, furniture and piano makers with no strategic materials. Except the molds, no special expensive tooling was required. The aluminium one would weight far more and probably would be less rigid. If made in alu at the same weight that the wood one, the plane would lack strength, allowing only a very conservative speed and would have a very short life cell because of metal fatigue. The problem resided in the glues, not so much with the woods. The used glues, urea formaldehyde and casein, did not withstand high humidity and were plagued by fungus. A mosquito made with treated woods and glued with epoxies and polyurethanes would fly many years, longer than an aluminium one because of no corrosion and fatigue. .
Ok.The Mossie was a masterpiece,but the Miles trainer aircraft were of wooden construction as well,and they get hardly a mention,even though our pilots learned to fly in them.
This was at the request of Elliott Roosevelt, who saw the possibilities and loved the aircraft. American pilots had a bit of a love-hate relationship with it. The ones who loved it couldn’t get enough of it. Others were less enthusiastic. It wasn’t like an American aircraft. The P-38, for example, had no critical engine because the propellers turned in opposite directions. The Mosquito was more conventional and a more capable aircraft. Companies like Beechcraft thought it a bad idea because, in their view, it sacrificed too much in terms of structural integrity to achieve its phenomenal performance. The USAAF mostly used them for PR and weather observation flights, rather than as a combat aircraft. In the end, they lost a lot of them in crashes. But for those American pilots who did love it, their view was that it’s only weakness was that there were never enough of them.
At that time there were not that many Spitfires around. It is true to say that the hurricane bore the brunt of the battle of Britain... Or De Havilland hated Supermarine..
what a shame on the UK for not having a few of these planes flying in the memorial flight as it looks as if they did more to save the UK then a lot of other planes as well they were a lot of firsts in aviation i believe there are only 2 or 3 flying now
Great film. The Wooden Wonder and she really was an amazing aircraft. Can anybody tell me if there are any flying restoration projects underway. I know there is a Mossie flying in New Zealand but how about UK? It would be fabulous to see a Mosquito again gracing our skies. And by the way, gb5uq, you have Wing Commander Wooldridge's decorations backwards. It's DSO,DFC.
Rodney B Jennings Thank you, I understand there is a restoration project somewhere in Canada. As the Mosquito is not American, I hope the US owners show the same "reverence" towards the Mossie as we, I do so wish we had one gracing our UK skies.
Adrian Larkins The current restoration flying marvel, was made in Canada (discovered on a farm and almost beyond rescue) Bought by an American, sent to New Zealand for a total reconstruction--brilliantly done, returned to the US owner, where it now resides. There is a Mossie in the RAF museum at Hendon UK, which is in good order, but not airworthy. Why doesn't the National Lottery help out? It's a true national Icon.
Adrian Larkins There are restoration projects in the pipeline such as the peoples Mosquito, but undoubtedly the will be another variant which seems to be the obsession. The chances of seeing a real DH98 Bomber is slim it seems.
gb5uq In the 80s I was at a private air show in Texas, I say private because the FAA was not invited, it was put on by the late war bird collector and oil man Howard Perdue, they like to do some things the FAA would not allow, like filling the bomb bay of a B25 Mitchell full of nerf balls and dropping them over the kids, which they loved, anyway Kermit Weeks had his Mosquito there and in that venue you could walk up and touch the aircraft, the bomb bay doors were open and I remember looking inside the aircraft and was fascinated by the wood construction I was trying to figure out what is wood and what is metal, its not easy.That Mosquito had aux fuel tanks mounted on the wings and they were metal, included with the engines and some miscellaneous parts the rest of the aircraft is wood. In my observation men who own aircraft like the Mossie do so because of love, so they are very reverent with the aircraft.
It had enough firepower with rockets and the guns it had. Didn’t you hear what the man said? Against enemy shipping, the Mosquito packed the punch of a 6 inch cruiser. There are recorded cases of Mosquitoes cutting destroyers in half.
Any four engine men still alive,my apologies, but they should have replaced every single Fort and Liberator with a mosquito. It would have saved a lot of young men.
They solved that one too. The final solution included a thin wooden "speed stripe" along the side of the fuselage as well as different resin. It was designed to use in Europe after all.
WHEN (especially now, today, in the present.......) are documentary producers going to learn to STOP COVERING THE NARRATOR with annoying "music." Nick Spark, you listenin? No I haven't forgotten YOU
Awesome airplane. Too bad we fought the wrong enemy. General Patton quote. Now look what we got. The "greatest generation" was duped. And we are all suffering now because of them.
Hawarden airport had one in the flying school hangar next to the Chippy's and Tiger...i remember looking inside the bomb bay...it still had the carpenters pencil marks on the woodwork
ME 109 pilots readily admitted they had nothing but respect for their Spitfire counterparts. Those that encountered Mosquitos configured with 4 303s & 4 20mm, readily admitted they would do anything needed to never run into them again.
The finest war bird of ww2. Hearing and watching a mosquito low pass at 400mph with those two merlin v12's flat out is a sight to behold and enough to send shivers down your spine..
A brief appearance of “Catseyes” Cunningham, and featuring the Eindhoven raid on the Philips factory, which was, of course, an important source of instruments and components for the Nazi war effort. Thoughtfully, the management of Philips had transferred all the most militarily sensitive operations to its British factories before the war started, and was as un-cooperative as possible with the occupiers, unlike some other Dutch businesses such as C&A. The Philips management knew the raid was coming, and advised on which bit of the factory should be attacked to secure the best outcome, trying to protect its workers as far as possible in the process.
It is very sad to see all the hatred written in these comments. It very well could be that the de Havilland mosquito was the best plane the Allies had and maybe not. The truth is that the mosquito was a great plane and there were other Great planes by other manufacturers and all were flown by very brave men and women trying to save the world so let's keep it in perspective. Logic indicates that if the only plane the Allies had was the mosquito there very well could have been a lot more done with a lot less deaths. The B-17 had a crew of 10 and the same bombing capacity while the Havilland mosquito only needed a crew of two and was faster. Take the B-17 crew of 10 and put them into five mosquitoes and you multiply the bombing capacity by 5, so it only makes sense that instead of one thousand plane raids they could have had five thousand plane raids and ended the war sooner but that's just hypothetical. Hindsight is a wonderful thing but they didn't have the benefit of hindsight while they were in the midst of fighting for their lives so let's give them all the credit that they deserve and they deserve much. Without the greatest generation we would have been speaking German and Japanese and let's face it the majority of us reading this right now would not even have been born. So why not stop the childish infighting and just enjoy learning about one of the most interesting times in the history of the world. . Pay attention. We have bigger issues to worry about. There's another storm brewing and the Youngest Generation may be called upon to fight battles against enemies both Foreign And Domestic. Stalin may have been right that they will get us from within without firing a shot. Idiots will vote in socialism and communism or even Muslim. At that point you won't give a shit which plane was the best in WW2. Grow Up And Man Up.
I am very impressed how quick engineers of all types managed to advance concept to product in such short time. They must have been very skilled and worked very hard.
It was down to the tea - they used to create special batches by storing the tea in a damp place for a week then slowly dried out naturally - this created a special fungus which when brewed had psychotropic properties stimulating creative parts of the brain.
Thanks for the video! And the tiny original mention of Canada. Built a lot of them at DeHavilland in Downsview in Toronto, Canada. Canada and Canadians contributed a hell of a lot to the war, be it manpower, ships, planes. Not to mention the AVRO plant in Malton, turning out Lancs, etc. Where did Britain get the birch? Ah, Canada. A lot of Women flew them over the Atlantic.
Undoubtedly the most feared allied aircraft of the war from an axis point of view. It did not matter where, what time of day or at what height you were the prey of these exceptional machines.
sheikhyaboooty A few years ago I read a German soldiers account of time in Normandy after D-day landings. He said he and his comrades always feared the Mosquito's because they were dangerous at low level, appearing just over tree-tops at high speed, or bombing from great heights. He recalled one incident when a solitary tiny silver plane appeared over head at about 30,000 feet. Suddenly there was a huge explosion nearby, and they all knew it was a Mosquito.
The prey of those exceptional machines were largely civilians. Schools, hospitals, railway stations and civilian housing. The aim of those 'nuisance' raids was to draw defenses away from key targets giving the 'heavies' a greater chance of success. In reality all that was achieved was the deaths of tens, perhaps hundreds of thousands if innocent men women and children in what amounted to nothing more than a terrorist bombing campaign. I see nothing to celebrate anymore. After seven years research into the life and times an Canadian Mosquito pilot killed in 1944 for his biography I felt I could no longer in all conscience continue the work as the magnitude of the horror and depravity of the allied bombing offensive became more abundantly clear by the facts I uncovered. Facts which are now thankfully becoming more widely known and understood. The rose tinted view of heartless unfeeling sociopaths nostalgic for war and it's mechanical contrivances of mass killing and destruction sickens me now, I wish I never started. Were it not for the more than half a million that have viewed the video I would take it down. "History is a pack of lies about events that never happened told by people who weren't there." - George Santayana.
@@gb5uq meanwhile, just what to you think the Germans and Japanese with their allies were doing? I suggest you take another look at what total war against a ruthless cruel enemy actually means. Besides which to state "The prey of those exceptional machines were largely civilians. Schools, hospitals, railway stations and civilian housing" is highly misleading bordering on subversion and treachery.
@@CalumDouglas Do yourself a favour and ignore soaringtractor/Wilbur Finnigan and whatever other names he uses. He hates British fighting men and the aircraft they flew, despite the fact that half his own country supported Hitler until they saw the light, while the British had been fighting them for years. He hates the fact that the Mosquito was better than any twin of the war.
when I was in air cadets our CO had done flight training in a tiger moth. he was saying on days with a strong head wind they could actually fly backwards relative to the ground.
Yes, and if you flew one at night, someone might put a candle outside, and the damn thing would fly in circles around it. But only if the wind isn't strong
Before the war my father built one plane out of two Moth's, he told me the same thing a strong head wind and he could go backwards, when war broke out his plane was taken by the ait force to train pilots!
About 35 years ago, a friend (in the US) visited a British air museum and returned with a recording of a preflight (audio) checkout, which he played back on his high-fi with a pair of 100-watt speakers. Mesmerized teens drifted away from their music in the basement to feel to feel the body pounding acoustic vibrations from the Mosquito as it went through the checkout procedure while warming the lube oil equally in both engines before accelerating down the runway -- and blowing out the preamp on the recording device -- very impressive. I suspect that many enthusiasts would appreciate a link to that recording if one could be found.
In college I had a summer job at a clothing store, where one of the salesmen was a British chap who had flown Spits during the Battle of Britain. He still limped a bit from having bailed out over the channel during one of his many encounters. But he flew again. One of the nicest guys I ever met. Very humble about it all.
after the war this company built the world's first jet airliner, after dealing with metal fatigue problems, (caused by pressurerising the aircraft ) it paved the way for todays airliners, i flew in the COMET mk 2 ...great aircraft.
What a pleasure to read about the Dehaveland Mosquito. My father, Pi Pienaar flew a Mosquito during the war on reconnicence missions over Germany. He was the first to encounter a Meschersmit 262 over Munich, was attacked 10 times after being hit, flew back to Italy, made a belly landing and survived. I a. Writing this as an 80 year old son of the pilot!!
If the Spitfire had two engines it would have been the Mossie. What an elegant aircraft. Nothing like good old British craftsmanship in both aircraft and cars. If there ever was a car that could be compared to the Spitfire it would be the XKE Jaguar. This is coming from a Yank who had a Blackpuddlian dad who introduced me to Airfix models, Cadbury chocolate and the privilege of driving his 1966 XKE. RIP dad. Eee by gumm!
WOW SO MUCH HATE going on here both please be aware that all the allies gave there all young men who died way to young so you can live freely and enjoy vids on tou tube please be respectful of others they would had they lived
The ignorance, immaturity and hate is sickening these soyboys of today would NEVER in a million years have the class bravery and courage of the men of the greatest generation.
There was no wonder weapon which won the war. It was a combination of different approaches, some of which worked better than others, and the sacrifices made by people who never wanted to fight. some of the comparisons claiming "best" or "rubbish" are rather childish and pointless, and usually made by ones who were not alive at the time.
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The Germans thought so much of the Mosquito they decided to build one of their own, stealing the design from downed aircraft. Things were moving along smoothly until one night a group of Lancasters got off course and ended up bombing the German's GLUE FACTORY!! That ended the Kraut Mosquito.
True they bombed the Tego-Film glue factory in Wuppertal which in turn led to Heinkel use a substitute glue of inferior quality which not only affected the TA 154 ´´ Moskito´´ project but also the He 162 Salamander Jet Fighter.
Walter Strong, The Ta-154 was a German all-wooden twin engined fighter called the Mosquito. They built several of them. They didn't work. DH Mosquitos were made from spruce and balsa wood. Balsa is not a strategic material, but it is exotic, especially if you are a WWII German.
No mention in the film of the Mosquito "pathfinder" night missions over German cities. Proceeding the multi-hundred Lancaster and Halifax bombers, the incendiary bomb-laden Mosquitoes dropped their small payloads to illuminate target zones. The Luftwaffe countered these advanced strikes by using their excellent Heinkel Uhu (owl) night fighters. The British countered this by escorting the pathfinder Mosquitos with radar equipped Mosquito night-fighters.
Without doubt the most beautifull aircraft of WWII in my opinion. And the most versatile too. Build from wood it also was easy to build by skilled carpenters and could take a lot of punishment. At the moment I'm buiding the Tamiya 1/48 model of the bomber version. The 1/32 Tamiya model is in the pipeline, but this one I'm gonna build in the fighter version. Thanks for uploading from a "Mossie" lover.
just an outstanding film, thank you for this vid. The astounding ingenuity of De Havilland's engineers using balsa wood, low production costs, a gorgeous frame even by today's standards and at what, a 1% or less casualty rate...?....there should've been 50,000 Mosquitos built.
My father flew a mosquito onetime from Bendigo to Laverton in Victoria. Elapsed time from wheels off to touch down was 10 minutes flying at tree-top height. He said it was quite a ride with those huge Merlins roaring away and the props level with the cockpit. He said the acceleration on the mosquito was very impressive.
It goes for both the RAF & the USAF. The Mosquito carried (from what I'm given to believe) the equivalent to the other, bigger bombers including the the US bombers. Only 2 crew members & no armament. It could carry a 4000 bomb load, at a faster speed than anything else in the sky. Flown at zero ft it was under the radar & difficult to shoot down. 2 Rolls Merlins bolted to a wardrobe. What a flying machine.
Yup, flying out of Banff, to Norway, they flew at 10 ft above the waves at night. ! crazy. More losses on take off and landing than in the air I was told. Wet grass runways caused many accidents, wheels break off and exit is under the plane, not good.
Mosquito mk.XVI: crew of two, range 1.500 miles with a 4.000 lb bomb load, maximum speed 415 mph cruising speed probably about 300 mph. Boeing B-17: crew of 10, range 800 miles, 4500 lb bomb load (long range), maximum speed 287, cruising speed 182 mph. I often wonder what if the USAAF would have split that single B-17 crew in two-men flight crews and flew much larger numbers of the mosquito in stead of the B-17. Even with the original bomb-load of 2.000 lb, the shear numbers would increase "pay-load" delivery, at higher speeds, longer range and less risk for the crews.
I'm willing to concede I may have made a mistake in interpreting the extensive data on the B-17 as described by Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_B-17_Flying_Fortress), which DOES state a range of 800 miles for long range missions, while at the same time claiming 2000 miles with 6000 lb of bombs elsewhere in the spec's, I will maintain that the sheer speed and smaller crew for comparable range and load, still the makes mosquito the better plane
Roy Kliffen..... IF the B17 only had a 800 mile range....how did they fly to Berlin and back??? 1800 to 2000 miles is more like it..and they produced twice as many B17's and three times as many B24's...
That's why I conceded that point. I missed that flaw in Wikipedia data in my original comment. Still leaves the smaller crew, higher speed, similar payload and less use of metal per plane. The resources used to build all those B-17's and B-24's could also have been used to build much more mosquitoes, and even then not enough to use all the crewmen used for those B-17's and B-24's.
ingenuity at its best. what an amazing plane,the more they asked of her,the more she took,bombs,drop tanks,machine guns,why not cannons too,or maybe an artillery piece ?sure,some rockets too,why not ?all out of wood keep in mind, nothing short of incredible!
YES, THE STORY IS INCOMPLETE WITH MENTIONING ALL HER ARMOURY. e.g THE 6 LB CANNON, THAT DESTROYED SO MANY SURFACE SHIPS AND SUBMARINES , WITH IT'S SOLID HARDENED STEEL SHELL'S ETC.
12:25 ...thanks for documentary ... really interesting from a point of view of product design and construction process. Really good shape, great style. Very aerodynamic shape.
I have a friend who is 97 years old now and he flew 254 missions as a navigator in mosquitos. I salute you Sandy
As do all right thinking people. Thank you, Sir, for your service.
Me too !!! Say thanks to Sandy for me.
My father helped build the first one....and others at DHs at Hatfield....
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John Randall z
I thought I knew my WW2 aircraft but I had completely overlooked the strategic importance of the mosquito until seeing this documentary. A multi role aircraft predominantly made from wood and produced in kit form in a cottage style industry from all corners of the uk so that no one attack could wipe out its continued production. Excellent film. Might have to visit my local model shop and build something for the cabinet !
A fine history of a wonderful airplane by a great aircraft manufacturer. De Havilland's concept of lightness and speed proved very successful and adaptable for many roles. Plus, it's one of the most beautiful aircraft produced in WWII in my opinion. Building it out of plywood was genius and saved the project from being scrapped in 1940. Good show, lads.
one of the greatest things i have seen on youtube..thank you for posting..even as a young lad making airfix models of the mossie i knew it was a special aircraft..cheers
BordeBomb66 i
Bit of a non-sequieur, but did you notice that near the beginning, a scene of GDH with his design team, a cup of tea is being passed along from person to person. How very British.
I like the workers wearing suits.
I should like to add my voice to the many here and say this is a thoroughly marvelous and interesting documentary - especially the "live" footage of the low level RAF raid. The statistics on the Mosquito's success are truly astounding! I had never realized!
Many thanks!
the british are not gods
No not gods, but damn close though.
@@robertsullivan4528 No which makes their achievements all the more awesome.
10mins and 16 secs in...the gent in the drawing office is my great uncle Sydney Webb. He had been working for G de Havilland since 1912 at Hendon.
My favourite aeroplane - worked with a guy 30 years ago who flew them during the war. Never flew - in anything - again after the war ended. When I asked him, he said he reckoned he'd used up all his luck with all the impossible things they were asked to do.
Now THAT'S an impressive aircraft! It's so rare that a machine that can do so many jobs can do all of them so well.
What an amazing aircraft, possibly the most effective of WW2 it seems nothing could catch it and its ability as a multi role aircraft were unequalled. We should have made 1000s more.
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Nowhere else in the world would you get a village carpenter making aircraft parts......just genius!
Well, that may have been a bit exaggerated for propaganda purposes, but there is little doubt individual carpentry businesses did make a contribution. More so the larger furniture businesses in places like High Wycombe, which were already turning out mass-produced furniture: they were very easily switched to direct aircraft production in quantity: something the enemy would never have thought possible (and some British brass-hats might well have agreed with). Moreover, as the film states, many repairs were within the competence of an ordinary carpenter, who might have been in the RAF, or who would have already been tooled up and been informally drafted in to help at the local base, probably as a DH subcontractor.
@@allenwilliams1306. Yes Allen and there is a book published called the 'History of Aviation in High Wycombe' I think which mentions the furniture industry here (about 100 factories back then?) and how it changed during WW2. Some of these companies made parts for the Mosquito and further up Amersham Hill in High Wycombe is a place named De Havilland Close I think.
@@jimlassen9422 Is it not so that Goring was infuriated ( as well as amazed) by this extraordinary plane and declared that 'Every piano making firm in England is making them!'...Being a ww1 veteran ace, he understood the virtues of planes with a lot of wood in the design. So, he wanted a German version made, which wasn't easy to accomplish. The TA 154..But he was a man obsessed and even called his version Mosquito. How unoriginal...But no, there were probs in their design, never got past proto level.
My Great Grand Father flew Beaufighter for 60 sorties and was shot down twice, he then flew 280 sorties in Mosquito without issues, he then flew Tempests being shot down once by ground fire , he died in his bed aged 96, his favourite plane was the Mosquito but he never went into details of his missions as he lost to many friends
May he rest in peace and light perpetual shine upon him. Amen
A recent anonymous and quite scurrilous copyright claim against this public information video has been dropped following my appeal. Many thanks to UA-cam..
That's good to hear mate, we need things like this.
gb5uq
gb5uq
Ach, Kuheim, schatz -mindestens wissen wir wer und wo du bist. Hundedreck
Anyone with any religion is a bit of a worry. Luckily people believing in sky fairies are becoming the minority around the world and a good thing to. Socialist EU countries. Oh you mean the wealthy ones with a high standard of living and culture it would be a pleasure to live and work in. They have a terrible thing like universal healthcare for everyone, good retirement options, very low crime rates etc. Clean safe countries with high levels of education. Yes the opposite of the US in every respect and much better for it.
Just before the 26 min mark some nice clips of 105 squadron which joined with 8 Group PFF in June 43. The wing commander is John Wooldridge DFC DSO who was also a screen writer and composer who wrote and produced the 1952 Dirk Bogarde film Appointment in London, the story of a Lancaster bomber pilot.
When i heard of there wood construction a while back i was amazed. But now i wonder why they always talk about how the spitfire saved the day. In my view the Mosqhito was the best engineered plane ever. It wasnt just a fighter. It was everything and put together in wood workshops. What an amazing feate of Engineering and abillity.
I agree. Today it would be called a multi role aircraft. Way ahead of its time. Herman Goering watched them with envious eyes "And now they have an aircraft that is better than anything we can produce and can be made by any woodwork shop on the country"
Amazing aircraft .why haven't we got one that flies
wonderful film with some great war footage.
Many thanks for posting this excellent video, a remarkable aeroplane, one of the best aeroplanes of WWII, and of course British , I have the original on Video, so I will have to watch it again.
I shewed a picture of the mosqito to my oldest. I had argued yhat there is a warbird that is undeniable stunnibg whether ones cares for aircraft or not.
Her reply was: You are right that loks like the ideal ”aeroplane” from the world of ideas.
It was 2 years after the introduction of the Mosquito that the DH Vampire flew using the DH Goblin turbojet which also powered the first USAAF jet aircraft. The Vampire also had wooden components although not as extensively as the Mossie
British engineering and design at its best.
The best information and description of forcible aircraft. Great video thanks for sharing it
My late uncle Jack Weir was radio operator navigator on mosquitos flying from Leuchars to Sweden in unarmed civilian marked planes. They would load up the bomb bay with ball bearings and then take off. They would then circle up as high as they could before flying over Norway for home losing height as they went to try and outrun the FW190s.
Sir Geoffery was a brilliant engineer and leader. He has what we Yanks and Brits have lost. Fortitude!! We rather whine and point fingers than grab our bollucks. Then march on like men.
I was fortunate enough to meet John Cunningham many years ago, he lived nearby and his navigator, Jimmy Rawnsley was my fils best man. I clearly remember him saying it was a beautiful plane to fly.... fast, but a sod if you stalled!
One of the best planes of WW2. Thank you
German had tried a similar high speed wooden fighter bomber, the Ta-154 dubbed the "Moskito". But it failed miserably as the Germans did not fully understand the concept like the British do
@Letocetum sulley The Germans had pretty much an endless supply of Rolls Royce Merlins...
@@MarsFKA How so?
@@lenfirewood4089 From shot down Lancasters...
@@MarsFKA Well it wasn't an endless supply then.
Fantastic film and amazing aircraft.
I think it says alot about British industry that the most brilliant aircraft they made in the war, and the quickest from drawing board to mass production, was constructed using essentially pre-industrial techniques and materials, by 400 small self employed subcontractors on piece-work. English craft skills at their most ingenious.
And I bet those subbies did well out of it, - making essentially furniture in their living rooms and selling it to the Air Ministry at war prices I would have liked to have a piece of that. Here's some pocket money son help me out on this :-)
Ssblahm The Mossie was NOT the fastest from design to manufacture. Mustang was done in 117 days and Lockheeds first jet the P80 was also about 120 days !!! !
The most capable aircraft of ww2 , the envy of Air marshal Goering from the Luftwaffe .
Even Germany recognized the worth and success of the ‘Mosquito’ by introducing the Ta 154 late in the war, not many made & certainly not very successful!
Why ? He could hardly fit into the cockpit.
"..ONE OF the most capable aircraft of WW II.."
Let's not get carried away now, chaps!
@@warplanner3258 The most is apt
@@warplanner3258
Bomb load of 4000 lbs vs B17 of 3500(agreed that the B17 carried a greater variety) fighter, submarine buster with the cannon, recon, night fighter, precision bomber, pathfinder, and LANDED/ TOOK OFF from a carrier. IMO the number 2 is the B25. Couldn't be a fighter or recon, but also fitted out with cannon and took off from a carrier. Both great aircraft
The Mosquito was fabulous for it's day.
I think I saw this film - or one very like it - way back in 1962/63 when I was at school. We had an aeronautical society, and you could borrow films in those days free except postage for schools. Saw all the old SBAC Farnborough films as well. Great days. And it was a state school, so no privileged treatment, in case you ask!
What a great design, great performance
When Goering saw a technical report of one that had crashed, he said ‘The British have geniuses for aircraft designers. We have nincompoops’. (Yep, the word is the same in English & German)
He turned green with envy....we believe!
Excellent! Thanks!
a brilliant aircraft. I saw one fly years ago. Very moving.
Me too. Saw one at Old Warden in 1991.
Beautiful, elegant and fast. I have several old plastic models completed as reconnaissance and fighter/bomber types. There are some real Mossies still around. Calgary is not too far away if it is to see a flying Mossie. Is it just me, or do I hear "Flight of the Bumblebee" or "The Green Hornet" whenever I see one flying?
I don't usually like the Jingoistic style of movies like this but this one is deserved and if anything slightly understated
Ah to think if they had built mossies instead of heavy bombers.........
My favourite ww2 plane , a beautiful plane and very versatile I would have liked to see one built in aluminium to see what its performance was like also it would be built to last as as the they were built of wood and wood rots .
There was no interest to make it in aluminium as the birch plywood/balsa sandwich has a better ratio rigidity/strength/weight.
A wood sandwich has a density more than four times lighter than aluminum. In clear for the same weight by square foot the wood panel is at least 4 times thicker, is at least 64 (4³) times more rigid, and two times stronger.
In this range of size, speed and stresses a wood sandwich will be only beaten by a high tech composite sandwich. Besides it's a monohull, insensitive to metal fatigue, corrosion, loosening rivets and cracks problems.
The beauty of the method, although being very labor intensive, is that the plane was made by carpenters, furniture and piano makers with no strategic materials. Except the molds, no special expensive tooling was required.
The aluminium one would weight far more and probably would be less rigid. If made in alu at the same weight that the wood one, the plane would lack strength, allowing only a very conservative speed and would have a very short life cell because of metal fatigue.
The problem resided in the glues, not so much with the woods. The used glues, urea formaldehyde and casein, did not withstand high humidity and were plagued by fungus. A mosquito made with treated woods and glued with epoxies and polyurethanes would fly many years, longer than an aluminium one because of no corrosion and fatigue. .
Wonderful documentary film. Made during the war, so obviously a moral booster and a shade of bias ,as would be expected ,by all sides.
Ok.The Mossie was a masterpiece,but the Miles trainer aircraft were of wooden construction as well,and they get hardly a mention,even though our pilots learned to fly in them.
We were incredibly lucky to have men of vision and ability back then.Look around at what we have now!
You gotta love it ! Us Yanks call these people “The Greatest Generation “ How much longer could we have had them with us if they all didn’t Smoke ??
The only thing I could say when the Buddhist monks burned themselves in Vietnam, was "Holy Smokes!"
Why on earth do we not have a flying example in the UK?,,,she was just as successful [if not more]than any other British aircraft, fantastic aircraft
Beautiful Plane. I didn't know the US Army/Air force also flew Mosquitos.
This was at the request of Elliott Roosevelt, who saw the possibilities and loved the aircraft. American pilots had a bit of a love-hate relationship with it. The ones who loved it couldn’t get enough of it. Others were less enthusiastic. It wasn’t like an American aircraft. The P-38, for example, had no critical engine because the propellers turned in opposite directions. The Mosquito was more conventional and a more capable aircraft. Companies like Beechcraft thought it a bad idea because, in their view, it sacrificed too much in terms of structural integrity to achieve its phenomenal performance. The USAAF mostly used them for PR and weather observation flights, rather than as a combat aircraft. In the end, they lost a lot of them in crashes. But for those American pilots who did love it, their view was that it’s only weakness was that there were never enough of them.
My mother worked there in the war
They designed these things without computers. Amazing.
I wonder how much material is out there to bodge together something on the Mossie's Gen 2 brother the Hornet
Not a lot. There is a small bit of wing at the De Havilland museum in England.
Happily there seems to be just enough bits! A Sea Hornet is being restored/reconstructed in New Zealand based around components found in Canada.
That'll be amazing.
garethonthetube It sure will be, Pioneer Aero are the guys behind it. I suspect it'll be a few years in the making but it'll be worth the wait!
Had to smile when they left the spitfire out of the list of aircraft in the Battle of Britain, De Havilland must of hated Supermarine :)
At that time there were not that many Spitfires around. It is true to say that the hurricane bore the brunt of the battle of Britain... Or De Havilland hated Supermarine..
Might opption was one the best aircraft ever
what a shame on the UK for not having a few of these planes flying in the memorial flight as it looks as if they did more to save the UK then a lot of other planes as well they were a lot of firsts in aviation
i believe there are only 2 or 3 flying now
Great film. The Wooden Wonder and she really was an amazing aircraft. Can anybody tell me if there are any flying restoration projects underway. I know there is a Mossie flying in New Zealand but how about UK? It would be fabulous to see a Mosquito again gracing our skies.
And by the way, gb5uq, you have Wing Commander Wooldridge's decorations backwards. It's DSO,DFC.
The Mosquito you are referring too in New Zealand was purchased and now
lives in the US. Their are now at least 2 flying exambles in the US.
Rodney B Jennings Thank you, I understand there is a restoration project somewhere in Canada. As the Mosquito is not American, I hope the US owners show the same "reverence" towards the Mossie as we, I do so wish we had one gracing our UK skies.
Adrian Larkins The current restoration flying marvel, was made in Canada (discovered on a farm and almost beyond rescue) Bought by an American, sent to New Zealand for a total reconstruction--brilliantly done, returned to the US owner, where it now resides. There is a Mossie in the RAF museum at Hendon UK, which is in good order, but not airworthy. Why doesn't the National Lottery help out? It's a true national Icon.
Adrian Larkins There are restoration projects in the pipeline such as the peoples Mosquito, but undoubtedly the will be another variant which seems to be the obsession. The chances of seeing a real DH98 Bomber is slim it seems.
gb5uq In the 80s I was at a private air show in Texas, I say private because the FAA was not invited, it was put on by the late war bird collector and oil man Howard Perdue, they like to do some things the FAA would not allow, like filling the bomb bay of a B25 Mitchell full of nerf balls and dropping them over the kids, which they loved, anyway Kermit Weeks had his Mosquito there and in that venue you could walk up and touch the aircraft, the bomb bay doors were open and I remember looking inside the aircraft and was fascinated by the wood construction I was trying to figure out what is wood and what is metal, its not easy.That Mosquito had aux fuel tanks mounted on the wings and they were metal, included with the engines and some miscellaneous parts the rest of the aircraft is wood. In my observation men who own aircraft like the Mossie do so because of love, so they are very reverent with the aircraft.
I guess this is where the US got the idea of the unarmed A6.
Also did Stirling work as a Pathfinder in the night bombing campaign.
One can only imagine how incredibly destructive a Mossie would have been with GAU 8 Avenger in it ... and the incredibly brave crews that flew them.
It had enough firepower with rockets and the guns it had. Didn’t you hear what the man said? Against enemy shipping, the Mosquito packed the punch of a 6 inch cruiser. There are recorded cases of Mosquitoes cutting destroyers in half.
What a magnificent aircraft. Are there any still flying?
Maybe this will help: ua-cam.com/video/YkXiOqrXMmI/v-deo.html
Any four engine men still alive,my apologies, but they should have replaced every single Fort and Liberator with a mosquito.
It would have saved a lot of young men.
By far and away the best aircraft of world war 2!
Oh the backing music makes it sound like the British had a jolly old war, oh what what eh.
I've read that in the humidity of the south Pacific there were problems of the Mosquito literally coming unstuck when the glue failed.
They solved that one too. The final solution included a thin wooden "speed stripe" along the side of the fuselage as well as different resin. It was designed to use in Europe after all.
13:13 That's my dad!
12.41 That's my mum!
Hhy disn't DEHavilan get the Piece Nobel price for his efforts for protect Brittan?
WHEN (especially now, today, in the present.......) are documentary producers going to learn to STOP COVERING THE NARRATOR with annoying "music." Nick Spark, you listenin? No I haven't forgotten YOU
How strange
The music is so intrusively overbearing we gave up! What an insult to the mosquito! Best of luck, but this is absolutely awful!
Last comment 633,how poignant,super smashing beastly lady of the skies
very good
Awesome airplane.
Too bad we fought the wrong enemy. General Patton quote.
Now look what we got.
The "greatest generation" was duped. And we are all suffering now because of them.
The young woman catching lengths of balsa wood at 12.41 is my late mother aged 19. :)
Hawarden airport had one in the flying school hangar next to the Chippy's and Tiger...i remember looking inside the bomb bay...it still had the carpenters pencil marks on the woodwork
What a great story.
ME 109 pilots readily admitted they had nothing but respect for their Spitfire counterparts.
Those that encountered Mosquitos configured with 4 303s & 4 20mm, readily admitted they would do anything needed to never run into them again.
The finest war bird of ww2. Hearing and watching a mosquito low pass at 400mph with those two merlin v12's flat out is a sight to behold and enough to send shivers down your spine..
In my humble opinion one of the most beautiful aircraft of all time. ❤
An outstanding aircraft that punched way beyond its class, an engineering wonder of its time.😃👌👌👌👌
Terry Stephens get a woody every time I see one 😋😉
As a young boy in London ,Ontario,Canada,I can still hear the scream of those twin Merlins!
This is a truly awesome, thorough documentary of the Mosquito. There are so many memorable images included. Thankyou so much for the upload!!
A brief appearance of “Catseyes” Cunningham, and featuring the Eindhoven raid on the Philips factory, which was, of course, an important source of instruments and components for the Nazi war effort. Thoughtfully, the management of Philips had transferred all the most militarily sensitive operations to its British factories before the war started, and was as un-cooperative as possible with the occupiers, unlike some other Dutch businesses such as C&A. The Philips management knew the raid was coming, and advised on which bit of the factory should be attacked to secure the best outcome, trying to protect its workers as far as possible in the process.
It is very sad to see all the hatred written in these comments. It very well could be that the de Havilland mosquito was the best plane the Allies had and maybe not. The truth is that the mosquito was a great plane and there were other Great planes by other manufacturers and all were flown by very brave men and women trying to save the world so let's keep it in perspective. Logic indicates that if the only plane the Allies had was the mosquito there very well could have been a lot more done with a lot less deaths. The B-17 had a crew of 10 and the same bombing capacity while the Havilland mosquito only needed a crew of two and was faster. Take the B-17 crew of 10 and put them into five mosquitoes and you multiply the bombing capacity by 5, so it only makes sense that instead of one thousand plane raids they could have had five thousand plane raids and ended the war sooner but that's just hypothetical. Hindsight is a wonderful thing but they didn't have the benefit of hindsight while they were in the midst of fighting for their lives so let's give them all the credit that they deserve and they deserve much. Without the greatest generation we would have been speaking German and Japanese and let's face it the majority of us reading this right now would not even have been born. So why not stop the childish infighting and just enjoy learning about one of the most interesting times in the history of the world.
.
Pay attention. We have bigger issues to worry about. There's another storm brewing and the Youngest Generation may be called upon to fight battles against enemies both Foreign And Domestic. Stalin may have been right that they will get us from within without firing a shot. Idiots will vote in socialism and communism or even Muslim.
At that point you won't give a shit which plane was the best in WW2.
Grow Up And Man Up.
I am very impressed how quick engineers of all types managed to advance concept to product in such short time. They must have been very skilled and worked very hard.
It was down to the tea - they used to create special batches by storing the tea in a damp place for a week then slowly dried out naturally - this created a special fungus which when brewed had psychotropic properties stimulating creative parts of the brain.
And there were plenty.
@@lenfirewood4089 Ha ha ha!
@@lenfirewood4089 Where, pray tell, may I purchase a pound or two of this tea? Or at least, the recipe for making same at home.
Thanks for the video! And the tiny original mention of Canada. Built a lot of them at DeHavilland in Downsview in Toronto, Canada. Canada and Canadians contributed a hell of a lot to the war, be it manpower, ships, planes. Not to mention the AVRO plant in Malton, turning out Lancs, etc. Where did Britain get the birch? Ah, Canada. A lot of Women flew them over the Atlantic.
Undoubtedly the most feared allied aircraft of the war from an axis point of view. It did not matter where, what time of day or at what height you were the prey of these exceptional machines.
sheikhyaboooty A few years ago I read a German soldiers account of time in Normandy after D-day landings. He said he and his comrades always feared the Mosquito's because they were dangerous at low level, appearing just over tree-tops at high speed, or bombing from great heights. He recalled one incident when a solitary tiny silver plane appeared over head at about 30,000 feet. Suddenly there was a huge explosion nearby, and they all knew it was a Mosquito.
The prey of those exceptional machines were largely civilians. Schools, hospitals, railway stations and civilian housing. The aim of those 'nuisance' raids was to draw defenses away from key targets giving the 'heavies' a greater chance of success. In reality all that was achieved was the deaths of tens, perhaps hundreds of thousands if innocent men women and children in what amounted to nothing more than a terrorist bombing campaign.
I see nothing to celebrate anymore. After seven years research into the life and times an Canadian Mosquito pilot killed in 1944 for his biography I felt I could no longer in all conscience
continue the work as the magnitude of the horror and depravity of the allied bombing offensive became more abundantly clear by the facts I uncovered. Facts which are now thankfully becoming more widely known and understood.
The rose tinted view of heartless unfeeling sociopaths nostalgic for war and it's mechanical contrivances of mass killing and destruction sickens me now, I wish I never started.
Were it not for the more than half a million that have viewed the video I would take it down.
"History is a pack of lies about events that never happened told by people who weren't there." - George Santayana.
@@gb5uq meanwhile, just what to you think the Germans and Japanese with their allies were doing? I suggest you take another look at what total war against a ruthless cruel enemy actually means.
Besides which to state "The prey of those exceptional machines were largely civilians. Schools, hospitals, railway stations and civilian housing" is highly misleading bordering on subversion and treachery.
@soaringtractor - "3rd March 1941 - Bosombe Down - Mosquito W4050, 2x Merlin 21 engines...Preliminary performance and brief handling trials... service ceiling is roughly determined as 34,000 feet."
London, Kew National Archives, AVIA-18/716, page 5.
discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C4075609
You`re welcome.
@@CalumDouglas Do yourself a favour and ignore soaringtractor/Wilbur Finnigan and whatever other names he uses. He hates British fighting men and the aircraft they flew, despite the fact that half his own country supported Hitler until they saw the light, while the British had been fighting them for years. He hates the fact that the Mosquito was better than any twin of the war.
when I was in air cadets our CO had done flight training in a tiger moth. he was saying on days with a strong head wind they could actually fly backwards relative to the ground.
Yes, and if you flew one at night, someone might put a candle outside, and the damn thing would fly in circles around it. But only if the wind isn't strong
Before the war my father built one plane out of two Moth's, he told me the same thing a strong head wind and he could go backwards, when war broke out his plane was taken by the ait force to train pilots!
Actually a whole ship can go backwards while running full tilt forward in certain tidal areas where the entire sea is moving backwards!
Clearly no one back then could be creative without a cigarette!
Trooper DGB bit like now without computer/phone or coffee 😜
About 35 years ago, a friend (in the US) visited a British air museum and returned with a recording of a preflight (audio) checkout, which he played back on his high-fi with a pair of 100-watt speakers. Mesmerized teens drifted away from their music in the basement to feel to feel the body pounding acoustic vibrations from the Mosquito as it went through the checkout procedure while warming the lube oil equally in both engines before accelerating down the runway -- and blowing out the preamp on the recording device -- very impressive.
I suspect that many enthusiasts would appreciate a link to that recording if one could be found.
You guys were smoking something while listening to this, weren’t you? 😂
In college I had a summer job at a clothing store, where one of the salesmen was a British chap who had flown Spits during the Battle of Britain. He still limped a bit from having bailed out over the channel during one of his many encounters. But he flew again. One of the nicest guys I ever met. Very humble about it all.
after the war this company built the world's first jet airliner, after dealing with metal fatigue problems, (caused by pressurerising the aircraft ) it paved the way for todays airliners, i flew in the COMET mk 2 ...great aircraft.
The British had the best looking aircraft of ww2,great doc,best one yet.
If it looks right, it is. And it was.
Makes me climax every time 👌😏 one seriously sexy bird I tell ee
Im so glad this film is available to watch , what an insight into how they were made .
What a pleasure to read about the Dehaveland Mosquito.
My father, Pi Pienaar flew a Mosquito during the war on reconnicence missions over Germany.
He was the first to encounter a Meschersmit 262 over Munich, was attacked 10 times after being hit, flew back to Italy, made a belly landing and survived.
I a. Writing this as an 80 year old son of the pilot!!
If the Spitfire had two engines it would have been the Mossie. What an elegant aircraft. Nothing like good old British craftsmanship in both aircraft and cars. If there ever was a car that could be compared to the Spitfire it would be the XKE Jaguar. This is coming from a Yank who had a Blackpuddlian dad who introduced me to Airfix models, Cadbury chocolate and the privilege of driving his 1966 XKE. RIP dad. Eee by gumm!
WOW SO MUCH HATE going on here both please be aware that all the allies gave there all young men who died way to young so you can live freely and enjoy vids on tou tube please be respectful of others they would had they lived
The ignorance, immaturity and hate is sickening these soyboys of today would NEVER in a million years have the class bravery and courage of the men of the greatest generation.
@@badmonkey2222 Don’t be silly.
There was no wonder weapon which won the war. It was a combination of different approaches, some of which worked better than others, and the sacrifices made by people who never wanted to fight. some of the comparisons claiming "best" or "rubbish" are rather childish and pointless, and usually made by ones who were not alive at the time.
The Germans thought so much of the Mosquito they decided to build one of their own, stealing the design from downed aircraft. Things were moving along smoothly until one night a group of Lancasters got off course and ended up bombing the German's GLUE FACTORY!! That ended the Kraut Mosquito.
Fine bit of history, Walter Strong. Thanks!
True they bombed the Tego-Film glue factory in Wuppertal which in turn led to Heinkel use a substitute glue of inferior quality which not only affected the TA 154 ´´ Moskito´´ project but also the He 162 Salamander Jet Fighter.
Walter Strong, The Ta-154 was a German all-wooden twin engined fighter called the Mosquito. They built several of them. They didn't work. DH Mosquitos were made from spruce and balsa wood. Balsa is not a strategic material, but it is exotic, especially if you are a WWII German.
Horace Hogsnort brilliant! Is that fact? Great story...
Whoops! Sorry! We accidentally bombed a useless glue factory and saved the world. My bad.
No mention in the film of the Mosquito "pathfinder" night missions over German cities. Proceeding the multi-hundred Lancaster and Halifax bombers, the incendiary bomb-laden Mosquitoes dropped their small payloads to illuminate target zones. The Luftwaffe countered these advanced strikes by using their excellent Heinkel Uhu (owl) night fighters. The British countered this by escorting the pathfinder Mosquitos with radar equipped Mosquito night-fighters.
Thinking outside the box for this brilliant design and concept.
This is the best film on the Mosquito I've seen
Lindsay Fog n
N))
Without doubt the most beautifull aircraft of WWII in my opinion. And the most versatile too. Build from wood it also was easy to build by skilled carpenters and could take a lot of punishment. At the moment I'm buiding the Tamiya 1/48 model of the bomber version. The 1/32 Tamiya model is in the pipeline, but this one I'm gonna build in the fighter version. Thanks for uploading from a "Mossie" lover.
How old are you?
I'm 62, and now retitered thus plenty of time for modelling. The 1/32 scale Mosquito is almost finishes now :D
Ronald VAN TOL Agree
just an outstanding film, thank you for this vid. The astounding ingenuity of De Havilland's engineers using balsa wood, low production costs, a gorgeous frame even by today's standards and at what, a 1% or less casualty rate...?....there should've been 50,000 Mosquitos built.
Sitka spruce from Canada…not balsa from Central America
My father flew a mosquito onetime from Bendigo to Laverton in Victoria. Elapsed time from wheels off to touch down was 10 minutes flying at tree-top height. He said it was quite a ride with those huge Merlins roaring away and the props level with the cockpit. He said the acceleration on the mosquito was very impressive.
Lee Osborn haha - acceleration was “impressive” sounds like British understatement standards at its best.
@25:30 That is what I call an RAF moustache.
It goes for both the RAF & the USAF.
The Mosquito carried (from what I'm given to believe) the equivalent to the other, bigger bombers including the the US bombers. Only 2 crew members & no armament. It could carry a 4000 bomb load, at a faster speed than anything else in the sky. Flown at zero ft it was under the radar & difficult to shoot down.
2 Rolls Merlins bolted to a wardrobe.
What a flying machine.
John Sadler и.
Yup, flying out of Banff, to Norway, they flew at 10 ft above the waves at night. ! crazy. More losses on take off and landing than in the air I was told. Wet grass runways caused many accidents, wheels break off and exit is under the plane, not good.
Mosquito mk.XVI: crew of two, range 1.500 miles with a 4.000 lb bomb load, maximum speed 415 mph cruising speed probably about 300 mph.
Boeing B-17: crew of 10, range 800 miles, 4500 lb bomb load (long range), maximum speed 287, cruising speed 182 mph.
I often wonder what if the USAAF would have split that single B-17 crew in two-men flight crews and flew much larger numbers of the mosquito in stead of the B-17.
Even with the original bomb-load of 2.000 lb, the shear numbers would increase "pay-load" delivery, at higher speeds, longer range and less risk for the crews.
You are wrong on the range of the B17 iw was closer ti 1800 miles with 4,000 lb bomb load.. and it could fly at 30,000 ft.. nice try...
I'm willing to concede I may have made a mistake in interpreting the extensive data on the B-17 as described by Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_B-17_Flying_Fortress), which DOES state a range of 800 miles for long range missions, while at the same time claiming 2000 miles with 6000 lb of bombs elsewhere in the spec's, I will maintain that the sheer speed and smaller crew for comparable range and load, still the makes mosquito the better plane
Roy Kliffen..... IF the B17 only had a 800 mile range....how did they fly to Berlin and back??? 1800 to 2000 miles is more like it..and they produced twice as many B17's and three times as many B24's...
That's why I conceded that point. I missed that flaw in Wikipedia data in my original comment.
Still leaves the smaller crew, higher speed, similar payload and less use of metal per plane. The resources used to build all those B-17's and B-24's could also have been used to build much more mosquitoes, and even then not enough to use all the crewmen used for those B-17's and B-24's.
The USA Had plenty of Aluminum, did not have to worry about alternate building materials.
I didn't know just how brilliant the Mosquito was. Fantastic
ingenuity at its best. what an amazing plane,the more they asked of her,the more she took,bombs,drop tanks,machine guns,why not cannons too,or maybe an artillery piece ?sure,some rockets too,why not ?all out of wood keep in mind, nothing short of incredible!
YES, THE STORY IS INCOMPLETE WITH MENTIONING ALL HER ARMOURY. e.g THE 6 LB CANNON, THAT DESTROYED SO MANY SURFACE SHIPS AND SUBMARINES , WITH IT'S SOLID HARDENED STEEL SHELL'S ETC.
My Gramps flew DH -98's in the RCAF. My Grams built Mossie's in London Ontario.
He loved it!!!
12:25 ...thanks for documentary ... really interesting from a point of view of product design and construction process. Really good shape, great style. Very aerodynamic shape.