Anyone familiar with this bird?

It was known as the wooden wonder of WW II due to it's construction. It was among the fastest things flying at the time.

I built a model of it when I was 12 years old and fell in love with it. Those twin Merlin engine nacelles and graceful elliptical wings just did something for me.

And yeah, I was one of those kids who hung model airplanes from his bedroom ceiling.

The side-by-side seating arrangement of pilot/navigator came back to me years later when I became an Aviation Structural Mechanic in the Navy and worked on the A-6 Intruder.

It was an AMAZING & versatile aircraft.  It was known as the "Wooden Wonder".

Served effectively as a:

Night Bomber,

Night Fighter,

Strike Fighter / Bomber,

Specialized Pathfinder,

Reconnaissance,

Coastal Patrol / ASW aircraft (the 'Tse Fly' armed with a 57mm auto loading cannon).

It had exceptionally fast speed & altitude which made it nearly impossible for the Luftwaffe to intercept or bring down until the development of the 262 very late in the war.

It was a private venture from DeHavilland to the RAF for an aircraft that would minimize the use of precious aluminum & other aircraft alloys.

Sadly, due to the wooden construction not many of them survived the ravages of time and I think only one or two are still flying.

Amazing, versatile bird.  1300 mile range, 37,000 feet with pistons.

Saw one in a .mil museum in BEL yesterday. Didn't take a pic of if, sadly .
Always thought it was an interesting bird, just haven't heard too much about its exploits.

ETA: pic of the plane we saw, not my pic

Love that airplane.

I sometimes wonder: what would have happened if the USAAF had just said "Fuck it, US industry, we want several versions of this with whatever materials and engines we have"?

Neither the US nor the British seem to have been very successful with their bombing campaigns from the heavies, so what if we had dropped that completely? We still might have lost a lot of aircraft, but only 2 crew members at a time, and ability of the Mossie to out-run or out-fight aircraft intended to destroy it is partly what made it legendary.

Operation Jericho

Portrayed in the 1969 film Mosquito Squadron.

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You know... that jogged my memory. There was a plane developed by a guy named Mike Fisher. A little homebuilt job that he called Culex. The twin engine design and name "Culex", a species of mosquito, made me think it was a nod to THE Mosquito.

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It's beyond my resources and abilities, but I've often thought of how cool it might be to develop an aluminum version of the Mosquito, slap some kind of sexy nose art on her and call her Heavy Metal Mossie.
Oh, and... one of my prized possessions.

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You can “fly” one in DCS…

https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/shop/modules/mosquito/

The Mosquito had a little younger cousin - even more sexy & hotter.

The DeHavilland Hornet.

A one man mini-Mosquito (about 3/5 size) with even more powerful engines capable of 475 mph top speed



Captain Eric "Winkle" Brown, former fighter pilot and officer of the Fleet Air Arm, was one of the world's most accomplished test pilots and he held the record for flying the greatest number of aircraft types.

Just after VE Day the first semi-naval Sea Hornet PX 212 arrived at the RAE, Farnborough. Eric Brown initiated "work-up to deck-landing" trials. 37 years later, he was still impressed:

   "...the next two months of handling and deck landing assessment trials were to be an absolute joy; from the outset the Sea Hornet was a winner!"
   "The view from the cockpit, positioned right forward in the nose beneath a one-piece aft-sliding canopy was truly magnificent. The Sea Hornet was easy to taxi, with powerful brakes... the takeoff using 25 lb (2,053 mm Hg, 51" Hg) boost and flaps at one-third extension was remarkable! The 2,070 hp (1,540 kW) Merlin 130/131 engines fitted to the prototypes were to be derated to 18 lb (1,691 Hg, 37" Hg) boost and 2,030 hp (1,510 kW) as Merlin 133/134s in production Sea Hornets, but takeoff performance was to remain fantastic. Climb with 18 lb boost exceeded 4,000 ft/min (1,200 m/min)"...

"In level flight the Sea Hornet's stability about all axes was just satisfactory, characteristic, of course, of a good day interceptor fighter. Its stalling characteristics were innocuous, with a fair amount of elevator buffeting and aileron twitching preceding the actual stall"...

   "For aerobatics the Sea Hornet was absolute bliss. The excess of power was such that manoeuvres in the vertical plane can only be described as rocket-like. Even with one propeller feathered the Hornet could loop with the best single-engine fighter, and its aerodynamic cleanliness was such that I delighted in its demonstration by diving with both engines at full bore and feathering both propellers before pulling up into a loop!"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Havilland_Hornet

I just tried watching that movie. Special effects looked like they were done by Gerry Anderson and were horrible. I think I made it about 6 minutes and quit.

Okay... this definitely falls into the category of "how did I not know this?" Good stuff. Thank you.

And, wow... those big engines on that little plane.

Kinda' makes me think of the P-38 Lightning.

Sorry to hear of your disappointment, but... it is a 50 year old movie.

There was even a carrier version.  Same with the Hornet.

I know it is, and I tried, I really did, but when you can see the wires the model airplane is sliding down when it crashes, well...

Supposedly plans were found and they are going to try build new skeeters.

IIRC, there are some good YouTube videos about them- History Channel, maybe. One of the videos has interviews of former WW2 RAF pilots, done back when many of them were still alive.

Whoa... wait... whaaat!? "They" who? Got a reference for that?

Mozzie gets it done.

Fly faster than pursuit aircraft.
Heavier firepower.

In/out, with wood, it's the stealth fighter of the war.

Was working OSH tower last year on the 36s.  Had someone check in at warbird island but couldn’t make it out, thought they said mosquito.  Had a second so I asked “ a de Havilland?” “Roger”. Sweet. First time seeing one flying.

Watch the movie.

There have been 2-3 already built in NZ and at least one ended up in the USA
It was shown and flown at the Virginia Beach warbirds air show prior to covid/coup.   Not at the NAS but a grass strip not far south of there.   They have quite a flying collection of WWII airplanes.  
Not sure if it’s still there and they might have an air show next year.   Have never been able to get to one myself but of course want to.

https://www.militaryaviationmuseum.org/our-collection/ww2/

Was it the Hornet or the Mosquito from which they lifted the cockpit section for the Vampire jet?

@VACaver

I watched this one on Netflix when it was streaming. Decent movie, but the Mosquito scenes are gnarly and make it worthwhile.

Also, I freaking love flying the FB MKIV in Battlefield.

Not my video:

I bet it was pretty wild zipping across the channel and dropping a 4000lb cookie (why did they call that bomb a "cookie"?) on some bad guys in that speedy kick ass plane.
I'm partial to the glass nosed versions.

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But it inspired George Lucas for the Death Star trench run.

The aircraft had put fear in Goering that he wanted a Lufftwaffe copy.

Here’s the documentary I was referring to in my previous post:

DeHavilland Mosquito - The Wooden Wonder of WW2

https://youtu.be/ww1E6ufDWzs?si=YIsYA5gkS8Bv04UE

Angus Wallace has a WWII podcast all about this plane. Very interesting. It might be on youtube.

from https://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/Visit/Museum-Exhibits/Fact-Sheets/Display/Article/196281/de-havilland-dh-98-mosquito/


" . . . Although best known for its service with the Royal Air Force, the Mosquito flew in several US Army Air Force units as a photographic and weather reconnaissance aircraft, and as a night fighter. During the war, the USAAF acquired 40 Canadian Mossies and flew them under the American F-8 (photo reconnaissance) designation. In addition, the British turned over more than 100 Mosquitoes to the USAAF under Reverse Lend-Lease. These aircraft retained their British designations . . ."