Mosquito: Revolutionary Design
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 9 เม.ย. 2016
- Brought to you by:
The Calgary Mosquito Society
www.calgarymosquitosociety.com
Financial Supporters:
The Calgary Foundation
The City of Calgary
Veterans Affairs Canada
Production by: Pan Productions Ltd.
www.panproductions.com - บันเทิง
The most beautiful aircraft ever built, in my opinion.
Thanks for posting. My grandfather and his brother were woodworkers in private business before WWII. Despite being about 40 years old at the start of the war they were both called up by the RAF to work on wooden airplanes. This video really took me back.
If they were working in Britain the would be building aeroplanes.
If they were building them in Britain they would be aeroplanes
Whilst the Spitfire is the most beautiful plane ever built, the Wooden Wonder is my favourite prop aircraft of all time. Stunning.
Sorry, that sounds like somebody needs some freedom.
P51 mustang is the most beautiful plane.
Lol but no. The mustang is nice but its kinda boxy. The aircobra is more sleek to me.
Most beautiful plane ever built was the Concorde,
Surely the mosquitoes close cousin, the hornet, was the most beautiful piston plane ever?
My dad was in Lancasters in WW2. He got to go up in a Mosquito once and absolutely loved it.
As much as I love the p51, this is the real number one plane of all time. Just has to be.
AGREED. NOTHING ELSE COMPARES WITH IT'S C.V.
P51 is just what we were told since we were young. Don’t say what is best, look for what is best in each design. Put aside nationalist values and just look at performance. There is so much besides the p51.
De Havilland went outta box...simply brilliant!
My favorite plane and so glad Canada has restored a beautiful one. And thank you Canada for building so many for the war effort.
me too.
That's great! I didn't know that there were any airworthy ones still in existence.
0:35 "It went against the grain of the times" What a perfect (and ironic) thing to say about a revolutionary wooden airplane.
That problem still persist and will persist to the end of time: The unpopular is often exactly what is needed.
not really.. all ww1 aircraft were made just like that.. ALL of them
@pete2778 you tell-em
yep---even the 'tires' were oak.
@ Harley Me
Nope
The only aircraft that were built like the Mosquito were Lockheed’s plywood bullets like the Vega and Orion. Then they swapped to aluminum and never looked back.
Excellent video! My uncle, Jim Lawless, flew Mosquitoes in WWII, and in fact, was shot down and killed in one. His C/O at the time was none other than Russ Bannock! Pat Lawless
It was nice to see George Stewart interviewed. He was probably the most-experienced Canadian Mosquito pilot. He also trained Chinese pilots on the type. One of the nicest guys I ever met.
My father, Sqn Ldr Hardy Poyntz DFC, flew Mosquitos during WW2. He talked a bit it, however your video tells me lots. Thanks for that. My father went on to be a career RCAF officer. He was very involved with the 'Dew Line', early warning system. Then we were stationed in Great falls Montana, (two big SAC bases there). Hardy being Canada's man for NORAD there. We were there during the Cuba missile crisis, me being to young to really know what he was dealing with. I do have a print of a mosquito he gave me, signed by DeHavilland himself. Dave Poyntz, Edmonton (can contact via facebook under that name)
I love real life recollections like these. Thank you, Dave.
That very first Mossy.... my Dad helped to build it... he was foreman on that job.....
Oh wow really I love to see the workshop and see it being built he was a hero helping heroes do their true love to fly
i salute your farther
@MichaelKingsfordGray could have been worse, maybe farter
What is his name?
@Kathryn Truscott and at the OP. Thank you for posting this, I love this plane. My grandfather was the lead chemist behind the team that produced the resin that bonded the plywood used in this beautiful plane. Without that resin, the strength required in the airframe would not have been possible, earlier wooden airplanes could not have coped with the forces exerted by the engines or flight stresses and would have been too heavy.
Without the efforts of all the pioneers behind it's construction, and those that flew and serviced it, the outcome of WW2 could have been very different.
Very proud of all those involved and those that sustain it. Thank you :)
The first composite airframe stealth aircraft
Richard Hunt Horten brothers
uh no... they simply ran out of other parts and made it mostly with plywood. My grandfather was a fitter armorer for the raf during the war. oh ps.. every ww1 aircraft was made pretty much the same.. its inovative for the time.. definetely not a 1 of a kind...
@Richard Hunt The Horten brothers produced a total of 3 powered aircraft which were based on a completely impractical engine. Their heads were in the clouds. You might be right, that they helped the Allies win the war too, by providing a completely unpragmatic fantasy to distract funds and minds away from whatever Germany should have been focusing on to win the war.
The Mosquito was completely better because _it_ _worked_ , and it worked because it was _workable_ .
@ MichaelKingsfordGray
Balloons aren’t composite. And since they are quite visible and useless over enemy territory they aren’t stealth, either.
You are so wrong it hurts.
The engines were fine, the issue was the Germans lacked the precious metals like titanium needed for turbines not to melt.
The Horten 229’s were not a waste of time or resources when you look at the performance and the potential of the aircraft.
The most beautiful aeroplane along with the Spitfire'
Yes. I'd add the P-51 "Mustang" to the short list. Once I've made my first billion, those are the three that I'll acquire, even if I have to have them built from scratch. :)
There's a very strong sense in the Anglo world of the individual genius, which is not evident in the more Teutonic expressions of engineering excellence. I'm living it, perhaps alive because of it and still have great respect for it. It's the freedom to say, "No, I think you're wrong, Sir and this is why." It also helps to have access to either your own or someone else's deep pockets and their own freedom to say, "I like this idea!"
Y'all have done a most professional job producing all of the videos about the Mosquito. I love 'em. Thank you so much!!!!!!!
The Fighter Version of Mosquito is My Favorite WWII UK Plane.
Be humble...
Much was built before you came into the world...
Bravo Mosquito
The "smooth streamlining" was aided significantly (according to Lee Atwood) by the incorporation of Meredith Effect into the cooling system negating most, if not all, of the cooling drag (like the Mustang).
My old man donated the instrument panel for this plane in Calgary. He spent countless hours as a kid sneaking into the de havilland afb near Toronto and dismantling the panel and bringing it home, to save something from them, as they were being destroyed after the war. I think he was only 13 or14 and knew it's worth.
Yes several years ago I met Wilfred neat who was involved in designing its propellers modifications were made so they were particularly efficient at low level
It had Photo Reconnaissance, Bomber, Fighter Bomber, Ground Attack and Anti-Shipping variants. Some variants carried 4000 pound bombs, others 57 millimeter 6 pounder cannon, or perhaps just 4 303 machine-guns and 4 20 millimeter cannon. But perhaps the most dangerous payload was the photographic cameras that revealed every movement of Germany's ground forces. It's no wonder that the Luftwaffe awarded 2 air to air kills to any pilot who could down one of these beauties.
wow first visit to channel thankyou to my canadian brothers and sisters this made a staunch englishmans heart swell great to know you guys hold the mossie in such high regard as do i a simply beautiful machine with a spinetingling sound
I love that French Canadian accent... reminds me of my time at Fleurimont ,PQ when I was in French language training to fly in Central Africa...!!! Magnifique, mon ami...!!!
Not just one of the finest aircraft of WW2 , I will stick my neck out and say one of the finest aircraft ever built, with looks and noise to go with it.
noise ? SOUND Sir, SOUND.
Noise? Sound? Music my dear fellows. The Merlin symphonic orchestra playing a duet.
57MM cannon largest auto loading gun ever installed on a aircraft in WW2 was used to sink subs first engaged a JU 88 with the big gun one shot ripped the engine off the JU 88. The firepower was nothing like anyone ever seen before.
@Buddy Wiser
The slow Black Widow that was meant to be a night fighter but could not catch anything at night
An incredible aircraft and a classic example of a visionary designer giving people something they didn't even know they needed.
"made of wood" ..... Actually, they were 'cold moulded' on laminated framing, an amazingly stiff and resilient method of construction, oft used in high speed boats, even today.
Actually, when we bear in mind the glue that they used in that moulding process, it could be claimed that this was a wood-resin "composite" construction -- as versus the traditional wood construction of other "wooden" aircraft. Therefore, it was a forerunner of today's composite construction aircraft.
Thanks for the video My Dad was involved with the making the wooden frames for the first prototype.Very proud
The Mossy, the first stealth fighter/bomber. Made from wood so it had a very low radar profile. Fast and beautiful. :)
I would love to be able to fly in one.
“First” despite it being an accident that it was doing that. The YB-49 did the same as an all aluminum design flying wing because of it’s shape. Again it was an accident. No one at the time even knew what stealth was.
A beauty--with deadly intent.
What's not to love about them? Always one of my favorites
The ultimate badass of WWII with 2 of the best piston engines in the World., wonderful, regards, UK.
Another Great Video !
what a great video!
just gorgeous.
thank you, gorgeous aircraft, loved it from the minute I saw it as 3 year boy
They bolted 2 merlins to plywood, thats amazing in itself !
But it wasn't as though they went down to the local timber yard and bought some sheets of plywood. They laid up an inner layer of veneer over a form, in the shape of half the fuselage. Then they glued thousands of interlocking blocks of end grain balsa to the thin half shell, and then laid an outer layer of thin veneer over that. When the glue was dry they released the half shell from the form, fitted bulkheads, etc and then glued the two half shells together, just as you do with the plastic model aeroplane kits, and covered it with fabric. The wing had a massive laminated mainspar, on which they dried the glue quickly using high frequency radio wave heating (years ahead of microwave ovens). The finished plane was extremely rigid and tough, stronger than an aluminium plane in many ways
The only bad thing about it was that , in the tropics, the casein glue was susceptible to mould and planes became de-laminated as the glue turned to foul smelling mush.
@@autophyte They delaminated a shit load faster than that when in the slipstream of all the V2 rockets they shot down. Fantastic fighting machine.
Brilliant presentation.
They didnt want her,then when they saw her perform they couldnt get enough
I am not sure DH used wood just because aluminium was rationed. While that certainly was an advantage of wood, they built the dh-88 comet race plane and the dh 91 albatross with the same type of construction. They were also innovative in minimizing cooling drag with the radiators in the leading edge. So the versatility came from the aerodynamics (efficiency meant less fuel required per mile, so more miles or more bomb load), light weight due to wood construction and weight savings from not having to haul around extra crew, armour and guns. That left it able to carry more bombs, guns or gas.
You are quite correct that de Havilland had considerable experience in wooden, stressed skin, aircraft production. But it is also true that other materials were tightly rationed, in fact, de Havilland had great difficulty in even obtaining a single pair of Merlins to power the first prototype.
The one thing that you miss out is that De Havilland were experienced at designing and building wooden aeroplanes. The DH88 Comet that won the England -Australia air race was wood. The beautiful Albatross mail plane was wood and used many of the techniques passed on to the Mosquito design. It was a natural decision for them to build a high speed high altitude plane from wood.
They've missed out more than that. They've also lied about who came up with the concept of the fast unarmed bomber - that was George Volkert of Handley Page.
An excellent production as are others in the series.
Love this twin engined plan.
Goering was tremendously envious of this aircraft . Ironic cause his "zestroyer" bf110 was supposed to be it's rival but required a fighter escort by the end of the Battle of Britain.
Always wondered why the Germans didn't outright copy it.
@@dallasburgher6068 They tired to with the Ta-154, but they didn't have the right glue which resulted in the prototype crashing due to glue failure.
Great stuff. Thanks.
A lot of modern airplanes, especially the newer stealth warplanes, are made from composite materials. Usually, the skin is made from some kind of carbon fiber fabric, covered with some kind resin liquid. Usually, it’s called something like “radar absorbing material” or RAM.
In the Haviland Mosquito, the resin is called lignin. It binds together individual tree cells. According to the Wikipedia article,
“Lignin is a class of complex organic polymers that form key structural materials in the support tissues of vascular plants and some algae.[1] Lignins are particularly important in the formation of cell walls, especially in wood and bark, because they lend rigidity and do not rot easily. Chemically, lignins are cross-linked phenolic polymers.”
Geoffrey Dehavilland figured this out in the 1930s!
Some of Great Britains worst aircraft resulted from Air Ministry specifications that put far too many requirements on the design brief. Geoffrey De Haviland was able to concentrate on the essentials and create an outstanding aircraft first because he retained control of the design. Once he demonstrated its superiority, it didn't take long for others to see the light and think of uses for the Mosquito. I once had a tiller for my boat made by an elderly Welsh gentleman on the Lleyn Peninsula who had worked for Gillows furniture makers. He told me he made Mosquitos during the war as he made me a perfect new tiller in front of my eyes.
Ah the Air Ministry. A brilliant bunch of minds they gave us the Boulton Paul Defiant. The Blackburn Roc. The Botha the Skua the Manchester The Saro Leewick. And the list goes on ---If it hadn’t been for men like Geoffrey Dehaviland the Mosquito would have been still born Engineers build airplanes not fat ministries
@matthew findlay - Er... yes, that's precisely the point that the OP was making.
"Some of Great Britains worst aircraft resulted from Air Ministry specifications that put far too many requirements on the design brief. Geoffrey De Haviland was able to concentrate on the essentials and create an outstanding aircraft first *because* he retained control of the design."
It certainly looks to me that he's making the point that de Havilland did his own thing without being restricted by specific Air Ministry requirements.
I guess you see it differently but I can't see why.
No matter.
Hmm. I don't really want to argue, Matthew. However...
For the record, I, Gerry Coogan, will *now* mention that the Mosquito *was* de Havilland's own initiative. I assumed that this was already understood, not least because it's specifically highlighted in the first couple of minutes of the video that we're posting about.
Anyway. Have a good day.
@@gerrycoogan6544 but seeing as you wont too i take it all back,I am not worthy, there happy now?
An instructor told me he watched a mock dog fight where a Mossy completely outclassed a P-38.
In his dreams.........
@@PenzancePete
Many must have had the same dream since it is a well known story, even Hap Arnold having seen how much better the Mosquito was would not let his P 38 pilots fly with a Mosquito because they would look foolish, he also tried to get as many Mosquito's as he could.
@@barrierodliffe4155 I was referring to dogfighting. In a dogfight my money is on the P-38. Otherwise it's Mosquito all the way.
@@PenzancePete
I would not count on the P 38 in a dogfight.
So nice to see old footage with those slowly revolving hazy/blurry propellers as opposed to what today's digital wonders give us.
There is an operative Mosquito at Virginia Military Air Musem outside Virgina Beach. It's quite Awesome!
It was an outstanding multi role aircraft, with brilliant engines. The design was unique, with an incredibly strong yet light air frame.
YES to all !! Sorted!
WONDERFUL, I LOVE WATCHING THIS, A TRUE, AND VITAL STORY, OF WINNING AGAINST ALL THE ODDS.
I had the please of seeing one in Everett Washington. It was incredible in person.
@joe jitsu yes at the paul allen collection. The best museum ever. Nakajima and hurricane too
Wood is being "rediscovered" today by sea kayakers. Most performance sea kayaks and paddles are either cheap heavy plastic, fiberglass, or light, but very pricey carbon fiber. There is another option - wood. A mahogany and fiberglass sea kayak has the light weight and strength of carbon fiber as the cost of plastic.
At 4:27 and 6:08 - flying on one engine. It was called variously 'the Timber Terror' and 'the Wooden Wonder' for good reason. My favourite piston-engined aeroplane.
I'd give you 10 +++ if I only could... Great idea to tell about this particular airplane...
What a beautiful plane would love to see one fly
The parts were built in diverse sites. One of them was the back yard of Mallard and Flying Scotsman designer Sir. Nigel Gresley at Salisbury Hall.
Having the music volume lowered would make this a watchable video
Agreed, I have a headache and this is really bugging me.
Absolutely!
You have your own volume control. Try using it!
Bring back a modern version of the mosquito for counter insurgency. Fast, powerful, and lethal.
The "Mossy" was an astounding airplane-!!
I agree!
I believe the last FLYING restored Mosquito is in the aviation museum in Virginia Beach, VA. I've seen it !
There are two others in the USA, all three made by Avspecs in New Zealand.
www.warbirdrestoration.co.nz
That is s new build airplane, as are the others coming out of New Zealand. There is an original flyable Mosquito in Vancouver , BC. Canada.
i used to play 2 old games on playstation one called panzer general and allied general the mossy was one of the best all around planes in the game great fighter and great ground attack.
Proves sometimes you have to go backwards to move forward
The De Havilland factory was situated close to the large Beechwood forests of Herfordshire/ Buckinghamshire. where the skilled furniture makers were. Perfect situation
There were furniture factories all over the UK constructing bits of Mosquito. That was part of the genius of the design and materials as it used existing and widespread industrial infrastructure that was under utilised in war time. Wooden armour was mysteriously out of fashion !
YEP, THAT'S RIGHT. ---THERE ARE SEVERAL QUOTES ATTRIBUTED TO HERMAN GORING, PRAISING THE MOSSIE, MY FAVOURITE IS , ( AND I HOPE IT'S TRUE)''TRUST THE BRITISH TO MAKE A BEAUTIFUL WOODEN PLANE, MADE BY PIANO MAKER'S''.
I grew up in the village of Sandridge, 4 or 5 miles from Hatfield Aerodrome (De Havillands) which later became Hawker Siddeley and later still BAE, my dad, uncle and brother all worked there, as did a large proportion of folk from the village, I don't recall any large Beechwood forests anywhere nearby however, as I understand it the timber was grown in the Forest of Dean where it was also converted into plywood.
Stunning aircraft 💕
I was lucky enough to see the first fuselage built here in New Zealand, and Kiwi's were told you can never make a Mosquito again!, never say never!!
The Wooden Wonder, well done Canada our allies..
Excellent video spoilt only by the music overpowering the speakers.
revolutionary.. it was made of plywood instead of aluminium...
wow such amazing... such innovation.....
And it was the fastest Allied aircraft until 1944.
Mosquitos, because the only thing better than a Merlin is two of them.
My fave of all time XXX TFS. G :)
Being allowed to sit in the cockpit of the prototype at Salisbury Hall, when I was a boy, almost certainly shaped my life. (It's still there, I think the only WW2 prototype still in existence.)
I was even luckier. As an ATC cadet on one of many visits to Leuchars airfield, the Norwegian pilot of a Mosquito 11 asked to join him on a air to ground practice attack using machine guns and cannon. I had the sense to take a sick bag with me, and I needed to use it because the evasive action after each attack, was rough. But my friends were envious of me for getting the chance to gly in a Mosquito.
@@ianmacdonald6882 Sick bag! Smart kid. You deserved your ride.
@soaringtractor Interesting...I thought that aircraft was one of two provided free of charge to the US Army as a condition of the contract with the British Purchasing Commision, and is either the 4th or 10th production aircraft.
There's a lot of bollocks being spoken here about the use of wood. The use of wood is not the radical thing that de Havilland did as the Air Ministry had issued the specification B9/38 for a bomber made of woodand metals other than light alloys wherever possible. The specification called for a economic cruise speed of 250mph at 15,000ft with a payload of 4,000lb of bombs. This was issued in 1938, long before WW2 started - de Havilland, Bristol and Armstrong Whitworth were all approached to produce designs to meet the specifications. In June 1938 mock-upsof the Bristol and AW designs were inspected; de Havilland declined to enter a design. Bristol dropped out as they already had plenty of work, leaving the field clear for the production of thecless than ideal Albermarle, which was now to be a reconnaissance aircraft capable of dropping bombs.
What was radical was the deletion on the defensive gun turrets and the reliance on speed as a defensive measure.
Except it wasn't built to ministry specification, they didn't want it and what is radical is not the use of wood per se but the fact that cabinet makers could build a warplane.....that and the fact that it is, without doubt, the most versatile aircraft of WW2.
scottcuppello no it exceeded them, especially in terms of speed. As for the use of wood workers being radical, it wasn't. The aft fuselage of the Hurricane had a wooden framing supporting the fabric skin. Also if the AW Albermarle had gone into serious production then the carpenters and cabinet makers would have been building them instead.
It also was radical to use wood because no wooden planes had ever gone nearly as fast-only metal ones.
Bartonovich52 then came de Haviland's Vampire, which also had a partial wooden fuselage and flew even faster.
The main reason for the Mossie's superior speed over all the other wooden aircraft, such as the Caudron C-710 and the Bell XP-77, is its clean aerodynamic shape. All the other wooden aircraft I've seen tend to be boxy affairs, and in the case of the XP-77 seriously underpowered. It was also helped by exploiting the Meredith effect, which if it didn't incease speed at least reduced drag.
@@neildahlgaard-sigsworth3819 C-710 and XP-77 were very aerodynamically clean, and if fitted with more powerful engines of similar displacement they could've achieved far greater top speeds. The speeds they achieved with the horsepower available to them was impressive in and of itself
.
The main reason for the speed of the Mossie is it's more powerful engines, combined with a relatively clean aerodynamic shape.
It was the WW 2 stealth aircraft that means not much of a radar signature. Wood? the end justified the means.
An amazing history,arguably,the most extraordinary aircraft in service with RAF
A sexy plane and a badass of the sky.
Refreshing that Britain isn't pilloried in a TH-cam vid.
Best stuff I've seen in a while.Ignore the blithering trolls with bone spurs and keep up the great work
so others may learn something about real people,real sacrifice,real bravery.
And the magnificent Merlin.
It was so respected by the Germans they tried, and failed to copy it. Any Luftwaffe pilot that managed to shoot one down was credited with 2 kills.
Which just shows how desperate the Germans were to shoot mosquitoes down, and how much trouble they were having actually doing it!
Mosquito fighters on night intruder missions used to loiter near German night fighter bases to catch planes landing or taking off. The Germans knew they were there and knew they weren’t safe from attack even over their own airfields
Loved these fast light bomber fighter hot rod of bomber fighters
Beautiful plane my favourite of ww2
From the days when Britain could design and build something that was the best in the world. Geoffrey De Havilland was a genius.
Britain can still produce world beating designs, that much has not changed. The problem is the lack of foresight in long-term funding. Too many fantastic British inventions ended up in foreign hands due to poor investment and management or greedy / corrupt politicians.
despite arduous tasking, the lowest loss rate of the war
if there is one tool that describes the British approach to organised mayhem, its Mosquito
People tried to duplicate her and failed
they doubled the reward to remove her from the battle and failed
Mosquito is the work of genius and the delight of flight
This was a very good bomber and fighter and fast enough for air reconnaissance it was a triple threat
Add U-Boat and small surface ship destroyer, low level attacker of specific small targets, Carry the same bomb load weight, of a B17, but only two crew member's, arrive over Berlin in half the time 4 engine planes could. Night fighter, destroyed huge amount of JU88 night fighter's. Could fire unguided Rockets, destroyed thousands of targets in run up to D Day, like Trains loaded with ammo etc . Escourt Heavy bomber's on special Radar jamming raids. Attacked and destroyed V 1's They even ferried diplomats and special courier's from Neutral Sweden to and from Britain, and so on- - -
The piaggio avanti is a mosquito flying backwards
Let's be clear. Despite propaganda:- Balsa and ply where no more abundant in wartime England than aluminium. The fact is this firm did not know how to make a metal plane. Even their postwar Vampire jets were made of wood. Mosquito was still an absolutely amazing plane. It would be interesting to see a comparison of what various WW2 planes cost per unit at the time of them entering service. I'm guessing the Mosquito would have been a relatively cheap unit notwithstanding the two Merlins.
I loved the footage I haven't seen before but you spoiled it with the music track
My all time favorite fighter bomber...Goering was so pissed that a bunch of piano makers were kicking the Luftwaffe's ass!
At last, it gets its true exposure. Imagination by Sir Geoffrey.
snoringtractor - you really are a little turd
@@poruatokin You will never meet anyone more wretched than this pathetic tractor person. His life is so empty and devoid of meaning that his only joy is finding videos on TH-cam that he can contaminate with comments so ridiculous that even he knows how stupid they are.
I know of at least one video poster in New Zealand who has blocked this wankingtractor person because he cannot hold an intelligent conversation, but, the second he thinks someone is contradicting him, goes straight to infantile filthy-mouthed abuse.
@soaringtractor Stupid little man! Your "facts of history" have no relation to real history, but that's okay: you continue with your delusions, because they are all you have to give your meaningless life some meaning.
Too bad you didn't spend a couple more years in the Third Grade before you dropped out of school. That extra time might have given your teacher a chance to sharpen your ENGLISH skills, because, no kidding, you can't write for shit.
(Well written, intelligent, coherent response from the stupidtractor in ...3...2...1...)
The biggest advantage of wood was it wasn't imported. If Germany could cut the sea lanes, aluminum imports would become critical. The Mosquito was a no nonsense machine. A wood plane is more labor intensive than aluminum, so the factory that uses aluminum can have higher production rates than with wood. However, these high production rates required stamping mills for compound curves in aluminum. These are huge presses and very specialized tools that were not commonly available in 1940. One lucky Nazi bomber could shut down a factory for months. There existed many craftsmen who were adept at steaming wood and laminating plywood to form compound shapes. If the lucky Nazi bomber knocked out a converted cabinet maker's shop, that simply took a few percentage points off the overall production rate. There was a need for final assembly buildings, but these were essentially big barns and the tools inside were not that rare. The concept was brilliant in that it leveraged traditional craftsmen and their skills in decentralized locations. Plywood layups need room and time for the glue to cure. The patterns needed could also be made of wood. The Mosquito used neither exotic materials nor technology. It leveraged available resources and wood wasn't rationed.
I believe the plywood was made in the Forest of Dean, or so I've been told.
Thanks for this video. It is a shame that it has the background music . The sound of the two Merlins is sufficient. Where I was brought up in the county of Buckinghamshire, England, there was once a huge furniture industry and in my village of Penn Street was the firm of Dancer and Hearne, who in great secrecy, built the wings for this wonderful revolutionary aircraft. The original stealth bomber maybe...?
It originated from a proposal to adapt the wooden de Havilland Albatross 4 engine airliner into a bomber. de Havilland wanted to place the Mosquito pilot and navigator in tandem as it would be even faster but RAF policy at the time insisted on bomber crew being side by side and you have to do what the buyer wants.
That would have been a world beater. A crew of 3 or 4, with remote operated tail turret.
Interesting that some of the latest aircraft rely upon composite materials for strength and lightness - think carbon fibre and epoxy. And there was the mosquito built from composite material - laminated wood and epoxy (equivalent). A jump ahead really. Not instant antique.
They calld it : The Wooden Wounder
If there is just one shame to the design it's the fact that it has resulted in us having no original flying examples with us to this day. No aircraft of the time was designed with that intent in mind of course, but the metal aircraft have been preserved and restored whilst the wooden mosquitos have just rotted away. The museum exhibit examples that were saved will never be in flying condition again.
three have been restored/reconstructed here in NZ... there are two more under way.
@@BluePorker A few years ago, when I was passing through Huntly, I heard the sound of merlins, and looking up, I saw one of them (the first I think) heading south. I was doing a site visit with a new graduate, and told her to look carefully, because she would probably never see a mosquito in flight again. She wasn't impressed, but I was. Fortunately, having seen it, I found out about the work at Ardmore, and have see several more flights since.
What a great airplane.
By war’s end De Havilland had developed the Mosquito into a new design, the De Havilland Hornet. It’s completely forgotten now, but the Hornet was THE most beautiful plane ever designed... and according to test pilot extraordinaire Eric ‘Winkle’ Brown was one of the most perfect fighters he ever flew.
This was one of the finest planes in of all time pity it wasn't for sport and not war, or even just pleasure.Also my carpentry teacher worked on them.