de Havilland Mosquito - Was It The Most Versatile Aircraft of WW2?
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From almost being cancelled before it could get off the ground to being one of the most versatile combat aircraft of WW2 the De Havilland Mosquito has become an iconic plane of the war. Designed as a fast-medium bomber it was so successful it became a fighter, high-speed courier, torpedo bomber, photo-reconnaissance, low-level ground attack, precision bomber to name just a few. This is the story of De Havilland Mosquito.
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Written, researched and presented by Paul Shillito
Images and Footage : De Havilland/BAE, RAF, Lockheed, IWM, Brian Emsley
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My grandfather helped built mozzies during the war. He cast a model one out of bronze that I still have.
He helped save the world from fascism. M.
Your grandad sounds like he was a proper old fashioned craftsman!
@@mortified776 He really was. My parents still use a coffee table he built.
@@spamcannon5917 My family is fortunate that way too. I had toys made by my grandad and great grandad now played with by their great and great-great-grandchildren. We also have a cabinet and a few other pieces made by great grandad. The only unfortunate thing is that my parents always lived overseas so opportunities for my grandfather to pass on his skills to me were few and far between!
My elder brother has a brass model from my father
I had a friend who only recently passed at the age of 98. He flew reconnaissance missions in mosquitoes (he was raised a Quaker and refused offensive missions). His tales of low level flights were amazing. The general view was if you returned without salt stains on the tail and leaves attached, you weren’t “bloody low enough”.
Makes you wonder how the planes were able to get airborne with the immense weight of the crew and their balls.
Respect to your friend and thank you for sharing that .
Thank you for sharing that, all those who served in our forces were so amazingly brave and fearless, I doubt we will see the like of them again?
RIP.
I’m pretty sure I could do the very same missions, if it weren’t for my legs getting too cold (from all the evaporating pee).
@@lads.7715 you're stronger than you think
My Scottish grandfather flew these in WW2 in India. He died a few years ago but he used to tell the most amazing stories about the missions he did. My favourite was one that happened upon arrival in India. They landed their Mosquito's and then the next morning came out to take off only to find all the components on the floor with the frame of the plane having seemingly vanished. They thought that it'd be stolen but that didn't make sense as the metal was worth far more than the wood. Only later did they discover that actually the planes had been.... eaten by ants. Apparently the ants in the area had a liking towards the balsa-wood frame and ate it overnight. RIP Gramps :)
@ExpexTex So, Mosquiito missions in India continued on foot?
@@duubtuub3071 They had to use natural Indian mosquitos, I assume.
My father repaired them in India in WW2.
A tall tail indeed 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
The insects were led by ant and deck.
The cup of tea at 3:58 perfectly timed and expertly delivered.
So British.
Jolly good show.
what a *moment*
What, what!
the war would have been over a lot sooner if those bombers had dropped cups of tea
splendid
I find Curious Droid to be a very interesting youtube channel and I' m glad that I' ve suscribed...keep on working and congratulations...you are one of my favorites...!!!! E. Kierig
Yeah, you can tell he works very hard on these videos and he is unique beyond just the eye-popping shirts.
@@02markcal I couldn't work out if he was wearing an interesting shirt or I could see the top half of a really dirty red overall. Maybe doing some oily mechanics or maybe doing a veterinary examination of a cow.
Fascinating. One of my all time favorite aircraft. I like how the Air Ministry went from "No, we are not interested in a wooden bomber" to "How fast can you produce them?"
Typical idiot pen pusher's. we have a long history of stupidity--not worse than the treatment of Sir FRank Whittle---Jet engine inventer.
I wonder if it was the same man from the ministry that said "No, we are not interested in an engine without a propeller"?
@@nemo6686 More than likely
Love this plane, definitely one of the most underrated of the War.
The most underrated. I truely believe the Allies win more easily if every fighter, bomber, etc were swapped for the many variants of the Mosquito. They could do everything.
What about beaufighter?
Agreed.
I dont think it was underrated. It's generally regarded along with the spitfire and Lancaster as the best aircraft to come out of the UK during the war.
@@kd67876 PBY Catalina is the most underrated
Imagine being a Frenchman, Dutchman or Belgian, suddenly looking up and seeing a formation of these amazing aircraft streak across the rooftops. I feel it would have given them hope.
No complaints ...free haircut.
I always imagine what the occupied territories thought when they saw the mass bombing fleets before D day or during missions like Dresden, or what the Japanese thought when they saw the US block out the sun with heavy bombers
@@arthas640 I can imagine 2 words ..."Oh ----"
Same with the French who watched a Bristol Beaufighter drop a French Tricolour over the Arc de Triomphe and then hose down Kriegsmarine headquarters with cannon fire during Operation Squabble in 1942.
"You see. That's what you're doing for us.
Can you hear them running for shelter?
Can you understand what that means to all the occupied countries?
To enslaved people,
having it drummed into their ears that the Germans are masters of the Earth. Seeing those masters running for shelter.
Seeing them crouching under tables.
And hearing that steady hum night after night.
That noise which is oil for the burning fire in our heart"
One of our Bombers is missing
I had to replay that to check i hadnt misheard. "They flew in at down to 10 feet".. wow
One of the stories told about Micky Martin of 617 squadron was of a pilot (if memory serves it was Joe McCarthy) flying a Lancaster at 50 feet when Micky flew under him in his Lancaster.
I'm reading a book about the sea harrier in the Falklands war, apparently some nose camera footage of them shows altitude being between 5-15 feet off the ground!
I think John Nichols who was shot down in a tornado during the first gulf war, was at 30 feet when he was hit.
Check out the spitfire original low pass on TH-cam,not in wartime admittedly, but still very impressive
And in a similar vein, during the cold war the blackburn bucanner was almost legendary for it's low level performance.
In the 70s there were the "red flag" joint exercises in the USA which the RAF was invited to. The story goes that while on patrol a USAF F5 came across a very low level RAF Vulkan closing in on its target. As it was getting into position for intercept two Buccaneers shot out from underneath the Vulcan and sped off.
Sounds right. In some of the footage you can see they're flying lower than the height of nearby trees.
There is footage on youtube from some of the low-level raids. Losses could be rather high. Some buildings in Copenhages still have marks on the facade where it was scored by a passing Mosquitos wingtip.
God this plane was a really big thorn in Germany’s back side
I think the name Mosquito was very apt. Little buggers buzzing near your ears, and you can hardly ever kill one.
@@drboze6781 A real annoyance to be sure. They're also small and fast for you to hit when you see one.
Also nice pun OP.
@@JonatasAdoM Adolph Galland the General in charge of the Luftwaffe fighter force thought so. He spent pages talking about it in his book. It came in low & fast & by the time they got there it had gone.
Sting
Mossie was a war winner if used properly like german submarines. A weapon to win but no will to vield the weapon..
A great video as always. My late father was a Mosquito pilot, graduating from Blenheims, Beaufighters and through the Mossie night fighter variants. He had many tales to tell and I would gladly surrender many useful body parts in exchange for a flight in one. It was an amazing aircraft and he was the best dad I could have wished for.
B-17: "When we try to bomb a factory, sometimes we don't even hit the city that it's in"
Mosquito: "So, you want me to blow up the left, right, or centre of that particular Gestapo Office?"
That was an awesome story I saw on Mark Feltons channel
You made me audibly laugh. Thank you 😊
It has to be told, and this, is partly why the Mosquito was absolutely vital, ALL, Britain's bomber's, at wars beginning, were slow, twin engined , underpowered, with very low bombing heights. They had very poor Bomb aiming equipment, ( with very few strikes on target), and used in the early days, for dropping anti-war leaflets. The loss rate, for planes and crew, was a catastrophy.
And that helped to end weapons production?
"Can you do all of them?"
"The works, you got it!"
Found the video quite poignant as my uncle died as a navigator in a mosquitoe in 1944. They had been flipping doodle bugs .
When I first heard about the technique of flipping the bugs with a wingtip I thought it was a load of baloney, how wrong I was! Truly a feat of piloting, small wonder pilots would compete at it.
I heard on YT that the Germans got wind about the RAF tipping wings of the doodle bugs and the Germans fitted a sensor so if it was tipped it would explode.
yes, they created the myth and tried to spread it among british pilots, so that they would think twice about flipping it.
Lest We Forget😢🇦🇺
With Great respect to your Uncle R.I.P. 🙏
This was my favourite WW2 era aircraft when I was 7 or 8 years old, when I first took an interest in aircraft. 4 decades later and I love it even more.
I remember making an Airfix model of this plane in kit form way back in the 60's, but it was plastic not wood.
@@colinp2238 they can't get the wood you-know.
@@MrDaiseymay Or yew know perhaps?
@@MrDaiseymay There are pilss nowadays on the market.
Ur 12 now. Hm
Not to mention that is one of the most beautiful aircraft ever made and that it was powered by double Rolls Royce Merlins of which the most satisfying music ever is made by.
It is still today the sight and sound of freedom.
For me personally , nothing comes close ,then or now
The bit about Niels Bohr was fascinating. We're lucky he lived on.
The plane he travelled in carried BOAC civilian markings, and was manned by a 'civilian' crew. These aircraft flew missions to collect small consignments of ball-bearings (strictly for 'civilian' use, of course), from neutral Sweden. And one of those consignments of bearings brought back, did look uncannily like a certain nuclear physicist.
According to R V Jones in his book "most secret war" Bohr was unconscious and near death when they landed. The "problem" with his oxygen supply was that it never occurred to him to put his oxygen mask on. It never occurred to the pilots someone so smart would need to be told to do something so obvious.
It's astounding that certain people can matter so much. A million other people (myself included) could die without significant change to the course of humankind, but a single Niels Bohr...
@@crashfactory - Indeed. He was at the top of Nazi Germany's 'Wants' list - I believe that plans had been made by them to kidnap him from Sweden. But yes, one single person who could have tipped the balance...
Good job the Pilot was awake, and aware of the danger.
British aviation accomplishments during WW2 are simply astounding.
British recognized the virtues of the mosquitoes where the Americans did not. On the other hand the Americans recognized the value of penicillin discovered by Fleming in London in 1928. The Brits didn't think it was worth developing mass production. The Americans achieved that just in time for D Day.
@@antipodesman2 ---and of course, the money to be made
The Germans had some truly brilliant aircraft engineers too. Of particular note were the Horten brothers & their very radical & futuristic designs, which have influenced some modern aircraft. It was the leadership that was lacking; Hitler was more into land war, with the Luftwaffe providing offensive support for the Wehrmacht. Once the Americans started daylight bombing raids from the UK on German aircraft factories (with the RAF bombing at night), that was it for the Luftwaffe. No amount of engineering & scientific brilliance could make up for the low numbers of aircraft produced.
Hi. Quite right, and their failures, such as the Boulton Paul Defiant, and the Blackburn Roc are equally astounding. Cheers, P.R.
@@philliprobinson7724 Lol, I will give you that.
These type of "swiss army knife" planes are always my favorite, and always the most underrated types of their time
Especially when they are effective in all the roles. A lot do miss the mark in some areas while excelling in others.
It''s also cool to note that all major nations had a plane of this type in their inventory. The brits had the Mosquito. The Americans had the P38. The Germans had the BF110 and the Russians had the Pe-2.
The effectiveness of the mossie at the allrounder role is amazing. But it's night performance, holy crap. It's loiter and strike role on returning German night planes at their airfields must have terrified the german pilots.
@@greyscott5734 They couldn't do anything to real fighters in a fair fight, tho. So they only stabbed them in the back on landing. No honesty at all. Why are you so proud of this?
@@ScienceDiscoverer War is not fair
Anybody else got the theme tune of 633 Squadron in their head now?
Absolutely, and the sound of the Merlin engine in general
And what a great tune that is.
I hadn't but I have now
Yes, buzzing in my head it is now.
Nope.
Dumping one through the Gestapos front door was hilarious!
Yes. Untill remainin gestapos started killin innocent civilians in random as insane retribution...
They should have dumped two in the door and some Sten Guns so the locals could finish them off and bury them under the rubble! War is terrible terrible. Rolling over and letting tyrants rule is worse. Look how many countries are ruled by tyrants and how the people of those countries suffer. And there are plenty in the wings would if they could! Democracy is fought for and needs maintaining.
Knock knock
Gestapo: who is there?
Moscito: Bomb
Gestapo: Bomb who?
Moscito: Bomb blast!
One of the Mossie pilots whose brother was killed in an air raid over Germany eyeballed Gestapo HQ in Brussels and attacked with cannon fire avenging his loss. A fire started the top of the building it was completely trashed.
yes but he failed to mention that one of the planes accidentally crashed into a school near gestapo HQ and other bombers thought it was the target :( , i pray the school was empty.
This thing with cannons mounted in the nose and rockets and missiles under the wings could still be kicking ass to this day! Ground support monster.
I've not seen any documentation on this, but did learn from a RAF veteran that when the 6 pounder fired, the recoil caused a temporary stall in the plane. Apparently new crews to tsetse weren't told of this as a joke
@@turkeytrac1 I doubt it stalled it (that would mean reducing its airspeed below 120 mph in a fraction of a second). Given it had a top speed of over 400mph, that would exert a G loading which would tear the plane apart.
I'm sure they felt it though, and being mounted in front of, and below the centre of gravity, I'm sure it made the nose dip.
Go get yourself some BRRRRRRRRRRRRTTTT
lol! The A10 really is like the grandchild, although not actually much faster!
708kph vs 656kph
I think I still like the thump thump thump of the accurate 6lber, that's more British. Spray and pray is just so American!
I think modern radar aimed/controlled anti aircraft guns would shred it it seconds what with it being made of wood...
That low level footage of multiple mosquitoes is amazing. Must have been exciting to fly them.
That was amazing. Suddenly I need a movie of these missions.
A friend of mine"s father flew the Mosquito, whwn I knew him he was a factory manager, I asked him why hw did not continue his flying career, the reply was"After Mosquitos every thing else was stale".
Crossing the North Sea with it's high swells, at very low height, under their Radar was a ball breaker too.
@@moominpapa1980 th-cam.com/video/WVPgsqnPI3U/w-d-xo.html
@@eScapes1 thanks very much. I didnt know there were 2 films about this plane. I'll add this to my watch list.
The low level Mosquito raids were really amazing. Sadly, the U.S. tried the same thing at Ploesti with lumbering B-24's and suffered heavy losses.
YANKS !!!!😳IDIOTS g
The Tsetse version is covered on another video where the old crew tell their stories. One took out a Ju 88 when a six pounder shell literally knocked an engine off the plane.
This one goes in the "Best of Curious Droid" file!
The Tetse was the Mk 18 .The video is one of the very best on the Mossy I have ever watched . My father was a young RAF Armourer stationed at RAF Lasham in 1943/44 and when his squadron ( 613 ) moved to France after D Day he finished his war in Cambrai / Epinoy . 613 flew the Mosquito FB V1 . Dad always had a fond word for the Mossie !!
History Hit just uploaded an hour-long episode on the Mosquito, including interviews with those who actually flew the missions (older footage, probably from the 2000's) and visiting sites of famous Mosquito missions. Very well made and even more in-depth then this video.
Ok, the footage of those raids are absolutely incredible! Blazing over rooftops and trees, it felt like a Hollywood action film! What an amazing aircraft!
Even with CG it would never be so impressive.
Luftwaffe pilots were allowed double scoring points, for downing a Mosquito.
I see you still haven't got that tar off your overalls :)
I thought he'd been working on a car before he started
Was wondering if he'd drop who made the shirt this time
Hope you reach 1 million subscribers soon
Whilst I love the Lancaster I can't help but feel that investing in many more mosquitos would've had a far greater return. Despite its smaller bombload the greater accuracy and survivability along with a much smaller crew. Imagine a thousand mosquito raid?
It's a matter of industrial production. The Mossie was much more of an artisanal product, made like furniture. You can't pump out Mossies like you can pump out metal aircraft like the Liberator. Also, generating aircrew would have been a problem'; it took the very best to fly those. Most crews are average (duh). Same argument for, say, the Me 262. Produce a thousand and 800 pilots will get killed trying to fly it because they haven't the skill or experience to fly it.
Its not just that. You have tvice or three times more "operational air time" with two engine planes.
You can fly night sortie into germany and check u boats on daytime. With one plane. And with price on Lancaster you get 3 Mossies...you win operationally 4 engine planes 6 times. Yes not heavy capacity and not range but at war, brit army and navy could have mossie support where they had nothing.
@@pexxajohannes1506 Mossie Bomber could just get to Berlin from the UK and only the later Bomber versions could carry a Cookie. Lancaster could hit the eastern Baltic coast from the UK and carry a Cookie, plus a shed load of incendiaries with an H2S radar. The Fighter Bomber Mossies couldn't carry much in the way of bombs and the Bombers couldn't shoot anything up.
@@richardvernon317 you are right. I dont deny any of that. However in Germany much of real military industrial power is in Ruhr valley and Rein. If you want knock Germany out of war, there is the target, not in Berlin. And with price of Mossie you get 2 (3 if motor production wasnt bottleneck) for one Lanc. And with one Mossie you can make 2 raids / night if nothing breaks. Enabling same bomber used for bombing raids at night and u boat hunt (the critical job) at daytime. Germans were really really scared Britain going all Mossies. It was just that production was geared for Lancasters. And they did huge damage to German cities but not as much at German war production and critical targets.
@Fremen Mosquito raid on ships in a Norwegian Fjord, they were "bounced" by Focke-wulf 190's, 5 mosquitoes shot down, 8 Fockewulfs destroyed!It had a better turning circle than a 190, and was faster!
It's successor the Hornet had two souped up merlins with 2000 hp each. Test Pilot Eric Brown said it was the only plane he ever flew that he felt had excess power.
Brown flew plenty of aircraft he found were comfortably overpowered.
My Godfather/cousin flew a Hornet while in the Fleet Air Arm. I have (somewhere) a photo of him in one.
@@acrobaticcripple8176 That would have been a great experience.
That low level attack film is amazing. Those lads were undoubtedly courageous and brave.
The "wooden wonder" was a very apt nickname for this plane!
I really think this is your best video yet! Keep more like this coming because I LOVE it!
A very good wrap up of the amazing exploits of the Mosquito and her crews. I have a small book on the Mosquito that I have read numerous times and this episode briefly covered just about everything mentioned in the book. Quite an effort to do justice to the story of the Mosquito and all of its activities in a sub 20 minute video. Well done.
"633 Squadron" is where I'll remember the Mosquito on the big screen.
Unsung hero of ww2. One of my all time favourite aircraft.
9:13 flying below tree level.. colour me impressed.
They say the best RAF pilots flew subterranean
thats till your plane cuts a snow elevator cable plunging 23 skiers to death.
@@ppsarrakis Those Swiss are good skiers
I read Hajo Herman's book and apparently the Germans regarded the Mosquito raids as a serious problem especially as they could only count the enemy losses in fractions of a percentage
that plane always got under my skin knowing how good it was during that era while being only made of wood ultimate less is more situation bottom line
The Mosquito is an absolute legend, gorgeous too! Best plane of the war in my uneducated opinion!!!
TGS Garden maintenance Goering thought so too! if a Luftwaffe pilot shot one down, he was awarded 2 "kills"
I believe it was also known as the Flying Piano due to a number of piano manufacturers being among the companies making the parts! My grandad was in the RAF (part of logistics, he didn't fly anything cool) but I remember him talking about the Flying Piano
I love Mosquito. As a child I had small airplane toys, some of them difficult to assemble due to manufacturing defects, like the Stuka. When I grew up and became interested in World War II, I learned that the Mosquito was a better plane than I imagined in my childhood.
My father was a navigator in photoreconnaissance mosquitos... he had some great stories
"Dance like a fly, bite like a mosquito." - Nintendo Entertainment System
Flies bite HARD here in Canada
Ali would roll over
okay guys let's simonize our watches
⬆️⬆️⬇️⬇️⬅️➡️⬅️➡️ select 🅰️🅱️ start
in africa a fly called tsetse fly will bite and will make you fall asleep to death
The Mossie & Hurricanes were the most underated & less glamorous planes of WWII but the Mossie proved to be the best,eventually !
Very calm, reassuring & soothing narration by Paul. Keep it up !
Thanks Droid....Dad was an Inspector for Mosquito here in Aus...small enough to crawl around...hmmm...Ta!
The de Havilland Mosquito don’t get enough love, same range and load as Big Bombers and faster then almost all fighters, in hindsight what if it was bomber commands premier tool?
It does seem remarkable that they kept sending thousands of men out in big slow inaccurate bombers to get shot down over Germany when they had this that could do the same job better and at a lower risk.
@@WhichDoctor1 It's the same reason not everybody can be an astronaut or drive a ferarri, or be a Navy Seal. Only the very best could fly them and accomplish the misson. It's not all the machine that did the job, it's mostly the high quality men. You didn't have the time or resources to find and train enough men to field a large force of Mossies. Also, production issues. These were almost hand-made, out of wood. Almost like a hobby, or making furniture. A craft more than industrial production. It's easier with metal. Burbank cranked out 1 Liberator per hour, even when the plant was still unfinished. It was about numbers, attrition and production. The Germans learned the hard way. They pissed away what fighter force they had on a raid in Jan 1945 Operation Bodenplatte. Great victory for them. A week later the Americans had replaced all losses. All those war-weary P-47s that were destroyed on the ground were replaced by brand-new 47Ds. My favorite cartoon: P-47 shoots down Me 109 over allied air base. German parachutes out. P-47 Pilot lands to meet guy he shot down. German sees the US pilot, is pissed off because the US pilot is a kid. Sez I am the great Schultz, I have fifty victories. How many have you got, you snot-nosed kid? US pilot answers: Just one.
War in Europe would end in 1944...
Critical case was early bliz when germans scored a hit on Dehavilland factory destroying prototypes and lot more stuff.
Also air ministry was on metal not wood. Making Mossie is essentially not much more different ffom working metal. Spitfire parts were notorious examples on how even metal is difficult to mold.
@@WhichDoctor1 Despite the added production coming from Australia and Canada; when something this good is created, EVERYONE wanted them. As said in the vid, come 1945, Mosquito number's were now so high, they were sent on their own, for mass bombing, by several Squadrons.
@@PappyGunn Well put. The reason they didn't use more Mosquitoes was because THEY COULDN'T. production was maxed out.
The Mosquito gobbled strategic resources. Shipping for the wood from around the world (You couldn't build them out of any 2x4s you had laying around), the advanced adhesive that held them together, the Merlin engines, and even the men that built them.
Saying that the Mosquito is "just made out of wood" is like saying that a 747 is "just made out of soda cans".
I know that feeling: when you're working under your car in your best red shirt and then are suddenly compelled to make and upload a documentary on the deHavilland Mosquito.
Lol I was trying to work out a witty phrase for the shirt but you've done it better than I ever could. Kudos, mate!
Well the mosquito was the deadliest, look at how man malaria deaths there were in WWII.
Now you be droppin' bombs. :)
Also captures just how annoying it was to the Nazi top brass.
I was aware of the Mosquito but I never knew it had this rich of a history. My respect for it has been rekindled.
The only problem with the mosquito is that there was never enough of them
There's more than enough of the blood sucking variety in my garden than you.
The Brits didn't impress the Americans with any impression that it was particularly exceptional. Clever?
I had a 1/72 airfix of this back in the day. Good times!
My Grandfather, Gordon Bruce MacLean, was killed in Sep 1943 while flying a Mosquito Mk. VI with 410 squadron, RCAF.
I gotta ask: was he a Pathfinder? I mean, probably unlikely in 1943, but I had an uncle in 425 sqn flying Lancs that transited to Pathfinders after his first tour. I do not know which Sqn that was, but it was probably a mixed RAF one.
Absolutely Fascinating my Airfix Mosquito was one of my favourites - my ears were glued to your recalling of events and reciting of facts coupled with the amazing footage you really have done an excellent job
My respects to all who had to participate or endure the horrors of WWII 🙏
"So what's your skill-set, mate?" - "I build fine furniture, and I'm bloody good at it..." - You're in the Mossie, line, mate, right over there...you of course want us to win this war, don't you, sir?" - "Bloody well right!" - "Derek, we've got a woodworker here, show him the airplane up close, there's a good lad...".
"I fly very fast, very low, sir."
@@RideAcrossTheRiver Let's Mossie Goering's little broadcast...
Well done. Appreciate you didn't repeat the old tale that the mosquito was built of wood because it was an available resource. It was built of wood because the designer liked wood and understood its benefits. Quite a plane.
Great video! Always loved the Mosquito. Right up there with the Spitfire and the Mustang and the Lightning! :)
Awesome video! I especially enjoyed the great footage of those strikes - those guys had a lot of guts that low. I am certain the nearly all wood construction had far lower radar return than an aluminum plane. Wood is natures "composite".
The wooden frame also had the unforeseen advantage of soaking up almost any radar that would be pointed at it, thus, in a way, making it one of the first "stealth" fighters in operational use.
Been lucky enough to sit in one of these, you could still smell the wood and resin quite strongly after all these years.
No other old wooden plane smells like a mosquito!
@62guitarguy You pervert. 🤣🤣🤣
The cockpit of my father's yacht was made with wood from a de Havilland Mosquito. We had lots of good times living on her around the Med. I enjoyed hearing some of the history behind this wonderful plane I knew too little about :)
Could it do 400 mph?
@@MrDaiseymay Well we did manage to break the 2 inch diameter prop shaft trying to put more power down during a storm of the century affair with seemingly mountainous waves of 80ft+ between Malta and Sicily before being becalmed in the eye of the storm. Then had to head back through it under sail as the boatyards in Sicily did not have the facilities to repair my fathers boat.
My father even managed to make it back to our berth in the Grand Harbor of Valletta in the middle of that storm while under sail !
That harbor was a criss crossing of ancient mooring buoys and lines back in those days... early 80's.
Germans: Schnellbomber
Brits: Let us show you how
Poles: attack him stupid Nazis and Soviets... and himself! :D
I thought for sure you were going to mention the film "The 633 Squadron" about a fictitious Mosquito raid on a German heavy water facility in Norway. It was built under a massive rock outcrop in a fjord, so they had to fly up the water and do a belly-up maneuver to send the bomb flying sideways into the facility. This was the model George Lucas used for the climactic attack scene in the original "Star Wars."
A HUGE thanks for making this video. I never even knew the Mosquito was so versatile. The more i learn about this amazing aircraft, the more i love it. Probably one of the most underrated planes of the war, because i have never heard it mentioned before in documentaries.
Have you not seen the two Films-- ''Mosquito Squadron'' and ''633 Squadron'; ? a bit Boys Own but the planes were the star's.
@@MrDaiseymayYou make "Boys' Own" sound like a bad thing
I met an ex WW2 Mosquito pilot about fifteen years ago. I still remember the glint in his eye as he spoke about his “favourite bird”. I can now see why!
you were more likely to get home in a moz than anything else. thats why it was his favourite.
10:15 an epic moment in deplatforming fascists
👍 Brilliant and very concise video on the Mosquito - thank you. Britain certainly owed a lot to DeHavilland. In addition to the World's fastest bomber (indeed one of the fastest of any production aircraft in 1941), they also gave us the Vampire which was the RAF's first single engine jet fighter and the first jet to fly the Atlantic. Also, the Comet, the World's first jet airliner which was about twice as fast as any other airliner at the time. I think that the Mosquito and the Comet (airliner) were two of the most beautiful looking aircraft ever designed. Very nice that you also gave navigational/RADAR aids like OBOE, GEE and H2S a mention - important developments that many WW2 aircraft videos don't mention.
Imagine this aircraft made today out of carbon composites. Something like that would be incredibly light but still probably stronger than the wood frame could ever be.
A great plane, but think if the P-38 had the merlin engins they were built for and 4 bladed props nothing could touch them.
Genius design and engineering... Everything optimally weighed up including available resources as well as advanced requirements.
The Tornados of the WW2.
They also took the mosquito Hornet as the basis for the worlds first operational Bomber the Canberra
Technically the Canberra was the first post-war jet bomber, as the Arado was the first overall, if you ignore Hitler's imbecillic demands that the Me262 be used as a bomber.
There is a Canberra used as a gate guardian at Avalon airport, Victoria Australiam that I have long wanted to buy and restore. Yeah, it is just a dream, but damn that plane, and the Mossie being restored nearby at Point Cook would be great to fly in.
I love how Arnold J Rimmer is one of your Patreons, well done that man!
I've watched a lot of videos about the Mosquito so I thought of skipping this one. I'm glad I didn't. This one brought new insights and some superb footage and photos. I was swelling with pride and a smile on my face at what those great engineers, ground crew and brave pilots did. Great video. Many thanks.
It is said that the Gloster Meteor resembles the same airframe general design on purpose, sort of a jet Mosquito. To me is the original fighter bomber in the modern sense, despite other aircraft dispute this honor. I know there are other channels that review history and aircraft technology but you beat them in depth and original visuals, great images you got here! Great video as always!
Who else is super hyped about the Mosquito coming to DCS very soon!
DCS?
@@Slye_Fox Digital Combat Simulator. In my opinion the most realistic feeling flying sim on PC.
Shame that concentration and death camps weren't important enough to destroy.
Too far to east
We’re a nation who has always punched above its weight when it comes to innovation. Great video 👍
Best plane of the war in my opinion. It's the one I'd want to fly.
I'll put my money on the P-38 Lightning, although they are similar in concept. Realistically the Mosquito was a better bomber while the Lightning was a better air superiority fighter. I pity the enemy on the opposite side of both. Realistically the Mosquito contributed more to the war effort though, so your opinion is valid.
Me too! Would love to fly in one.
@@tarmaque The Lightning had serious flaws as a fighter. Its mach loading was way to high, which is why a number of them went into high speed dives and never recovered. It was dropped as an escort fighter as a consequence and replaced with the P51. Likewise for the P47. Doolittle was very concerned about that and approached Farnborough to find out why. They conducted a series of experiments and found the cause. If you haven't read it, Eric "Winkle" Brown's book Wings on My Sleeve is fascinating. He was involved in that project, among many others. Including landing a Mosquito on an aircraft carrier.
My favourite plane of the war. The good old wooden wonder.
Today's shirt is fantastic! Looks like my overalls after a deep clean on an engine.... It is a slow validation of the design philosophy but now we are returning to composite structures for combat and civilian aircraft. A shame that the successor the Hornet was treated with the same distain as the Mosquito, clearly the air ministry were not fast learners. One of the Mosquito's biggest issues was the engines were not handed which made take off and landing tricky. If it could have had opposed rotation to the engines (bought in for the Hornet) then it would have eliminated even this issue. For the same production volume of engines you could have built 2 Mosquitos for every Lancaster. I wonder if bomber command would have had fewer overall casualties if the heavy bomber population had been reduced and the 'light' (well the same as a B17 on medium distance raids and more than a B17 to Berlin) bomber force increased.
The Mosquito was hands down the best bomber of WW2.
There's an argument to be had for it being the best combat aircraft of WW2, full stop. Almost certainly the most versatile.
Faster than a Spitfire and almost as maneuverable, yet still able to carry both bombs and rockets.
If you ever heard the glue Araldite, it came from ARL (ARaLdite) or Aero Research Limited, a British company that pioneered several new adhesives, intended initially for the aeronautical industry, one of its work was the glue used on de Havilland Mosquito.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Araldite
Maybe instead of "one of the last combat planes made of wood" we should talk about "one of the first planes made of composite materials" :)
Now we think of carbon fibre.
My fave WW2 aircraft. Possibly all time too!
I worked at Duxford for a while as a museum assistant, talking to visitors about the old warbirds. The Mosquito was one of my favourites in hanger 1.
Thumbs up for the mention of 100 group. Special Opps. Radio counter measures. My father was a navigator in that group.
I'd love to see a dog fight between this and a P38
It will be land slide (P38 is smaller, lighter and more menuveravle)
Idk man the mosquito was no joke in its own right. If I'm not mistaken the P38 had more powerful engines mostly because it came later so I wonder if the mosquito could match it with the same engines in both.
My father and his squadron mates used to tell the story of the pacific war on the airbase they were on. Dad was a engineer repairing and servicing airplanes. An Aussie Mosquito pilot and a P38 pilot were arguing about which was better. They agreed to do what the other plane did. Apparently the Mosquito took off and before clearing the fence feathered an engine and did a victory roll on one engine. The P38 pilot took off did a circuit and landed.
Every time the old squadron boys got together one of them would shake their head and tell the story of the crazy Aussie. As a young boy in the 1960’s til dad died in 1989 I heard that story many times, none of these old engineers could believe what they saw but they all saw it.
@@AaronShenghao It would depend on the pilot. Adrian Warburton shot down German aircraft in a Martin Maryland so spec sheets don’t tell the story.
Mollins didn't make the gun , they made the autoloader for it, because Mollins was a manufacturer of cigarette vending machines
Excellent information on this amazing aircraft. I had no idea they were made of wood or did all the missions.
The Mossie has alway been in my opinion the most beautiful aircraft that flew in WWII. Innovative, fast, a true testament to De Havilland’s engineering genius. The Spit was an amazing aircraft, was a pivotal piece in the battle to defend Britain, but I’d argue the Mossie had a greater role in taking the battle to the enemy. Legendary footage of Mosquitoes at zero feet over sea or land, on their way to completely f*ck up a bunch of Nazis’ days is just beyond amazing to watch. Not forgetting the aircrew, they were heroes.
Thanks for bring her to the fore, Mr Droid.
taking the fight to the enemy is what it's all about if you're going to win air superiority. I'm sad to say yhe Spit didn't have to reange for it.
Glad you took a break from changing the oil in your car to record this video.
@jjohnston94 your reply was deleted.
LMAO! I just made a very similar comment before I noticed this!
I have great respect for Britain. It was in the war from the beginning and made enormous contributions to the final victory over Germany. From Codebreaking, engine production, and aircraft evolution, the brits excelled. Russia may have won the war really, but Britain is up there in the final victory.
The Brits didn't have a choice. With the Germans 25 miles away they had to develop and build enough stuff to win the war! They had large losses from more than bombs. If they had not held out D Day would have been much different and much later!
G'day Paul, Great to see you back on your channel! As you may recall, I'm a military historian and former RAAF member. I've got the Mosquito to thank for this path. When I was a lad, like all kids of my generation, I loved modelling famous aircraft of WW2. While most boys were obsessed with building their Airfix Spitfires, (which I also did) I hunted around every toy and model shop I could until I found Mosquito kits. That did it for me. I wasn't a great modeller then but, I guess, like the real thing, I found the 'Mozzie' an easy model to build so it made me look like I was a much better modeller.
It was about this time I read about the maxim: 'If an aircraft looks good; chances are it is good to fly.' I found this most obvious in the Spitfire and, for me, particularly in the Mosquito.
I began devouring every book I could find on it.
The 'Mozzie' has to win the badge for the most versatile aircraft of WW2. I'm sure there are probably modern aircraft that are true multi-role weapons of war, but never mind the sophisticated flight control computers; advanced radar and pinpoint GPS based systems. Find me an F-22 Raptor or an F-35 that could, routinely, even over a dead flat surface, do repeated attack runs 10 to 15 feet off the deck! Sure, they could probably be programmed do that, but the risk to pilot and airframe would, these days, rule out offensive manoeuvres that the Mosquito did on a daily basis with few losses due to low altitude flying alone.
There was another key to the 'Mozzies' success; whenever possible the RAF, RAAF and others chose pilots who had proven themselves as top airmen before they took the controls of a Mosquito. Then they honed their flying skills to suit the Wooden Wonder's flight characteristics. They were not always as easy to fly as some pilots have said. One can understand such opinions because the Mosquito was an aircraft that pilots fell in love with; so much so they were quick to forgive its little quirks, some of which could be dangerous.
Part of the reason there were navigators on Mosquitos was that they were 'busy' planes to fly. Monitoring two Rolls Royce Merlins going full pelt while laden with bombs and ammunition; maintaining level flight; looking out for the enemy and being ever vigilant about one's height off the ground or sea meant the pilot had no time left to worry about the mathematical details of where they were actually going.
Having that Navigator there was also why the 'Mozzie' was such an effective photo-recon aircraft. Carrying cameras lighter than gunnery and bombs meant they could fly, flat out, get their pictures and be out of town, usually, before Gerry knew he'd had his photo taken. Not that Mosquitos never came back without bullet holes and battle damage; happily, most of their wooden construction meant they could take a good dusting of anti-aircraft fire and still make it home.
I could bang on forever about my favourite military aircraft of all time so, I'll sign off just by saying thank you, Paul for a fantastic history of the Wooden Wonder! Cheers, BH
@@karmakazi101 G'day Karma, thanks for that cobber! When I joined the RAAF there were still a 'sprinkling' of senior officers who had joined up after the start of WW2 as cadet pilots, etc., right out of school. We'd spot the WW2 ribbons on their dress tunics and they were like 'gods' to us.
Every man jack of them were quiet, modest and true gentlemen who loved being in the Service even though they looked forward to their well earned retirements.
I well remember meeting a senior Chaplain with the rank of Group Captain.
One couldn't help noticing he also had a Pathfinder's badge along with, well polished pilot's wings atop his many other decoration ribbons, one of which was the DFC! I pestered him till he told me the 'highlights' of his long career.
We used to refer, kindly, to Chaplains as 'Sky Pilots' which, if you think about it, was a stupid label, as all pilots are just that.
This likeable gent said he took holy orders to, "...in some small way, atone for the damage I did as a flyer...".
They just don't make 'em like that anymore.
I met these great Aussies over 50 years ago and I still think of them often.
Cheers and all the best. Bill H.
The VERY first,and without doubt,THE BEST MRCA ever produced.I was fortunate to get a taxi run in the Hatfield mosquito when I worked for BAe at (DH) Hatfield in the early 90's,before it crashed at an airshow with the loss of the crew
Great video! Although he might wash his shirt before the next video, it looks like he's been fixing his car ;) Keep up the good work.
Thanks Paul for showcasing this amazing aircraft. Truly, an aircraft that turned the tide of the war. A stunning design by Geoffrey de Havilland (Olivia de Havilland’s cousin, BTW). My Dad was friends with an RCAF pilot who flew the Mosquito and he told me several times they sighted a Focke-Wulf Fw 190 - a very fast and formidable fighter - behind trying to catch them up. When I asked John what they did, he said, “We just hit the throttles and left them behind”.
Not bad for a “bomber” huh?
We lost captain Picard!!! 10:10
Pickard was the star of the film Target For Tonight, a propaganda film about Bomber Command. He was a Group Captain then. Interestingly no one knows who asked for the prison to be bombed. The request never came from the resistance or from Butch Harris. It was also a raid that didn't need to be lead by a Group Captain, it could have been done by a Wing Commander. A lot of mysteries still surround Operation Jericho.
Love your videos and the sound of your voice. I believe the Mosquito is the greatest aircraft ever designed. I know the Spitfire, Mustang, P 47 and F4 Corsair and FW 190 and BF 109s were great planes. But nothing could do what the Mosquito did! I am an American born in December of 1945 right after the war. My father flew P47s in the war and told me the Mosquito was the greatest plane. I was able to catch a ride in one when Canada used the Mosquitos for mapping their Northern Territories in the 1960s. I think that is the decade they used them. Could have been the 1950s. Can't find much on that. Thanks for a great video Sir.