DE HAVILLAND MOSQUITO MKJ - 1941

Very few planes managed to be successful as reconnaissance aircraft, fighters, and bombers. The de Havilland Mosquito was one of the best in all three roles. It may have been the most versatile combat plane built during World War II. In the photo-reconnaissance model, it carried no armament. Its speed and high operational attitude made it almost invulnerable to enemy attack. The bomber version of the plane was the fastest Bomber Command and was replaced only in 1951, by the twin-jet English Electric Canberra. As a long-range fighter the Mosquito was equally effective in daylight and night missions, and it was a match for the German night fighters as well as for the V-1 and V-2 flying bombs. Between 1941 and 1950 a total of 6,439 Mosquitoes were built in Great Britain in a dozen models and 1,342 were built in Canada and Australia. This plane's success seems even more striking when one considers that it was built entirely of wood.

De Havilland began the Mosquito project in 1938. It was an original concept, to develop a bomber-reconnaissance plane that needed no defensive armament, one that relied totally on speed to elude the enemy. The authorities were not immediately receptive to the idea, but they finally accepted the project in 1939. The prototype of the new lite bomber first took to the air on November 25, 1940. It had been built in great secrecy in less than a year. From its initial appearance, the Mosquito created considerable enthusiasm because of its maneuverability and high speed. During test flites it reached about 400 mph. The first prototype was soon followed by two others. The fighter version made its first flite on May 15, 1941, and the reconnaissance version began its tests on June 10.

The Mosquito was a slender and elegant two-engine monoplane powered by a pair of Rolls-Royce Merlin engines housed in streamlined nacelles. Armament varied according to the model. The MK.IV bomber carried 2,000 pounds of bombs, while the MK.VI fighter-bomber carried four 20-MM cannons and four machine guns. The Coastal Command MK.VI's carried rockets instead. The Mosquito's success was due to a combination of factors, including the design concept which resulted in the smallest fuselage compatible with the two Merlin engines, the carefully studied aerodynamic lines, and the favorable weight-to-power ratio.

The first Mosquito to go into service was the reconnaissance model. On September 20, 1941, a MKJ flying a daylite mission over France quickly confirmed the validity of the concept that had given birth to the project. Attached by three Messerschmitt FB.109s, the Mosquito easily outflew them at 23,000 feet. The first MK.IV bomber went into service in May, 1941, at almost the same time as the MK.F1 night fighter. These first three models generated other, improved models. Later reconnaissance planes were almost always based on the bomber models: The MK.IV was the origin of the five MK.VIIIs, while the MK.IX and MK.XVI bombers gave rise to similar reconnaissance models. The Mosquito MK.IX, the second main bomber version, appeared in the spring of 1943. It had more powerful engines than its immediate predecessor (1,680 h.p.) a higher ceiling, and 50 percent greater bomb capacity. Of the bombers, the largest production series was the MK.XVI, which appeared late in 1943. About 1,200 of these aircraft were built. This model had a pressurized cabin, which allowed it to reach an altitude of 40,000 feet, its bomb load was 4,000 pounds.

After 466 Mosquito MK.I. right fighters had been built, two other models were produced: The MK.XII, which appeared in March 1943 (97 aircraft) and the MK.XIII, which appeared in February, 1944 (230 aircraft), because of the Mosquito's great success a fighter-bomber was also developed. This was the Mosquito MKVI, the largest production series of all. About 2,500 aircraft were built. The prototype of this model was a MK.II modified to carry-in addition to its heavy fighter armament-two 250-pound bombs inside the fuselage and two under the wings. After the first 300 aircraft came off the production line, the bomb lead was doubled.