X-Nico

4 unusual facts about de Havilland Mosquito


Bombing of Darmstadt in World War II

On the night of 23/24 September 1943 Darmstadt was bombed by 21 Avro Lancasters and 8 De Havilland Mosquitos of No. 8 Group RAF.

Identification friend or foe

When mounted in an RAF Mosquito, the "Perfectos" device revealed the position of any German nightfighters fitted with an FuG 25a.

North Creake

On 27 April 1944, a De Havilland Mosquito fighter bomber, on a night training exercise, crashed in the centre of the village killing the crew of two.

RAF Trimingham

Oboe worked using two stations at different and well-separated locations in England to transmit a signal to a Mosquito Pathfinder bomber carrying a radio transponder.


Airborne collision avoidance system

Airborne Radar can detect the relative location of other aircraft, and has been in military use since World War II, when it was introduced to help night fighters (such as the de Havilland Mosquito and Messerschmitt Bf 110) locate bombers.

Derek Piggott

Back in the UK he was posted as a Staff Instructor at RAF's Central Flying School at Little Rissington where he trained instructors and flew Harvards, Balliols, Athenas, Meteors, Spitfires, Mosquitos and Lancasters.

Focke-Wulf Ta 152

An early Ta 152 combat occurred on 14 April 1945 when Oberfeldwebel Willi Reschke tried to intercept a De Havilland Mosquito over Stendal, but failed to catch up due to engine trouble.

History of Christchurch, Dorset

The Horsa, Ambassador, Mosquito, Vampire, Sea Vampire, Sea Venom and Sea Vixen were all manufactured here and in addition a number of Spitfires were converted into Seafires.

Mailly-le-Camp

During preparations for the Normandy invasion (Operation Overlord), 346 British Avro Lancasters and 14 de Havilland Mosquitoes of RAF Bomber Command attacked the German military camp situated near the village of Mailly-le-Camp.

Nitrous oxide engine

British World War II usage of nitrous oxide injector systems were modifications of Merlin engines carried out by the Heston Aircraft Company for use in certain night fighter variants of the de Havilland Mosquito and PR versions of the Supermarine Spitfire.

Petersham, New South Wales

Mosquito HR576 RAF (UK) disintegrated over the inner western Sydney suburbs of Leichhardt and Petersham on 2 May 1945 during an air test flight.

Serial number

During the Second World War RAF aircraft that were secret or carrying secret equipment had "/G" (for "Guard") appended to the serial, denoting that the aircraft was to have an armed guard at all times while on the ground, e.g., LZ548/G—the prototype de Havilland Vampire jet fighter, or ML926/G—a de Havilland Mosquito XVI experimentally fitted with H2S radar.

Yagodnik

Thirty-eight Avro Lancasters of 617 and 9 Squadrons, two Liberator transports and a weather reconnaissance Mosquito set off for Yagodnik on the night of 10 September 1944.


see also

Aerial reconnaissance in World War II

At that point the Wing had found the F-4 unsatisfactory, the F-7 or B-17 Fortress unable to survive over enemy territory, and the new British de Havilland Mosquito to be the most promising reconnaissance platform.

Bombing of Bangkok in World War II

Three RAF squadrons were represented in Siam during the brief occupation: No. 20 Squadron RAF with Spitfire VIII aircraft, No. 211 Squadron RAF with de Havilland Mosquito VI aircraft, and a detachment of No. 685 Squadron RAF with Mosquito photo-reconnaissance aircraft.