De Havilland Mosquito: The Plane That Saved Britain (part 1 of 2) | Military Aviation Museum 

@Patrick Brennan indeed sir

My dad flew Mosquitos too in 239 Squadron after fit flying Beaufighters in 272 squadron .

I heard a qoute somewhere that went, "Radar, cannons, machineguns,,,, sounds like a FUN NIGHT,,,, ". ;))

I believe they ripped out the machine guns and replaced them with the night fighter radar scanner, leaving 4 cannon. The interception method you describe (from above) sounds more like day -time tactics. Radar wasn't effective enough for anything other than creeping up slowly behind the enemy.

@@TheKievKen I've seen different Mossie variants in various museums, and don't remember them all. My dad rarely discussed his wartime flying. I stayed in touch with his Navigator/AI Operator until he died around 2017. He gave me quite a lot of details. I know he wrote down several volumes about their operations, but I never got copies. Those are now in the War Museum in the UK. Early AI often went u/s in flight, and was pretty sketchy even when working. By 1944 AI had improved a lot. As to tactics; I have only the conversations, plus logbook and diary notes to go by. They would vary with the enemy aircraft's position, of course. I'm sure various tactics were used. In 2016 I found a large crate of additional records, handwritten during and just after WWII, unmistakably my dad's writing. They'd been sealed since the 1950's. I had planned to donate everything to the War Museum here, but the RAF have expressed much more interest. The new material would be of use to researchers, I think, so that's a factor in the choice.

That's a really awesome story about your grandad, thank you for sharing it. Cheers from Vancouver

You don't have any functioning gray matter left do you!!!

@@petermontagnon4440 What are you talking about?

@Patrick Brennan When it comes to being "disabled" yea, it's all you. Everyone has limits, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't try. Never let someone else convince you you can't. Only you know your limits.

Eric, I think Douglas Bader would agree with you.

I was injured in a car crash in late 2014, nerve and spinal damage dog me daily but like many I see here I go on and soon will see Mosquito RS700 completed at the local bomber command museum here in Alberta!

It's sad though that while the technological achievments of Great Britain to win WWII were astonishing and had to be considered with great respect, the narrator uses as a transport vehicle a German made car (Audi). It looks like the Germans had the last word.

@@ioannisneokosmidis Volkswagen Audi now owns Rolls Royce and Bentley. The Austin Mini is owned by BMW. Germany was destroyed after 1945. Look where it is now. The good thing is that Germany and us are now allies. Germany is a member of NATO.

I believe all the spruce used to build them was sourced from Canada as well.

Most people couldn't afford the fuel, let alone the actual aircraft. My step father had a surplus Mustang back in the 50's,.. and while people would come out to see him land if he circled more then once, even then he said if you had it throttled just enough to not drop from the sky, it would suck the gas unbelievably. A whole different ball game when you move to performance aircraft like these. Takes very DEEP pockets.

It was not German nincompoops at fault, it was Hitler and top generals. The British decided not to attempt Hitler assassination as he was such a bad commander. The Nazi wartime technologies were well progressed but fortunately Allied bombing prevented final development.

@@howardsimpson489 *_"It was not German nincompoops at fault, it was Hitler and top generals."_* That's what's known as the German Generals' excuse. It was a popular view in the 1950s and 60s after people like Manstein, Guderian and Halder published their memoirs. This was, aster all, an unsolicited testimonial from Goering. *_"The British decided not to attempt Hitler assassination as he was such a bad commander."_* Source? I'd be interested to read that. *_"The Nazi wartime technologies were well progressed but fortunately Allied bombing prevented final development."_* That could be said for almost anything at that time. Germany was out on a limb. They were prepared to countenance almost any idea if they thought it had a ghost of a chance of working. The Allies had a longer term view and won with more prosaic equipment, while there was plenty more in the pipeline. German had none of the following: 1) aircraft carriers 2) sonar 3) atomic bomb 4) effective heavy bombers 5) effective infantry tank (after 1943) in significant numbers Despite the common claims, none of the _Wunderwaffe_ projects was ever going to win the war for Germany. Even the Me-262 could not have done so. The widely held belief that it was hamstrung by Hitler wanting to turn it into a _Schnellbomber_ is not true. ALL German fighters had the provision to carry bombs and function as _Jabos._ Equally, none of those Allied weapons _on its own_ was going to win the war either. But the fact was that the Allies had a technical edge in a lot of areas that mattered. Their weapons might have looked prosaic, compared to those _Wunderwaffe_ but they were, on the whole, superior to virtually everything else and they had the added advantages of numbers and fuel. But to assume that the Allies only won for those reasons would be wrong. Germany knew from the start that she would have to achieve a quick victory to prevail. When she could not, her fight was one for survival and no technology was going to change that.

@@howardsimpson489 The 'German nincompoops' Goering referred to were people like Willy Messerschmitt. When Goering wanted to mass produce an exact copy of the Mosquito, Messerschmitt said - rightly - that it couldn't be done. Germany simply didn't have the expertise in the necessary areas and it would take a long time to develop it. Kurt Tank tried with the Ta-154 and failed but that wasn't a Mosquito and never could have been.

you should write a book about him if you were able to get him to speak about his exploits. He was a real person doing his bit to save humanity !

Glenn Pickard thx so much for that. Yeah he used to tell me lots of stuff when I was a kids n loved going around his place n would sit on the floor next to his chair n he would start into the stories. I was mesmerised, I can remember most of it but not in as great a detail than he could of told. He had loads of medals n DFCs n I still have them inc his wings n rank etc. Thanks again mate. Means a lot to me

You mean a few guys in New Zealand right? ;)

@@TheKievKen indeed. Ardmore Engineering, AVSPEC and the others are down at Omaka. Pretty much the world std in warbird prop planes restoration

I should add it was 26 German bombers and fighter bombers. The radar equipped Mossies weren’t allowed to cross the European coast until late in the war, their radar was secret. Once turned loose over the continent, they had more “customers,” usually German night fighters. One Mossie crew downed four Germans during a single flight.

Charles Conder I agree 100%, I’ve always considered the ‘Mossey’ to be the forerunner of the A10, but it was a little fast for infantry support.

Perhaps you should limit your comments to farm equipment.

Not so. Top speed for Mk Iat 18000 feet 367mph, Me 109 had similar performance. Top speed for Seafire Mk 47 452 mph. Mosquite M2 366 mph Mk XVI 415 mph

Tom. Why show the speed of a post war Seafire Mk 47? It was not quite as fast as the Mk 46 and the Spitfire Mk XIV of late 1943 did 448 mph, the Mk 21 of early 1945 did 451 mph. The fastest Mosquito did 424 mph or using Nitrous Oxide 437 mph.

Wilbur you need to calm down, get back on your meds. There are many mosquito versions that went over 400 mph, here is a link to some speed testing done May/1943 on a mosquito B Mk IX with merlin 72 engines. www.wwiiaircraftperformance.org/mosquito/lr495.pdf If you take the trouble to read the first document you will see that the testing was done at a weight of 21,910 pounds, a weight corresponding to having full fuel and oil and a 2,000 pound bomb load. At 3000 rpm/18 psi boost with supercharger in MS gear it went 393 mph at 13,800 feet. At 3000 rpm/18 psi boost with supercharger in FS gear it went 405 mph at 25,700 feet. Just imagine how much faster that aircraft would be on the way home with no bombs left and half of its fuel left.

I never even THOUGHT about the stealth aspect! The Mosquito was THE best plane of them all! Including the P-38 and my beloved P-47 Republic Thunderbolt. (I kinda liked the ME-262, also.)

@Brian Roome P38 Copy? The P38 was different in design compared to the Mosquito. The P38 was the most unique of all WW2 aircraft. Both love the aircraft (Mosquito and the P-38 Lightning).But I guess based on your comment you are probably an employee or employer of Beechcraft and several US companies who loathed the Mosquito in 1940.

gary gibbs My dad was trained to operate the AI Radar in the night-fighter variant. OTU course ended around VE-DAY and he was repatriated to Canada expecting to end up fighting the Japanese. This ended with VJ-DAY and he was demobbed. The RCAF sent him to UofT to study Mechanical Engineering and he re-entered the RCAF in 49 and wound up in the party that opened Gimli, MacDonald and Portage for jet flying training on the T-33. Graduates went on to fly the Canadair Sabre or Avro CF-100 as part of Canada's "Big Air Force" contribution to NATO and NORAD. Dad went on to train electronics and radar techs to man the DEW and Pinetree Radar lines. The CF-100 was a lot like the night fighter Mosquito, only faster, higher, longer range.

CANUSA Kommando iiï9yu

Respect!

Sounds correct

Mosquito wood construction was nearly Invisible to radar, high speed and long range allowed critical missions that had greater impact than other sorties.

I would argue that they made so many Spitfire/Hurricane because those got shot down more commonly. The Mosquito was/is largely overlooked (imho) because its not as sexy looking as the other more well known fighters.

Deaf Smith - no one plane saved Britain, Hitler thinking he knew better than his generals saved Britain. Once the invasion was cancelled, and Germany focused on Russia, British industry had a chance to regroup and churned out new models of spitfires which were more than a match for the new Me 109 and Fw 190’s, Hurricanes, Mosquitos, Typhoons and Lancaster’s hammered the Germans on the ground, at sea and in the air day and night in ground attack, bombing, and hit/run raids as Germany reconfigured older, slower and less manoeuvrable aircraft like Me 110’s, Do-17’s and Ju-87 and 88’s into other roles like night fighters and ground attack aircraft because they became fodder for the increasingly frequent British fighter sweeps while Spitfire and Mosquito Recon aircraft ranged freely due to their speed and altitude. So many other aircraft of the time became iconic like the Beaufighter, Tempest, Blenheim, Barracuda, Swordfish and so on. You could probably argue that towards 1943-44 British aircraft were superior to axis aircraft in nearly every role you could think of.

Deaf Smith Correct sir, first issue of concern was diminish the Nazi domination of the skies, hence good fighters (Hurricanes & Spits) and Radar was a big bonus!

*Wooden Aircraft don't age well*

@@Ford_Raptor_R_720hp_V8 Especially when they were used as target practice.

Beatrice Shilling.

@@spyrosg3172 Thanks

Correct- thank you. BTW, a Spit aficianado said that great as it was, his main love, its carburetor lost dogfighting capability in a forward dive whereas the fuel-injection 109 had no problem in this, giving it an advantage. So why did Goering wish he had Spits?

@@RalphPhilbrook It was Galland who asked Goering for Spitfires.

@@RalphPhilbrook In his book, "Die Ersten und Der Letzten", Galland explains that though he did not actually prefer the Spitfire to his beloved Me-109, he did feel it was a better defensive fighter and Goering had just berated his fighter commanders for not staying close enough to the bombers to defend them properly (in the bomber commanders' opinions), thus tying them to a soley defensive mode. He even hinted at cowardice. This greatly angered the fighter commanders and Galland, never one to mince words, when asked what he needed to do the job, made his famous (sarcastic) reply, "Give me a squadron of Spitfires". BTW, I highly recommend Galland's book. No politics or nationalism. Just plain facts and the story of the Luftwaffe from Germany's General of Fighters.

Rikki0 : Right-on 100%!

​@@RalphPhilbrook Believe it was Adolf Galland that said he wanted a squadron of Spits, not Goering, but Goering was the recipient of the message. The carb. problem was worked on and corrected after the battle. It did not lose its dog fighting capability. As the carb float rose in a steep dive, a quick rollover corrected the problem, but still it was not helpful and a distraction.The Spitfire could out turn the 109 and was slightly faster at altitudes where most of the fighting took place, 10-18000 feet. The Luftwaffe pilots became somewhat intimidated when they saw a squadron of Spits heading towards them, because of continual 109 losses. Plus radar was guiding the RAF fighters, not so for the 109s. And finally the 109 pilots had the extra burden of trying to protect the Messerschmidt 210 "Destroyer" that the Hurricanes were assigned to take out. These are some of the reasons why the Spitfire received the term "Legendary."

Canada, our good neighbor to the north, has made cars, aircraft and many other things for the U.S. too.

Peter Montagnon 1134 Mosquito's were constructed in Canada. The fuselage by G.M. of Canada, Massey Ferguson - wings, Canada Power Boat - flaps, Otaco did the under carriage, and Boeing ( U.S.A ) assembled the tail planes. oh, i almost left out the birch veneer to skin the wings came from wood lots in New Brunswick.

When they bombed Serbia in 1944. they killed more people then Germans in 1941.Only on Ortodox Easter 16.-17.april 1944,British and American airforces even managed to hit the maternity hospital in Belgrad and to kill several newborn babies and their mothers.From april to september just Belgrade was bombed 11 times.In Podgorica,1/6 population were killed.Over 25 cities were bombed,many few times,and very often places with no importance for war effort...Somehow when they do it than it is KIND bombing,but when for example Russians bomb someone,then it is "savage bombardment".

@@zutabrada6956 that was always the normal. But the winners always write the history to their own liking. The bombing of Dresten was a genoside - the city had absolutly no military value. No strategical ore other value!

@@kraagaard Agree.But moral high ground ecoing from these shows is just disturbing,at least for me.Hipocrisy is iritating.Also when they are sorry for the Poland,but Chechoslovakia,exactly year earlier has been given to the nacis,by British

True, true, true, however the lack of ‘seasoned’ pilots in the RAF was a huge problem (many pilots had less than 10-15hrs flight time), thank the Polish squadrons & their experience.

There is a dismantled but complete WWII Mosquito in the City Archives warehouse in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It's been there for many years, quite well preserved. Only in recent years has the privately-funded Aviation Museum at the former Edmonton Municipal Airport (XD; IATA: YXD, ICAO: CYXD) grown large enough that its reassembly and restoration may be in the cards. For this Mossie to be restored, perhaps even to flying condition, would be a fitting tribute, alongside the other aircraft that are very important to Canadian aviation history.

Jim Baritone HI there. The de Havilland Mosquito that you speak of is currently stored in the Alberta Aviation Museum in Edmonton, site of the former Municipal Air port. She is a former Spartan Air Services " Mossie". The restoration was static for display only, and took place during the early to mid 1980s. I had the pleasure of visiting the museum last summer, and the Mossie " wears the uniform of RCAF 418 " City Of Edmonton " Squadron. The nose art is that of HairLess Joe. Driver Russ Bannock, Conductor F/O Bruce RAF. It was quite a thrill to see a " Mossie " up close. No. 418 was one six " Mossie " units the RCAF fielded, and was the one to be in the " Intruder " role, and holds a number of distinctions. One of which is the top scoring RCAF unit of the War. Cheers.

Arrow B Flight. Thank you very much for the update. I am an Edmontonian born and raised, and my dad was a F/O in the RCAF, and flew night fighters, both Beaufighters and Mosquitos for most of WWII. Sadly, he died at quite a young age, probably from flying unpressurized aircraft at very high altitiude while doing "intruder" work (or so the verdict went). I have his logs, and (surprisingly) his Navigator/AI op is still alive and very chipper. I believe he'll be 101 this year. I hope to visit him at his home in England this year. In my own life, a combination of factors - the death of the city archivist I knew, for many years plus some other sad happenings in my own family, made me lose touch with the current state of that particular Mossie. My father, a Mossie night fighter pilot, knew Russ Bannock, and I'm sure they met after the war. I may have met him when I was much younger, but to be honest I can't remember. I'm ashamed to admit I have not been to the Aviation Museum on Kingsway and 116th for a number of years, although I go past it quite often. The final "odd" part of this is that I served in 418 Sqdn. while in the RCAF reserves, when it was based in Edmonton. Among my other contributions to the defense of the Realm, I played clarinet in the Squadron band. I'm sure Her Majesty was suitably grateful:-) That's back quite a while now - reading what I've just written, and remembering the things you mention, makes me feel like I'm getting a bit long in the tooth. Thanks ever so much for the updated information. I have had only a small percentage of normal vision in my right eye and none in my left for the last two years. I had surgery some weeks ago, the result of which is that (I hope) that problem will be recified, and I'll be able to start getting out to see these things once again. Cheers from River City!

Jim Baritone Good evening Jim It is a small world. It just so happens that my sister also served with No. 418 Air Reserve for a number of years. At present, she volunteers at the museum. She is interested in meeting you. If you drop in on Tuesday before lunch, ask the cashier to call Linda from the Sqdn room. Good luck with your health, i do hope things turn for the better for you. Also, i do hope your able to make it to England and meet up with your Dad's Nav / AI Op. I can well imagine the stories of the adventures they shared will warm your heart. Cheers.

Just typed a reply, hit the wrong key, and wiped out the lot! Typical!. Anyhow, I will make a point of visiting the Museum on a Tuesday before lunch time as soon as possible, and I'll ask for Linda. I don't know if it will turn out we've ever met, but stranger things have happened! By good luck (and no doubt some quiet words with the officals who assigned crews), my dad and Charles stayed as a crew for almost the entire war. This is quite unusual, I'm told, but somehow they remained a team. Possibly success or continued survival were factors. Charles has told me a number of stories of my fathers piloting, both of the Beau and of the Mossie, and to be honest some of them speak to very good luck, as well as his skill as a pilot. This includes one about a "no-fuel-engines-out" landing in the top of a large oak tree. My dad, after the random crunching noises had stopped, was apparently quite sanguine about the whole business, and suggested they'd best climb down the tree and go and find some hot cocoa. As they say, "any landing you walk away from ...." He never spoke about flying on ops, but just a few years ago, after my mothers death, I found a very dusty box in the back of a cupboard in her house, and in that there was a stack of coil-bound excercise books - about 40 in all - and they are a daily diary written by my father - there's an entry for almost every day of his wartime service, from flight school and his first solo right through to where they were supposed to be preparing to go to the Pacific. Unlike his log books, the entries of which are pretty thin, his diaries are very, very detailed. How he managed to write and keep them, since keeping diaries was strictly against RCAF and RAF regs, I've no idea. But they've been a real eye-opener - he died in 1989, and I uncovered them only in 2016. Charles has told me several stories when visiting here, and on my one previous visit to England in 1992. It's not so much a question of the stories being hard to believe (and some are), it's that there's no context. I have taken my time going through the diaries, especially as I was without vision for an extended period. But they're an amazing account. I'll have a lot to talk over with Charles when I visit him later in the year! Thank you for your reply, and all of the information. Greetings from River City!

A Rodrigues if this was created for tv or cable it is going to have a sound track. Your problem is your watching it on RU-vid. Compression does all kinds of things to the sound. If it bothered you that much pay for it on iTunes or another service and get real nice sound. But your a cheap bastard and you watch it here and. O plain about the compressed sound.

Probably goes down well with a Merkin audience but it's a bit annoying to have a British documentary done this way.

No. The Hawker Hurricane saved Britain.

Most people, the average person, don't know about it, especially since it is in almost no air shows. They'll have heard of the SPitfire and Hurricane, B-17, and the Mustang, and that's about it.

I might stack her up one day but we aren't living in the hanger

Yes the B24 had problems but all the heavies in USAF and the RAF had. The B26 had a similar description. The B24 had long range. I always thought that it should have been deployed in Reyjkavik in Iceland, (or Gander) to cover the so called "Mid atlantic gap" that the convoys had to go through when air cover ceased from the UK and from Canada/USA. It was a high wing, good speed, good for spotting Uboats and could stay on station for extended periods. But it was badly needed in the Pacific by the US Army air force. This was a strategic failing, to give priority to covering that gap as soon as possible, and the B24 could fit that requirement I believe

Paladin Also the way the british rested their piolts by moving them in and out of the zone of heavy action. The Germans failed to do this and so gradually lost their experienced piolets.

Paladin 06 Agree 100%, 1940 was a bad time for the RAF, lack of seasoned pilots was a real issue, thank God for the Polish squadrons, they were real champs!