DeHavilland Mosquito - Why The Luftwaffe Was Scared 

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I’m biased towards this beautiful aircraft . My disabled grandfather worked on the Mosquito in Hatfield during the war. He couldn’t fight but he poured his heart and soul into this.

During WW2 my mother worked shifts at the De Havilland Canada factory in Downsview, Ontario, Canada (near Toronto) assisting in the manufacture of around 1100 Mosquitoes which were then shipped over the North Sea to Britain. She was extremely proud of her service, as are we.

My Uncle was a decorated Australian Mosquito ( RAAF 456 Squadron and RAF 108 Squadron ) and Beaufighter Pilot flying Night Intruder missions over Germany in the Mozzie and missions over North Africa, Greece and Crete in the Beaufighter ( 46 Squadron ME and MAAF ) ... aka whispering death from 1942 to 1944.

12:19 It has been noted that when the Mosquito was being made, the UK had a host of craftsmen who worked with wood, be they cabinet makers, furniture makers or carpenters who were fully able to turn their skills to making the wooden elements of the Mosquito, meaning that they could make a direct contribution to production of aircraft for war effort whereas they had been not fully involved up to that point.

Goebbels, mentioned the Mosquito often in his diaries. Mosquito bombers flew missions over Berlin every night for months in a row. Though the damage was often minimal, the "nuisance" raids forced Berliners out of their beds and into bomb shelters night after night. The morale effect on workers was great. Eventually the Mosquito raids got big enough to approach what a main force raid would be. Well done, Chris.

I think with hindsight the way to characterize the Mosquito is not as the last of the wooden aircraft, a throwback to pre-war construction, but as the first of the composite aircraft and 40 years ahead of its time. It is not made of spars, stringers and fabric, it is made in moulds with 2 part resins. The components are installed in the fuselage halves before they are glued together. Its genesis is in the work De-Havilland did with the Comet racer, wood forming and gluing, not in the SE5A. When the Mosquito was offered to the US manufacturers they could only see wood as a pre-war technology, now 80 years on we can look back and see Burt Rutan as the heir to the Mosquito.

As a young man in my early 20s i joined the mosquito aircraft museum, I think it is now called the DE Haviland, that was the first time i saw a mossie close up, l, One day in the hangar where i worked i sneaked outside to watch a mossie start and taxi out it was going to the confederate air force museum, The hangar foreman saw me go, and followed me asking me what i thought i was doing so i told him, and with that he said follow me lad we'll get a better view from behind the carpark. At his age he must have been involved with the real thing. Many years passed and one mossie came into the airport where i then worked, I went over and looked over it, even poked my head up into the cockpit and there was sat the pilot, looking down at me he said " I'm going as far as Chester you can come along ," What to do ???????? i had one 737 on the ground with another 6 heading my way, i would have lost my job if i had accepted , Now as a 73yeaar old i realise it was a once in a lifetime opportunity and i should have signed out and gone flying. AND ignored the hanging judges in the personnel dept. ! Working with those older pilots when refuelling aircraft many would ask for a bit for mum, how much is a bit today ?? try 1500kgs. I guess returning from Germany short on fuel left a mark on them. Its the old saying the only time you have too much fuel is when your on fire ! Working with older engineers you heard a few stories, one mentioned getting a lift back in the bomb bay of a Mossie and went on to say the C/O of the squadron had a personalised Me 109, this was 1946 the hangar doors would open and this bright red Me109 would roar out of the hangar tail already up with the squadron leader at the controls, , My older friend wore his martin baker pin with pride, as their parachute had saved his life following an engine fire on a Hastings, the pilot casually said looks like we have to get out and walk, my friend told me he sat by the open hatch, then he felt a boot in his back and out he went landing on German soil he was dragged through bushes etc, Some 40 years after that i was with him on the flight deck of a 737 and the capt turned around to say something and saw my friends pin, with that he then showed his lapel pin, both had been save by Martin Baker and they both laughed out loud it must be a brotherhood i thought a very lucky brotherhood. Finally another old timer told me as we drove through London heading to Gatwick he went on an air test with a Mossie, off they went into the sky, the pilot took a radio message both engines had been replaced and were of a suspect batch, and with that number two engine stopped ,the pilot said we have trouble ,my friend replied I'm too young to die ( 18 years old) just put your parachute on kid , and with that they headed home landing on one engine. Such are the memories of men who are now up above with the big chief engineer no messing with that man is there. , they may be gone but not forgotten. best wishes Sisaket Thailand.

I used to have a friend (FLt Cooper rtd) who flew Mosquitoes in WWII. He loved the aircraft, and one thing he said that saved him a few times, was not just the speed, but the wooden structure often meant that armoured piercing rounds passed straight through the frame without causing top much damage. He had this happen when on a low level ground attack and he was bounced by a FW190E. He survived, but on landing, found nearly 30 AP rounds had passed through the aircraft.

An addition to the Mosquito story: In war, it's often not the actual destruction caused which makes a big or small impact, but the FACT that the action took place in the first place, and the effect of that on enemy command psyche, and the psychological effect on the enemy population! Goering (and his ginormous ego) was particularly susceptible to this effect, and the British capitalised on this BIG TIME! The so-called nuisance raids were in fact psychological warfare at its very best, as it increasingly got under the skin of German thinking ( and the fear that went with it!). This video validates this aspect, in my opinion, and I don't think the Mossie got nearly enough credit for this massive contribution. Thanks for a brilliant video, packed with highly relevant data.

I well remember reading a Luftwaffe ace's autobiography where, even with the Me109's radiator closed to decrease drag, he couldn't catch a Mosquito. His frustration was clear as he wondered how a twin-engined bomber could out-run his fighter.

As a Dane with German ancestry and an English mother - I'm always gonna have confused and mixed feelings about our "moments in history" but it's a joy to see the different perspectives of people who know what they're talking about [here], with facts and research that I'm too lazy to do myself, as opposed to fanboy vids. You know when the Germans make their own Moskito, that the Brits did something right.

it was not just wood It was built using stressed skin composite with wood . Two thin skins of ply held apart by end grain balsa . Very stiff, very strong, surprising resilient to damage and light . Modern aircraft have just starting to use the same technology but with foam core and carbon fiber skins .

My then sixteen year old uncle, worked on Mosquito wings and the fuselages at Ercols furniture factory in High Wycombe during WW2.

My uncle was a Mossie Nav, he said that it had the lowest death rate/highest survivability of ANY WW2 Aircraft. And most versatile aircraft. He hunted U-boats.

My Grandfather from New Zealand flew with Stirlings & Lancasters. 622 Main force & 7th Pathfinders. 64 operations, two complete tours. Master deputy bomber on most of their ops. The Lucky Crew, elite Pathfinder crew of 8.

Ironically the Mossie was wood because in 1940 De Havilland had very little experience in stressed metal construction. It took a long time for DH to interest the Air Ministry not only in an unarmed bomber but one that was made of wood which was seen as 1920s or early 30s technology

A friend of my father flew the Mosquito. They met prewar at de Havilland Aeronautical Technical school. My father's friend was John "Cats Eyes" Cunningham. They stayed friends until their end.

the biggest reason for the mosquitos speed is the smoothness of its skin. having no rivets or the girder construction of aluminium planes but plywood covered in fabric it had very low drag compared to most other planes.

The mossie has got to be the best aircraft of the war when considering its impact, its superiority over contemporaries, and its versatility. Not to mention they were doing what's essentially modern composite construction techniques with wood. I love the Mosquito!

Thank you for this piece of insight from the German perspective. Two of my uncles flew Mosquitoes, one didn't come home, the other crashed three times and survived each time. This means a surprising amount, so thank you for the research and the time you have taken. Greatly appreciated.

Kinda funny Greg's Airplanes dropped a video about the Mossie (and P-38) the same day you did. Love this plane

Keith Miller, the greatest Australian to ever live was a Mosquito pilot. In an interesting perspective, when asked by Michael Parkinson about the pressure of international Test cricket, Miller replied "Pressure is a Messerschmitt up your arse, Playing cricket was not." So not only could he swing a Test with either the bat or ball in a session, as a Mosquito pilot he was the OG Han Solo: Handsome swashbuckling rogue of a pilot that effed a princess.

My grandpa was a Luftwaffe Night Fighter (ME-110), and he was probably shot down by one of these, lol. He survived it tho. Would be cool to see some content on the whole Nachtjagd scenario and the race for better radar and other modifications. I think the 110 was already a pretty old horse at this point. My grandpa also flew minesweeping operations in the Ju-52, with the big magnet on it. He told me that it was super dangerous, because the water fountains sometimes sucked the planes into the sea. I have to check out the Luftwaffen archive one day and investigate his entire aviation history.

The advantage of building in wood is it can be built by carpenters. Britain had a number of small furniture makers in WWII who could help with distributed mass-production. It allowed for an extra class of aircraft that stretched the German aircraft design/building program just when it didn’t need more to do.

My husband's mother & father both worked on Mosquitos during the war at the Bankstown, Australia De Havilland factory. His uncle collected many Mosquito parts including a nearly complete cockpit & canopy plus 2 Merlin engines.

You might say that wood is not a very good material, but when aluminum is scarce and you have a wooden design with higher speed, longer range, and heavier payload than any similar sized aircraft, wood is a huge advantage.

I have been waiting for you to do a film about the mossy, I have been obsessed with this beautiful plane since I was a boy. Thank You!

I saw a static once but can remember where (ups) it was the number of bomb tons needed to take a V1 launch site. And the mosquito came out if I remember correct, with a figure that was about half of that a B17 or a Lancaster needed. It was why more efficient in hitting its targets - and the survival rate of the crew was also near double of the b17 or Lancaster crews. What you can do with wood and skill

As an aircraft designer, I disagree with some of your observations. You seem to call into question the benefits of using wood. In doing so, you forget the impact of that decision on the Mosquito program, and the aircraft's impact throughout the war. The Mosquito was only developed BECAUSE Geoffrey deHavilland agreed to minimize his company's use of strategic materials. The use of wood was central to the number aircraft deHavilland and their production partners were able to build. Further, wood significantly lightened the airframe, greatly increasing the Mosquito's cruise performance, compared to German opponents, before German jet aircraft entered service in significant numbers. Ignoring the Mosquito's radar signature, which became increasing irrelevant, as the war progressed, the reality is that using wood enabled both the production volume and exceptional speed the Mosquito used to such good effect. I would also like to mention that the wing design, when combined with two Merlin engines, avoided some of the vulnerabilities of other twin-engined aircraft of that era, including the P-38 (which struggled with poor engine reliability and compressibility problems in the dive). The surplus power produced by the engines allowed deHavilland to use a surprisingly short and thick wing that behaved surprisingly well at higher speeds. As the war progressed, the Luftwaffe tried to develop an impractical number of military jets, while the Allies managed their aircraft development programs and production facilities more efficiently, in my opinion. By the time Germany had developed capable jets, there were multiple issues that restricted output, particularly involving the Me262, which suffered from raw materials shortages, engine metallurgical challenges and political interference during the development program. It took three years for the Me262 to advance from first flight to entry-into-service, compared to one year for the Whittle-powered Gloster Meteor. The Mosquito was the perfect aircraft for it's time and highlighted several vulnerabilities the Luftwaffe were slow to resolve.

Your comments on wood are correct. It is not a miracle material, but IF you have a large functional wood industry [especially WOOD AIRCRAFT industry] it does allow a nation to use wood and reduce demand for alloy metals. Germany discovered that building wood planes was harder than thought, the aircraft industry lost the know-how of building wood planes.

The mosquito construction was chosen because it was strong and light, meaning it flew very fast and did not need multiple guns to defend itself. The construction technique was advanced and still used to this day in racing cars aircraft and spaceships. It was a composite construction, a thin layer of plywood was laid over a mould, glue applied and then light balsa wood used as a spacer and another layer of plywood glued on. The fuselage was made in two section then loaded with equipment and glued and screwed together, it was then sanded down smooth and a layer of Irish linen doped onto it surface. The fuselage had no rivets, so less drag. The fuselage was so strong no frame was needed just some bulkheads. The wings where also made of wood. The aircraft was based on a race plane called the Comet also built by DE Havilland. If it had been built of Aluminium it would have been heavier and slower. So the advanced construction technique with the use of wood laminates made it a superior aircraft shown by it battle successes. It was so good it was used in Multiple roles. Originally a bomber, it became also a bomber/fighter, night fighter, ground attack, anti shipping and carried a variety of weapons in its different/combined roles. Bombs up to 4000Lbs Airborne artillery with a 57mm Mollins auto cannon, one hit on a sub on the surface could sink it and a number where! 8 x 60Lb rockets “ the equivalent of a Cruiser Broadside”. How many WW I wooden aircraft could fly excess of 400mph?. Mosquito was advanced composite tech a trailblazer no. That tech is still used today!

For the last few years I have rented a home at the location of the Mosquito's design and construction and become a neighbour, member of and frequent visitor to the DeHavilland Aircraft Museum in Hertfordshire UK. The museum has the prototype and production examples of the Mosquito alongside other DeHavilland models. An amazing story of engineering, persistence and luck generated a remarkable, elegant aircraft.

There have been many multi role combat aircraft over the years, and normally there is a large amount of compromise.... What made the Mosquito unique was the fact that every role it was given, it did brilliantly well.

I worked on a documentary about German night fighters way back. I asked what frightened them the most, and they said Mustangs and Mosquitoes.

Humidity, in wet tropical climates, was a problem for all wooden airframes. The Mosquito was no exception. Commonwealth air forces were perhaps fortunate that the Pacific War did not last much longer, because it was planned that Mosquitos built and serviced by De Havilland Australia (and based on Okinawa) would be used for anti-ship sorties over the South China Sea and southern Japan. Both the RAAF and RAF were forming new Mosquito squadrons _in Australia_ for that purpose, when VP/VJ Day happened.

My Dad was a navigator, flew with a pilot called Brookbank out of RAF Wyton. Later they were in Pathfinder group 8.

Growing up in the UK with an interest in history I seemed the out one out when it came to WWII war-birds. All my friends went dewy eyed over Spitfires & Focke-Wulf Fw 190 engaged in dogfights. But I had a thing for twin-engined planes. My top three being №1 Mosquito, №2 Beaufighter & №3 Messerschmitt Me 262. The Mosquito is a featherweight boxer, gloves up, fast, high endurance with a wicked punch. The Beaufighter is a tough old heavyweight, hunched over his gloves waiting to lash out with a devastating blow whilst being able to roll with the punishment. The Messerschmitt Me 262... well it looks like a shark, powering along while apparently motionless, waiting to take a chunk out of something. That twin-engine thing has carried forward into more modern planes, the English Electric Lightning F6, flawed, but a beautiful flash of silver in the sky. The the Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II (Warthog), the spiritual successor to the Beaufighter for me. Tough & just doles out punishment. I took a bit of stick from my ex father in law over plane choice. He was a Spitfire pilot during WWII & over drinks one night he got a bit miffed when he asked about my fave single engine WWII fighter. That was the Hawker Hurricane closely followed by the Hawker Tempest.

This is interesting to see the Luftwaffe perspective . Many trolls accuse Mosquito enthusiasts as being fanboys but it was simply the best multi role aircraft in service for most of the war . Of course it wasn't a single seat air superiority fighter as say the Spitfire or FW 190 and it wasn't a heavy bomber either .

This is history at its best. Specialists study the available documents, then summarize the data and present reasonable conclusions to lay people like me. This was a very informative and enjoyable video.

You also had musical instruments builders and furniture, cabinet manufacturing building sub components in their shops, making for harder targets. These individuals were also being used by Vosper-Thornycroft to build Fairmiles class boats.

Although I was born long after the war had ended I worked for a cabinet maker's firm and in their vault, in the basement there were all sorts of jigs to make parts for not only Mosquitoes but for the Spitfire instrument panels as well.

Really enjoyed this detailed and verified account of the Mosquito. It's up there with my other favourites: P51, Spitfire and of course the magnificent Me262. Thankyou for your work on this.

A very interesting German perspective on the Mosquito. The Heinkel 219 was mentioned as the ultimate piston engined German nightfighter......I find it extraordinary that it's production was curtailled despite it's initial success. It could have been a significant countermeasure to to Mosquito intruder operations.

The Germans and British began WW2 more or less on parity with aircraft performance. However in 1941, the British found themselves unable to match the Fw190, until the introduction of the Spitfire IX. They were very fortunate in having that existing Spitfire platform to build on, otherwise things could have gotten out of hand very quickly. Playing catch-up under wartime conditions is very very difficult.

The Mosquito was always one of my most favorite aircraft of WW2. The more I learn about it the more amazed I am. Thanks!

Mosquito. The most unlikely powerhouse. Love 'em!

My favorite aircraft of WW2. Some good footage of Kermit Weeks' Mosquito in Oshkosh!

Thank you. An excellent analysis, from my perspective.

The Mosquito is the grandad of most modern multi role combat aircraft, it was very good in every role it was used in. You should visit East KIrby in Lincolnshire where there is a Mosquito which does taxi runs.

My uncle flew over 100 sorties in the MOssie. By the latter half of the war he said he was carrying 4,000 pound bomb loads to Berlin. He also said that the only fighter he really felt threatened by was the FW190. The 109 and flak if n the way home he would go up to 35-40,000 feet to minimize the threats. The 109 could not go that high and the 190 took time to get there. He once said his game was to come in low, drop the load then get high and scoot home.

A long time ago, I was able to sit in the Mosquito at the EAA museum. It was quite the thrill for a young boy. I spent a lot of time there when it was in Hales Corners. They had a great model shop inside.

And this regarding the He 219. He 219 was the Luftwaffe's state-of-the-art night-fighter. It actually shot down no Mosquitoes in 1943 and none from late July 1944 to the end in May 1945. The Mosquito losses to the He 219 were 10 in all, all between May 6th /7th and July 18th/19th 1944. Which leads me to think that the Mosquito squadrons adapted their tactics pretty quick. But then, the B.IX and B.XVI fly at greater altitudes. Oh! Just for interest. In return, the Mosquito accounted for 18 1/2 of the much rarer He 219s between April 11th 1944 and April 19th/20th 1945.

My Grandfather was a navigator on the night flying mosquitos. He told me he was amazed at times they came out on target! On a reverse note, he said the German aircraft he feared the most was the 190.

England at that time was a country of cabinet makers, furniture builders, yachtsmen etc etc, A large and well skilled workforce that was able to quickly adapt to producing the Mosquito. They also had well established supply chains at home and abroad from pre-war business in wood products.

This is my favorite type of learning. I’m a big Mosquito fan and knew a bunch of these facts already, but hearing them all together as one piece is transformative to my understanding of them. This is so well done man, the qualitative niche the Mosquito filled is so interesting I love the wood=stealth thing because it ignores the two massive spinning steel discs out front

The term you are looking for at 4:18 is strike aircraft.

7:06 I feel like a widely distributed bombing night run by a limited number of Mosquitoes exacerbates this. Even if the Germans get one, the others are likely too far away and too fast for multiple engagements. And even if the Mosquito can't take on a fighter, it is a small, fast target. High effort/low reward engagement. Running the single engine fighters wide open to catch Mosquitoes saps the Germans of aircraft parts and maintenance time. And don't underestimate the psychological impact either. Minor mistakes by ground control that would be meaningless against larger bombers could erode unit trust and cohesion. As a Minnesotan I'd say the Mosquito is aptly named. Unlikely to kill you, but it can keep you up all night and utterly destroy your morale.

I worked with a fellow history teacher who had a masters in history but was also a Sergeant in the US Air Force Reserves. He was always reading papers on military history and read one that had an interesting idea. Instead of using B-17s to bomb Germany the US would use Mosquitos for bombing. The Idea was that 3 Mosquitos could carry the same bomb load as 2 B-17's and could out run most German fighters. 6 crews compared to 20, no need for fighter escorts and they could come in at tree level making them harder to shoot down.

A relative of mine, Wing Commander Paul Bingham Elwell (MBE), defeated 5 FW 190s on one occasion over the Cherbourg Peninsula (Northern France), having shot down two and only stopping his attack after running out of ammunition. This success was in part due to his prowess as a pilot, in part to the inexperience of the German pilots, but also due in no small part to the abilities of the Mosquito.

The Mosquito was the plane the RAF turned to when they wanted maximum trolling of the Nazis.

Excellent video about an extraordinary plane. I particularly enjoyed how you highlighted how the Mossie defied German expectations & so was especially difficult to counter. Given the often near-suicidal nature of Bomber Command missions, the Mossie stands out in a different league for chances of survival compared to all the othet planes crews climbed into...and they knew it. It is striking how aircrew totally fell for the Mossie even after they had become enamoured by flying other bombers like the Lancaster because the performance was so fantastic.

The Mosquito was truly the Millennium Falcon of WWII aircraft.

Strong family ties to this mighty bird. In 1943 the War Office greenlit the expansion of the DH factory but the council objected. All the staff built an Aztec temple on the airfield and started sacrificing locals in protest. My grandma was a barmaid in The Docker's Fists next to the factory entrance and was one of the victims. Her skull was the mascot in control tower until the end of the war. Happily the council relented and DH took over all of Devon. Happy days.

City of Edmonton has one in the Alberta Aviation Museum. What a magnificent aircraft.

I'm a fan too. This plane clocked up some incredible achievements, destroyed the V1 facilities in northern France , hit an SS HQ in the centre of France allowing many French prisoners to escape, was the first choice for the Mohnesee dam raid (Dambusters) because of its very agile low flying ability but Barnes-Wallace and his team couldn't make the bouncing bombs small enough, first for nose mounted cannons, first to have wing mounted rockets (missiles) and the list goes on. Loved your video, respectul homage to a superb war machine.

I like that Greg's Airplanes and Automobiles just released a Mozzie video as well, so two of my favorite channels are covering this wonderful aircraft at the same time. In his case, it was a compare/contrast with the P-38. (The conclusion was shocking: The P-38, designed as a fighter, was a better fighter; the Mozzie, designed as a bomber, was a better bomber.)

Some fascinating quotes & analysis/comparisons, thanks !

Mosquito Missions "On the night of 18th/19th August, 1944, twenty-one Mosquitos attacked Berlin, seven Cologne, two Wanne Eickel and five the airfields at Florennes. By then Mosquitos of eleven squadrons had been used for diversionary attacks on a small but gradually increasing scale since the first thousand-bomber raid on Cologne on 30th/31st May, 1942. From the spring of 1943 until the end of the war 'harassing' raids as they were originally termed were to prove a constant and, from the point of view of the enemy, a most irritating and unpleasant feature of the bomber offensive. Night after night the Mosquitos were over Germany, flying at between 30,000 and 40,000 feet to inflict damage out of all proportion to the weight of bombs they dropped. They were at once of great value as a nuisance, for they caused the sirens to wail and tired workers to spend yet another night in fetid, if bombproof, bunkers, and they created a diversion, thus drawing the enemy fighters away from the main bomber stream." Royal Air Force 1939-1945 Chapter XII Oil and the Climax

Of all the very many aircraft my late Bomber and Coastal Command pilot father flew between 1940-45, the Mossy was his favourite aircraft by a country mile. The power to weight ratio - even when carrying a bomb load - was the crucial factor in his eyes owing to the twin Merlins, enabling a very impressive top speed and flight ceiling. It was always his view that the bombing campaign against the German industrial heartland in the Ruhr would have cost far fewer lives if it had been conducted by Mosquitoes rather than the slower heavy bombers favoured by the hierarchy in the Air Ministry. Remember that it was Bomber Command that sustained THE highest casualty rate of any arm of the UK and Commonwealth armed forces across the entire war. He himself was one of only two from some 105 through his echelon at the Imperial Flying School to survive the war. After two entire tours over Germany and occupied Europe, he was transferred to OCU then into Coastal Command before heading out to the Middle East theatre.

At some point, it would be really cool to get an "Inside The Cockpit" for the mosquito. However if/when you do, it would nice if you could highlight some of the difference between the Bomber and the Fighter-Bomber, if you are planning only doing one episode on the Mosquito. What i was thinking in regards to the difference, is not the obvious, like the FB having guns in the nose, while the bomber have a clear nose, but for example more subtle difference, like "how are they different inside the cockpit with the instrument board". Personally, i would probably want to see the inside of a Mosquito Bomber more than the Fighter Bomber, since i think they are a bit interesting, but that is personal preference. But generally the development of the Mosquito is quite interesting, with it being a suggestion, that went into some development, to its production being stopped and then restarted again, and it ended up being one of the most important planes in the allied air force.

I am a boomer but my dad who fought in France and Germany in WW2 did not like to talk to us kids about it, but his open admiration for the mozzie stuck in my mind, he never stopped praising it. So when I grew up I could then appreciate it's unique capabilities. I always had models of the spitfire, simply because it looked so good, and it was 'the one' in those days. We did live near Farnborough, and by the time I was 10 I was watching, Comets, Vulcans, Valiants, hawker hunters etc, but my all-time favorite was the amazing, ridiculous, sexy, shiny, and very loud Lightning, the first plane that could actually 'drift', so much bloody power, my son does drifting a lot on tracks but he will never know what a buzz it must have been for the pilots who flew them in those days. (and for us kids watching them show off, the lucky B.........! ).

Yeah most Mosquitos were safely made in Canada and ferried over by Canadian women pilots to the UK. Commonwealth Ferry Command would make a good video. Those women flew everything, bombers, fighters recon planes evrything, mostly solo. Real heroic brave people. And great pilots. Cheers from the Pacific West Coast of Canada.

Chris, vielen Dank für a very interesting perspective on the Mosquito! It's interesting how much impact that it had on the command "thought processes" and the "mind share".... Greg's channel just did a comparison of the p-38 and Mosquito, with an overall performance advantage to the P-38, yet the P-38 did not seem to have any significant impact in the European theatre... It seems that, not till P-51's with Merlin engines did the USA have an effective bomber escort.

The Me 262 was at a disadvantage in that the scrap life of the Jumo engine was 10 hours. THis was because of the lack of high temperature alloys such as Chromium and therefore Germany would never have been able to maintain a simmilar number of aircraft to the Mosquito numbers.

My Gt Uncle flew the Mossie. Not for very long - 3 months. He was with 88 and 107 Sqns operationally. Flying the formentioned and the A20 Boston. All 1943 - 1944. I still have his manuals for these aircraft plus the others he flew. Plus maps, gloves, Irvin, logbooks, photos etc etc. He survived but was not the same. Highly strung and quick to lose his temper. The very opposite of his character before the war. His marriage was an unhappy one. He died in 1974 from a heart attack.

13:20 I think the most important element of wood as a material is there were many skilled carpenters and businesses in the UK which were otherwise inconsequential to the war effort suddenly making high performance recon/bombers. However, Germany had lots of problems with radar in terms of covering the entire coast of France and I'm sure the speed of the Mosquitoes exacerbated any errors German radar operators made. Rather than being invisible, it probably simply had a wildly different speed and maneuverability compared to other bombers and caused radar operator errors.

The basic problem was the wrong decision in 1937/38 for the "destroyer" Bf 110 and its even worse successors Me210/410. With the FW 187, Focke Wulf had a perfect interceptor for the Mosquito, but it was not wanted in 1938. The primary sources from Dietmar Hermann's book on the FW 187 show that this design was revisited in 1942, but it was too late and it would have taken too long to put it into production. The Mosquito interceptor could have been had from the start, although the FW 187 was certainly capable of multi-role and all with the bread and butter DB 605 engines. The FW 187 was much faster than the Bf 109F and G with the same engines and would have carried 4 x 2cm.

Can it be that besides the speed advantage. The Mosquito also most often operated in quite small formations or as lone ranger. So that contributed to relatively low loss rate. Also correct me if I am wrong. But the part of the Mosquito tactics was to approach the target in a very low attitude that made the traditional flak guns not very effective. At lest as a bomber. The Mosquito were used in so many roles so you have look at each deployment separately

I was informed (decades ago) that AEROLITE/CASCAMITE GLUE was the specific advantage, coupled with a SLANT GRAIN CUT with the wood sheets, allowing glue penetration. This allowed for a superior structural airframe strength/weight ratio. Also allied engines were LIGHTER for the same general output - and weight is all - as it is in rocketry. Cheers. 😎

Anything with a propeller is going to have a huge radar return. It's why it's so difficult to make a low-observable helicopter.

I had to rewind and pause to catch the "This checks out..." graphic. Absolutely worth the effort!

The thing with wooden construction is not only the resource itself, it also use skilled workers who otherwise would have just been building pianos to entertain the troops.

In my mind the Mosquito was the orgin of the MRCA, I grew up in Leavesden and had alot of the neighbours around me that had worked on the production of Mosquito's and Halifax's at Leavesden. If your are interested there is a very good book titled Leavesden aerodrome Halifax's to Hogwarts.

It's interesting that the same nation that produced the DeHavilland Mosquito also produced the Boulton Paul Defiant. Both seem to have been (at least to modern eyes) very "out-of-the-box" designs, but one found a niche while the other did not (unless you count target tugs and gunnery training).

My mother worked in the Canadian garment industry before the war. During the war she worked at the DeHavelland plant north of Toronto building Mosquitoes.

Mosquito, a very fitting name, a nuisance.

What I like most about the Mossie is it was so good, when the Germans tried to make their own version they named it Moskito, as if no other name was available but the plane they were most afraid of. Having said that... I noticed the B-17 Flying Fortress was a close second to the Mosquito.

They got a wooden wonder penetrating them every night, of course they'd be scared

Even the Mosquito highlighted the German resource starvation. The balsa core for the wooden laminates came from Ecuador. There’s not a good substitute that I’m aware of. Another comment said the birch came from the Ozarks, but birch is available from lots of places. Maybe the Ozarks had some really good stuff.

My friend’s father was a navigator in Mosquitoes during WW2 and had to leave the RAF when he lost an eye through flak. He was quite a small man, so my question is whether small body size was an advantage when operating this aircraft?

It was the first multi-role fighter bomber. Goering had a love/hate relationship with it. There was the short-lived experimental Mosquito 'Tetse'. It had a British six-pounder(57mm) antitank gun mounted in the nose. It was semi-automatic, with a 24 round magazine. The plane had the punch of a broadside from a light naval cruiser, and it was intended for coastal sub hunting but only 19 were made.

My Father was a navigator in one. He never really talked about the war but did mention training in "sweat boxes" - blacked out nav stations. It was a problem navigating at significantly higher speeds, especially low level. They sent them out to South Africa to train where the termites had a field day with the Mosquitoes.

It wasn't only the Material, England had a large traind work force of Capenters, Cabinet Makers, Joiners and Finishers that could easily just get blue prints and start building Airframes. This is an overlooked advantage they used to start building with no training needed.

Had no idea what a problem the Mossie was from the opponent's POV - So - EXCELLENT & INSIGHTFUL -ve: Chris, you editing was noticably ropey in the latter parts - especially when highlighting the limitations of Wood

I love the Mossie so much. It has pretty much everything you want. It‘s fast, packs a punch, can take damage and still bring the crew home, can do so many different missions, had a colorfull service history and is just beautifull. I‘m so gratefull that I can fly it in DCS.

It wasn't just any wood. It was balsa core plywood sandwiched with either birch or sitka spruce outer layers, moulded in two halves. Correct me if I'm wrong, but that makes it pretty much the first laminate 'composite' aircraft.

That was a very interesting video as we don’t often get to hear the perspective from the other side. Not only did the mosquito not use valuable alloys, it also wasn’t relying on specialist machinery and operators to work those alloys. Suddenly, lots of very skilled furniture makers were building aircraft, although they were already building the Hurricane but this also meant even more involvement of forestry workers, saw mills ect so it’s almost like a whole new workforce was available. I think it’s important to note that once the US entered the war the Allies were able to pour tons of recourses into the fight whereas by 1943 Germany was struggling to get enough of everything. Fuel, pilots, alloys were all becoming scarce and the skilled workers to build the planes were in short supply as well as the allies constantly bombing the factories. They didn’t even need to bomb the aircraft factories because they took out the limited number factories making specialist equipment like rubber and ball bearings. Also by 1943 a lot more of those scarce resources were making it to England from the US as the allies were really getting the threat from u-boats under control. I think Hitler’s biggest mistake was attacking Russia before conquering England. Maybe he saw England as just a thorn in his side that he didn’t need to bother with, but that thorn became a huge festering sore that eventually became his downfall.

This is figures for (mainly) Lancaster's as there is a debate down in the comments about average bomb loads. Dresden is about as far as Berlin from Bomber Command bases. The raid was in 1945 and suggests load outs (for most) in the region of 9000 lbs. Regular targets such as Cologne and the Industrial heartland were much closer so it is not unreasonable that bomb loads were in this region or closer to the 14000 lb max operating load. The fuel load weighted more than the bomb load. This is part of the briefing notes for the raid on Dresden February 1945, over 135000 people died, around 71000 died later that year at Hiroshima. FYI 10 x 500 x 4lb (AFAIK) means 10 x 500lb Small bomb carriers each containing many 4lb incendiary bombs, as dropping dozens of individual 4lb bombs would be very hazardous to aircraft flying close by and below. (B) SUPPORTERS T.O.T “H” MINUS 6 / MINUTES 14 BASE - 16 A/C OF 12 SQUADRON PLUS 4 A/C OF 626 SQUADRON. (C) 15 A.B.C. AIRCRAFT OF 101 SQUADRON ARE TO BE SPREAD EVENLYTHROUGHOUT THE WHOLE ATTACK N.1. MINIMUM PETROL LOAD FOR ALLAIRCRAFT TO BE 2154 GALLONS. N.2. BOMB LOADS (MAIN FORCE) (A) 50% OF MAIN FORCE AIRCRAFTARE TO CARRY FOR PREFERENCE (1) 1 X 4,000LB H.C. 10 X 500 X 4LB I.B. CLUSTERS 2 X 60 X 4LB I.B. CLUSTERS OR (2) 1 X 4,000LB H.C. PLUS APROPORTION OF 500 AND 750LB CLUSTERS 2 X 60 X 4LB I.B. OR (3) 1 X 4,000LB H.C. 7 X 150 X 4LB I.B (B) 50% OF AIRCRAFTARE TO CARRY FOR PREFERENCE (1) 1 X 2,000LB H.C. 14 X 500 X 4LB I.B. CLUSTERS OR (2) 1 X 2,000LB H.C. PLUS APROPORTION OF 750 AND 500LB CLUSTERS OR (3) 1 X 2,000LB H.C. 11 X 150 X 4LB I.B. (C) IN ALL CASES 10% I.B’S TO BE “X” TYPE Mosquitos took part either in a path finding role, (627 Squadron) marking the target areas with flares and incendiaries or (different squadrons) as fighter escorts and around 60 took to the air in this last role. It was a large and complex raid with several elements. but was unopposed over the target. This is one entry for 627 Mosquito squadron operation record book:- Mosquito “P” KB416 F/L Armstrong Marker 3 (RAAF 416199) F/O E G Patterson Time Up 19.56 Time Down 01.37 Target as above. Load 1 x 1,000lb Red T.I. Primary Blind Markers and flares on time and accurate. A/C fourth was fourth in and backed up accurately. So that's around 5 1/2 hours to fly to Dresden mark a target and fly back, in the dark, with no gps, in a plane with no guns. I, like many of my generation of Brits, weep when we see a Mossie as we'll never get to fly in one.....................pass me the handkerchief.

So I have a name for the Mossi that I like to think could have caught on during the war. The Soviets (by urban legend) called the A10 "the Devils Cross". Other planes have similarly had such nicknames among their adversaries. I have always thought of the Mosquito as "the Plywood Dragon".