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Mosquito: The Original Multi-Role Aircraft
The "Wooden Wonder" - as the de Havilland Mosquito was affectionately known - entered the 1939-1945 war late but made an immediate impact on account of the diverse roles it could perform - as fighter, bomber, and photo-reconnaissance plane. This book traces the complex development of the aircraft, including the political in-fighting which delayed it, its test programmes and its active service in various theatres.
1260 pages, Hardcover
First published March 1, 1990
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July 2, 2017
The short version first . . .
In over eleven decades of powered, manned flight, there have been those powered flying machines that have earned the recognitions of “iconic,” “best,” or “exemplar.” There are rarely found aircraft which rate superlatively in more than one or two roles or missions. Graham M. Simons Mosquito: The Original Multi-Role Combat Aircraft details the technical specifications, development, and history of a truly iconic airframe: the DeHavilland DH98 “Mosquito.” This requirement took the form of Air Ministry Specification P.13/36 that originated from Operational Requirement 41 (O.R. 41). This specifications document called for two engines, medium bomber, long range, heavy bomber load, capable of catapult launch in heavy weight conditions, minimization of time over enemy territory, highest possible cruising speed a necessity, with possible combination of medium bomber, general reconnaissance, and general purpose classes being satisfied by one basic design which might also be able to carry 2, 18” torpedoes (paraphrased from pg. 12). The abilities of this breadth and depth would make for a design that could literally be a flying Swiss Army knife. Additional items in Operational Requirement 41 included 2 forward firing and two rearward firing Browning machine guns (possibly remotely controlled), horizontal bomb loading in tiers if necessary, outdoor maintenance anywhere in the world, top speed of > 275 mph (miles per hour) at 15,000 ft. for 3,000-mile range with a 4,000-pound bomb load (paraphrased from pg. 12).
These British Royal Air Force specifications led to the development of the twin-engine bombers fielded by British aviation manufacturing giants Avro, Handley-Page, and Vickers, none of which possessed the multi-role feature included in the O.R. 41 document. Only the DeHavilland Mosquito met and exceeded that specification.
DeHavilland had not participated in the military aviation specifications and competitions of the interwar years of the 1920’s and early 1930’s. Their focus was upon civilian interests in mail and passenger service with speed being achieved in specialized racing airframes. Their initial response to the P. 13/36 document was to consider proposing a commercial airliner that had four engines, could carry 1,000 pound payload against a 40 mile per hour headwind for 2,500 miles or a 6,000 pound payload to Berlin and back at 11,000 feet. The proposed idea was to use the DH91 Albatross as a point of departure for their presentation. The reaction of politicians and others of note resulted in DeHavilland literally going back to the drawing board to look at radical departures in two critical areas – power and construction materials.
Here, DeHavilland focused on the use of Rolls Royce Merlin power-plants with a mostly wooden construction. The ideas were novel since wood was the building material of choice two decades earlier in the First World War, but the argument was that certain types of wooden construction would result in components with as much strength as steel or duralumin (pg. 13). In addition, the wooden construction would not put as much a strain on valuable rare metals that other sorts of construction would use, materials which were in short supply and required importation in quantity to meet construction requirements on airframes. It was a serious gamble on the part of DeHavilland, but they saw the concept through and came up with overnight cottage industry proposals for all sorts of wooden parts to support the design of the Mosquito.
The Rolls Royce engine designs followed along similar lines with many ideas and attempts to get a truly remarkable power-plant for the aviation needs of the RAF. After several mediocre designs and one or two abject failures, Rolls Royce finally came up with the original Merlin design that would start a revolution in internal combustion engines for high speed flight regardless of the airframe. Before the mid-1930s Rolls Royce engines were producing 2100 horse-power (hp) routinely with some of the supercharged designs approaching 2350 hp. The end result was the birth of the Rolls Royce Merlin line of power-plants, and the DeHavilland design found the power-plant match that would make the Mosquito a reality.
Mr. Simons proceeds from this point to focus in detail and depth on the development and testing of the DH98. By the time came for prototypes to be considered the wooden construction and Rolls-Royce Merlin engine choices were underway to such an extent that the Air Ministry had to at least see that about which DeHavilland was so adamant. The end result was an on-again off-again trade between the Air Ministry, Bomber Command, and DeHavilland over what would be the best mix of guns, turrets (if any), and crew. Regardless, the revised Specification B.1/40 for Operational Requirement 70 was the final set of specifications around which the DH98 Mosquito prototypes would be built. This specification called for an unarmed bomber with photo reconnaissance operation if needed, with twin Rolls-Royce Merlin power-plants rated at 1,280 brake horsepower (bhp) at 12,250 ft., and 1,215 bhp at 20,500 ft. Structural weight of 4,319 lbs. and total weight of 12,674 lbs. with all normal equipment fitted, and an overload weight of 18,845 for bomber and 17,150 for photo-recon. Level speed of 297 mph at 23,700 ft. with cruising speed of 326 mph at 26,600 ft. Range on full tanks of 555 gallons would be 1,480 miles at 343 mph at 24,900 ft. or 1500 miles at full power. Service ceiling of 32,100 ft. and a landing run of 637 yards (paraphrased, p. 26). The date was 1 March 1940, and the Second World War was in full swing in Europe.
Prototyping came next with an immediate decision to separate the design team from the construction team for purposes of decentralizing design and production so that destruction of one would not result in destruction of all. The decision was elegant since designs and prototyping proceeded apace with more design freedom and ease in preparing drawings to support the prototyping efforts with changes made almost on the fly despite the distance of separation of the two teams. Regardless, the prototype was still in work, although both Air Ministry decisions to prioritize specific types of aircraft and to cut all others not on the list nearly ended the Mosquito since the short list included only the Supermarine Spitfire, Hawker Hurricane, Vickers Wellington, Armstrong Whitworth Whitley, Bristol Blenheim, and (at second priority) the Handley Page Halifax and Short Sterling. Since the Mosquitos were of wooden construction they had little impact and after a bit of negotiating, the Air Ministry allowed the Mosquito to be continued under construction for the fighter variants only with 50 due in 1941. This decision was second priority to everything including fitting bomb racks on DH82 Tiger Moths (a stop gap support plane in case of German invasion of England. The entire DeHavilland operation was nearly eliminated by a lone German bomber that successfully attacked the prototype construction facility at Hatfield, destroying a large part of the machine parts and assembled materials, killing 21 and injuring 70. While the enemy crew crashed a short way away and was subsequently captured, the Germans routinely came back to Hatfield to wreak havoc on the DeHavilland facility. Despite the setbacks, the month of November, 1940 saw the Mosquito prototype finally assembled with ground testing completed in short order. The first flight was made by test pilot, Sir Geoffrey DeHavilland on 26 November 1940. The DH98 was able to fly at 290 mph on this first flight with no problems whatsoever.
Following the successful prototype trials, changes were made to see what needed to be altered to meet needs for other fighter types including night fighter variants. Additionally means of slowing down the Mosquito to match speeds with German aircraft it intercepted were also tested with some modest success. The largest problem in the deceleration program was the tendency to have extreme buffeting with airbrake deployment. Modifications and other means of deceleration were discovered and put into operation of the fighter variants of the Mosquito.
Photo reconnaissance variants were the next option needed by the Air Ministry. One of the best features of the Mosquito was discovered as this program began. The simplicity of changing a Mosquito from one variant to another took very little in the way of extensive modifications or deconstruction then reconstruction with other types of parts. The changes were simply easy to do, involving a modest effort at most and generally very short turnaround times. The design team had built in logical points where modifications could be made regardless of the variant needed, and retooling was simply a matter of resetting some of the jigs and other fixtures, making a few variant modifications needed to accommodate variant needs, and the new plane to test was usually ready in a couple of weeks, if no major hitches arose.
There were many variants of the Mosquito, according to Mr.
Simons 51 in all of “official” variants, with just at 8000 total of all types in the final production of the aircraft. The bulk of Mr. Simon’s work is devoted to a detailed history of the Mosquito in all of its major and many of its minor variants with attention to the changes and modifications made to make each variant the best possible platform for its mission. In very few instances was the Mosquito a complete “bust” in achieving its mission objectives. It was fast, maneuverable, rugged, and well suited to a variety of tasks from shipping interdiction to fighting enemy fighters and bombers, to bombing specific targets with unerring precision for the most part. It was truly a Wooden Wonder, a nickname used mostly by detractors.
Richard Buro's Review of Mosquito: The Original Multi-Role Combat Aircraft by Graham M. Simons is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18951928.
In over eleven decades of powered, manned flight, there have been those powered flying machines that have earned the recognitions of “iconic,” “best,” or “exemplar.” There are rarely found aircraft which rate superlatively in more than one or two roles or missions. Graham M. Simons Mosquito: The Original Multi-Role Combat Aircraft details the technical specifications, development, and history of a truly iconic airframe: the DeHavilland DH98 “Mosquito.” This requirement took the form of Air Ministry Specification P.13/36 that originated from Operational Requirement 41 (O.R. 41). This specifications document called for two engines, medium bomber, long range, heavy bomber load, capable of catapult launch in heavy weight conditions, minimization of time over enemy territory, highest possible cruising speed a necessity, with possible combination of medium bomber, general reconnaissance, and general purpose classes being satisfied by one basic design which might also be able to carry 2, 18” torpedoes (paraphrased from pg. 12). The abilities of this breadth and depth would make for a design that could literally be a flying Swiss Army knife. Additional items in Operational Requirement 41 included 2 forward firing and two rearward firing Browning machine guns (possibly remotely controlled), horizontal bomb loading in tiers if necessary, outdoor maintenance anywhere in the world, top speed of > 275 mph (miles per hour) at 15,000 ft. for 3,000-mile range with a 4,000-pound bomb load (paraphrased from pg. 12).
These British Royal Air Force specifications led to the development of the twin-engine bombers fielded by British aviation manufacturing giants Avro, Handley-Page, and Vickers, none of which possessed the multi-role feature included in the O.R. 41 document. Only the DeHavilland Mosquito met and exceeded that specification.
DeHavilland had not participated in the military aviation specifications and competitions of the interwar years of the 1920’s and early 1930’s. Their focus was upon civilian interests in mail and passenger service with speed being achieved in specialized racing airframes. Their initial response to the P. 13/36 document was to consider proposing a commercial airliner that had four engines, could carry 1,000 pound payload against a 40 mile per hour headwind for 2,500 miles or a 6,000 pound payload to Berlin and back at 11,000 feet. The proposed idea was to use the DH91 Albatross as a point of departure for their presentation. The reaction of politicians and others of note resulted in DeHavilland literally going back to the drawing board to look at radical departures in two critical areas – power and construction materials.
Here, DeHavilland focused on the use of Rolls Royce Merlin power-plants with a mostly wooden construction. The ideas were novel since wood was the building material of choice two decades earlier in the First World War, but the argument was that certain types of wooden construction would result in components with as much strength as steel or duralumin (pg. 13). In addition, the wooden construction would not put as much a strain on valuable rare metals that other sorts of construction would use, materials which were in short supply and required importation in quantity to meet construction requirements on airframes. It was a serious gamble on the part of DeHavilland, but they saw the concept through and came up with overnight cottage industry proposals for all sorts of wooden parts to support the design of the Mosquito.
The Rolls Royce engine designs followed along similar lines with many ideas and attempts to get a truly remarkable power-plant for the aviation needs of the RAF. After several mediocre designs and one or two abject failures, Rolls Royce finally came up with the original Merlin design that would start a revolution in internal combustion engines for high speed flight regardless of the airframe. Before the mid-1930s Rolls Royce engines were producing 2100 horse-power (hp) routinely with some of the supercharged designs approaching 2350 hp. The end result was the birth of the Rolls Royce Merlin line of power-plants, and the DeHavilland design found the power-plant match that would make the Mosquito a reality.
Mr. Simons proceeds from this point to focus in detail and depth on the development and testing of the DH98. By the time came for prototypes to be considered the wooden construction and Rolls-Royce Merlin engine choices were underway to such an extent that the Air Ministry had to at least see that about which DeHavilland was so adamant. The end result was an on-again off-again trade between the Air Ministry, Bomber Command, and DeHavilland over what would be the best mix of guns, turrets (if any), and crew. Regardless, the revised Specification B.1/40 for Operational Requirement 70 was the final set of specifications around which the DH98 Mosquito prototypes would be built. This specification called for an unarmed bomber with photo reconnaissance operation if needed, with twin Rolls-Royce Merlin power-plants rated at 1,280 brake horsepower (bhp) at 12,250 ft., and 1,215 bhp at 20,500 ft. Structural weight of 4,319 lbs. and total weight of 12,674 lbs. with all normal equipment fitted, and an overload weight of 18,845 for bomber and 17,150 for photo-recon. Level speed of 297 mph at 23,700 ft. with cruising speed of 326 mph at 26,600 ft. Range on full tanks of 555 gallons would be 1,480 miles at 343 mph at 24,900 ft. or 1500 miles at full power. Service ceiling of 32,100 ft. and a landing run of 637 yards (paraphrased, p. 26). The date was 1 March 1940, and the Second World War was in full swing in Europe.
Prototyping came next with an immediate decision to separate the design team from the construction team for purposes of decentralizing design and production so that destruction of one would not result in destruction of all. The decision was elegant since designs and prototyping proceeded apace with more design freedom and ease in preparing drawings to support the prototyping efforts with changes made almost on the fly despite the distance of separation of the two teams. Regardless, the prototype was still in work, although both Air Ministry decisions to prioritize specific types of aircraft and to cut all others not on the list nearly ended the Mosquito since the short list included only the Supermarine Spitfire, Hawker Hurricane, Vickers Wellington, Armstrong Whitworth Whitley, Bristol Blenheim, and (at second priority) the Handley Page Halifax and Short Sterling. Since the Mosquitos were of wooden construction they had little impact and after a bit of negotiating, the Air Ministry allowed the Mosquito to be continued under construction for the fighter variants only with 50 due in 1941. This decision was second priority to everything including fitting bomb racks on DH82 Tiger Moths (a stop gap support plane in case of German invasion of England. The entire DeHavilland operation was nearly eliminated by a lone German bomber that successfully attacked the prototype construction facility at Hatfield, destroying a large part of the machine parts and assembled materials, killing 21 and injuring 70. While the enemy crew crashed a short way away and was subsequently captured, the Germans routinely came back to Hatfield to wreak havoc on the DeHavilland facility. Despite the setbacks, the month of November, 1940 saw the Mosquito prototype finally assembled with ground testing completed in short order. The first flight was made by test pilot, Sir Geoffrey DeHavilland on 26 November 1940. The DH98 was able to fly at 290 mph on this first flight with no problems whatsoever.
Following the successful prototype trials, changes were made to see what needed to be altered to meet needs for other fighter types including night fighter variants. Additionally means of slowing down the Mosquito to match speeds with German aircraft it intercepted were also tested with some modest success. The largest problem in the deceleration program was the tendency to have extreme buffeting with airbrake deployment. Modifications and other means of deceleration were discovered and put into operation of the fighter variants of the Mosquito.
Photo reconnaissance variants were the next option needed by the Air Ministry. One of the best features of the Mosquito was discovered as this program began. The simplicity of changing a Mosquito from one variant to another took very little in the way of extensive modifications or deconstruction then reconstruction with other types of parts. The changes were simply easy to do, involving a modest effort at most and generally very short turnaround times. The design team had built in logical points where modifications could be made regardless of the variant needed, and retooling was simply a matter of resetting some of the jigs and other fixtures, making a few variant modifications needed to accommodate variant needs, and the new plane to test was usually ready in a couple of weeks, if no major hitches arose.
There were many variants of the Mosquito, according to Mr.
Simons 51 in all of “official” variants, with just at 8000 total of all types in the final production of the aircraft. The bulk of Mr. Simon’s work is devoted to a detailed history of the Mosquito in all of its major and many of its minor variants with attention to the changes and modifications made to make each variant the best possible platform for its mission. In very few instances was the Mosquito a complete “bust” in achieving its mission objectives. It was fast, maneuverable, rugged, and well suited to a variety of tasks from shipping interdiction to fighting enemy fighters and bombers, to bombing specific targets with unerring precision for the most part. It was truly a Wooden Wonder, a nickname used mostly by detractors.
Richard Buro's Review of Mosquito: The Original Multi-Role Combat Aircraft by Graham M. Simons is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18951928.
June 2, 2023
A Detailed and very well written study of an outstanding aircrsft
Mr.Simons has excelled himself with this accurate, informative and entertaining study of an outstanding aircraft, detailing the initial concept and design, the protracted gestation period, and onwards to the plane in it's multiple combat manifestations. The accompanying wealth of photographs of all aspect of this "wooden wonder" as it was developed offer a valuable insight into the plane. Outstanding as a history and as a narrative.
Mr.Simons has excelled himself with this accurate, informative and entertaining study of an outstanding aircraft, detailing the initial concept and design, the protracted gestation period, and onwards to the plane in it's multiple combat manifestations. The accompanying wealth of photographs of all aspect of this "wooden wonder" as it was developed offer a valuable insight into the plane. Outstanding as a history and as a narrative.
June 17, 2024
Very technical
The picture on the front belies the content of this book. I thought it would describe tactics and operations, which it did in part. The vast bulk of the book is an air technician’s dream. Every part of the plane is examined in minute detail, which left me a bit mystified at times. I gave it five stars for the detailed research.
The picture on the front belies the content of this book. I thought it would describe tactics and operations, which it did in part. The vast bulk of the book is an air technician’s dream. Every part of the plane is examined in minute detail, which left me a bit mystified at times. I gave it five stars for the detailed research.
Read
December 3, 2019A great book which goes into the design,modifications and testing of this unique aircraft. Whatever you wanted to know about the construction of this aircraft can be found in this book.
July 18, 2023
A superb work of research.
The inside story of the development, testing and operation of this product of 'out of the box' creativity against current thinking.
The inside story of the development, testing and operation of this product of 'out of the box' creativity against current thinking.
May 11, 2024
Stinger
Enterprise of private company to design and develop such a magnificent aeroplane with so many effective operational roles.
A great read
Enterprise of private company to design and develop such a magnificent aeroplane with so many effective operational roles.
A great read
October 31, 2022
This is easily the best book currently available on the Mosquito, that I first read back in 2015. And so far I havn't found anything new to match it ! Highly detailed and still a joy to read. No unnecessary waffle to to get in the way, perfect.I have 4 other Graham M Simons too.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews