Model Boat Mayhem
Mess Deck: General Section => Chit-Chat => Topic started by: Shipmate60 on June 13, 2012, 11:14:17 pm
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I have just seen this link, it has some superb colour film of this lovely aircraft and what a sound the twin synchronised Merlins make!!
CLICK HERE (http://peoplesmosquito.wordpress.com/)
Bob
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Didnt the Historic flight have one and it was grounded because of funds or have i got it wrong again
Dave
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Dave,
I have never seen or heard of an airworthy mossie.
Bob
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http://www.independent.co.uk/news/two-die-as-last-mosquito-crashes-1329886.html
Two die as last Mosquito crashes
Monday 22 July 1996
The world's last airworthy Mosquito fighter bomber crashed at an airshow yesterday killing its pilot and navigator.
Michael Edwards, secretary of the Lancashire Aero Club, which was sponsoring the air show, said the De Havilland Mosquito, owned by British Aerospace, was the last flying example of its type.
The operations manager of Greater Manchester Ambulance, Clive Heather, who was at Barton Aerodrome to provide on-site medical assistance, said: "The plane was going through an obviously well-rehearsed routine. Then it climbed higher and higher towards the edge of the airfield before it spiralled."
Mr Heather said it became clear that the aircraft was not going to complete the manoeuvre. The noise of the crashwas heard around the airshow.
Two paramedic units and an emergency fire service unit were first at the scene of the crash, which occurred in dense woodland running parallel to the M62. Debris was strewn across a field and nearby woodland. Paramedic crews fought through the fire to reach the cockpit. They found the two bodies and had them flown by RAF helicopter to Hope Hospital in Manchester.
Michael Edwards, Lancashire Aero Club chairman, said the tragedy had cast a shadow over what had been a happy, family event. John Hadfield, flight safety officer at British Aerospace, who owned the plane said that both crew were dedicated and highly experienced aviators.
The pilot, a professional, with many years of flying experience, had flown the place many times and the second man was believed to be an engineer in charge of looking after it on the ground.
Mr Hadfield said the crash had destroyed an important piece of aviation history.
"It is the loss of a unique aircraft," he said. The wooden De Havilland Mosquito was well-known for its speed and had provided an invaluable service during the Second World War on photo-reconnaissance missions and as a leader plane for squadrons of Lancashire and Halifax bombers.
The wreckage will be recovered and examined by CAA investigators in an attempt to discover what could have caused its final fatal descent.
The identities of the pilot and navigator are being witheld until relatives are informed.
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Think there was one flying in Canada before this crash as well
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Didnt the Historic flight have one and it was grounded because of funds or have i got it wrong again
Dave
You're right, you got it wrong again Dave. O0
http://www.raf.mod.uk/bbmf/theaircraft/
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And I never got to see it.
Thanks Davie
Bob
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I have a video of the DH mossie that crashed just 3 weeks before she did so killing the crew..........was sailing my narrow boat into Chester on a holiday when she started circling overhead............and grabbed my vidcam quickly.............got about 30 seconds of her on tape............but god knows how I would down load it, sorry.
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Well Bob I rember seeing a Mossy being flown at a Raf Valley open day in the 70's The newly one that is being renovated at York is having her enines Test run for hte first time at their event on the 1st July
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Deans-Marine-Trein-Maersk-RC-Model-Boat-with-more-pictures-/251084510301?pt=UK_ToysGames_RadioControlled_JN&hash=item3a75cd945d
Having just come off the phone with my Anorak friend of things that fly he reakon I am quite right in what I have said that the Batle of Britain memorial Flight did have a Mossy at one time but apparantly it was in Private ownership
Dave
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wasn't it the one that crashed ? the BAE owned one loaned out to the BBMF ??
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Could well have been David I suspect rather strongly that you are correct in what you have said
Dave
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Its just that I can only ever remember hearing of 2 airworthy Mozzies , one in Canada and the BAE one , just found a link that says the one in Canada and one in the US are under restoration and may fly in the next year or 2 so good news
Have to admit that the Mozzie is one of my all time favourite aircraft , fasted piston engined aircraft in WW2 I think
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I often wonder what happened to the Mosquitoes that were used in the "633 Squadron" film
I was lucky enough to be a 16 year old RAF cadet in 1965 when we went on an annual
7 day camp to RAF Little Rissington (in Gloucestershire ?)
One of my schoolmates and I (who were both mad keen aircraft enthusiasts) got into the habit
of, when we were on an RAF station and 'Off Duty', having a wander round the hangars to see
what we could find (we kept our RAF uniforms on to avoid any problems while doing so!).
Rissington turned up trumps because we came across THREE Mosquitos on one hangar - this
was shortly after the completion of the "633 Squadron" film.
We always asked permission to look round the hangars and a quick chat to one of the RAF 'erks'
got us permission to look round the aircraft unsupervised.
One Mossie still had fake bullet holes painted across its tail to simulate flak damage in the film.
One aircraft unfortunately had very bent propeller blades where some idiot pilot had landed it
without putting the undercarriage down first - it was back on its wheels. I don't remember
there being major damage to the underside, so it may have been a near miss.
At least one of the aircraft was the bomber variant repainted to look like the fighter and the two of
us had a brilliant half hour using the emergency manual hydraulic pump in the cockpit to pump
the bomb doors open and closed !
I am not 100% sure but I think it was Rissington that we also found a Spitfire and took it in turns
to try and sit in the cockpit - this was a bit of a problem since the seat pan was deeply dished to
accomodate the pilot's parachute and of course we didn't have one! best we could manage was
sort of squatting whilst holding onto the instrument panel coaming with one hand!
I can pass on a few more of the interesting stories from my cadet days if anybody is interested
(under a separate topic)
Richard
link to 633 Sqadron film info : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/633_Squadron#The_aircraft (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/633_Squadron#The_aircraft)
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The Mossie in question used to be kept at BAE' factory in Broughton, near Chester, the same factory that built the Wellington bomber in 24hrs. I worked there in the late seventies for a subcontractor. The Mossie had HT E on its side, and whenever I could skive off I went over to the hangar where it was kept and had a chat with the chap who maintained it, I was even allowed to sit in the cockpit one day, how those guys in WW2 flew long sorties I will never know, it was so uncomfortable, definitely not built for luxuary.When the aircraft took off the sound of those Merlins was something to behold, you could feel them as well as hear them. :-)) :-)) :-))
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZLnOlaFGac
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Used to make a yearly pilgrimage to Mildenhall for the International Air Tatto to watch the SR71, Vulcan (Before it was rebuilt) and HT-E beating the airfield up. It would appear that after WWII you could buy a Mossie from the MOS for a scrap value of £200 (£100 for each of the Merlins - airframe free). "The Wooden Wonder", a good read, IIRC, the Mossie was ordered off the drawing board by the RAF as they had decided the age of wooden aircraft passed at the end of WW1 but GDH went on a built it anyway, ( The Vosper of the aircraft industry??)
BOAC had some which were used to collect Ball bearings from Sweden (SKF) in WWII and while the cockpit may have been a bit cramped, it was certainly warmer than the bomb bay which on occasions was used to bring back escapees from Sweden on the bearing run.
There was a "Scrap" Spitfire just up the road from you Richard in 1962. Used to go to Church Fenton for air experiance flights in chippies and at that time, main use for Fenton was a maintainance unit. At lunch time, we went across to the "Dump" and saw the Spit at close quarters as we'd spotted it from the road on the way there. Walked/crawled through the engine nacelles of a scrap Vulcan, relievedone or two airframes of odd instruments and "Aquired" the 44F Nco's mess trophy of a Whirlwind tail rotor, bunged a clock on the hub and hung it on the wall. I think Cliff Robertshaw bought the Spit about a fortnight after we'd seen it, he also noticed it while traveling down the A1.
Regards Ian.
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Hello
The next time anyone interested in 'mossies' is in the Barnet or St Albans area...why not pay a visit to a worthwhile site such as this ?
http://www.dehavillandmuseum.co.uk/index.html (http://www.dehavillandmuseum.co.uk/index.html)
Bill
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Visited there, quite by chance, on the day of the last ever meeting of the Mosquito aircrews association, What a fantastic bunch of men.
One of the great problems with the Mosquito (and the Hornet, if one still existed) is the adhesives of the time. I know there were considerable misgivings about using the Mosquito in the hot humid climate of the Far East.
I seem to recall that the crash was caused by carburettor icing, and should have been avoidable.
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it would be cheaper to take the plans and build a new Mozzie from scratch , you could use original cockpit and engines/under carriage I guess
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Already being done, check this site out
http://www.mosquitorestoration.com/
my favourite aircraft
vnkiwi
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Circlip - don't remember the Spit at Church Fenton - I was in the
Harrogate Grammar School CCF from 1963 to 1968. We did
most of our air experience flying at Linton-on-Ouse.
I have found my old Record of Service Book - below is the
Flying Log Section - you'l have to excuse the handwriting ...
It makes interesting reading - incidentally, I went to the
CADMA model boat show held in the Yorkshire Air Museum at Doncaster
When I looked around I realised I'd flown in a lot of the aircraft types
on show! -
(http://s15.postimage.org/hwv9wdn7r/pages08_09.jpg) (http://postimage.org/image/hwv9wdn7r/)
Richard
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Already being done, check this site out
http://www.mosquitorestoration.com/
my favourite aircraft
vnkiwi
Crazy man! but I have to admire people with this kind of determination
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If you were in between 63 and 65 Richard, that's how you missed it, 1962. It was sat on a Queen Mary with the wings stacked on either side of it like a big Airfix kit and was clearly visible from the A1.
A.E. in Varsitys - yes - 4Hr round trips from Topcliffe up to Redcar and out over the North Sea, we all had visions of joining the Catapillar and Goldfish clubs on one visit.
Regards Ian.
Can't remember getting my 3822 back.
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Well Bob I rember seeing a Mossy being flown at a Raf Valley open day in the 70's The newly one that is being renovated at York is having her enines Test run for hte first time at their event on the 1st July
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Deans-Marine-Trein-Maersk-RC-Model-Boat-with-more-pictures-/251084510301?pt=UK_ToysGames_RadioControlled_JN&hash=item3a75cd945d
Having just come off the phone with my Anorak friend of things that fly he reakon I am quite right in what I have said that the Batle of Britain memorial Flight did have a Mossy at one time but apparantly it was in Private ownership
Dave
Alright...I've waited for somebody else to ask but none so far, so here goes....
What is the link (however tenuous) between the Trein Maersk and a De Havilland Mosquito ??
Think this might need more than 6 degrees of separation !
Bill
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Now that is something worth putting a donation into Bob ,i remember a" mossie" which was used as a target tug in Hong Kong back in 1954 and it was a terrific sight flying at high speed over Sek Kong to drop the target banner so the pilots on Vampires could see how well they had done, I also remember that it had several patches around the tail !, plus a sqdn of mk 24 Spitfires over at Kai Tack. MERLINS and GRIFFONS what a combination. splasher 1.
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I think the Canadian Aviation and Space Museum in Ottawa is where 'our' Mosquito is being restored to service. It was always in flying condition and is just down for a few years while it is gone over with a fine tooth comb and 'put right'.
They're trying to do the same with a Beaufighter too, although it's in decidedly worse shape.
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Already being done, check this site out
http://www.mosquitorestoration.com/
I had the opportunity quite recently to visit the hangar at Ardmore airfield, just outside Auckland, where this job is being done. The work is to an extraordinarily high standard and the first of several aircraft should be ready to fly in September. All woodwork is entirely new, but virtually all the mechanical parts are genuine and original. They have built jigs for manufacturing both wings and fuselages and have used both modern and traditional adhesives.
They also have a complete fuselage of what I understand to be one of the '633 squadron' Mosquitos (a 2 seat side by side version), but this original assembly could never be flown again. Instead, they intend to rebuild the aircraft with new components built on the jigs, so they have a little production line going.
I promised not to publish any of the photos that I took but there are quite a few on the Avspecs (the company who are doing the job) website (http://www.warbirdrestoration.co.nz/mossie_nov10.html). What I saw was virtually a complete aircraft, with undercarriage cycling in progress on the day that I was there.
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I had the opportunity quite recently to visit the hangar at Ardmore airfield, just outside Auckland, where this job is being done. The work is to an extraordinarily high standard and the first of several aircraft should be ready to fly in September.
The date has been confirmed as 29 September, (with the 30th as a weather day if needed) - KA114 will be displaying alongside Spitfire, Mustang and Kittyhawk :-)) :-)) 8)
Now then, where's the cheapest ticket to NZ ;)
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Book me one too please! :-))
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Just got this DVD from Amazon well worth a look if you are into these Boats .Ignore the Expensive one there is one for less than a fiver
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Devil-Boat-The-Saga-PT658/dp/B000FNNI3I/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1356374854&sr=8-1 (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Devil-Boat-The-Saga-PT658/dp/B000FNNI3I/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1356374854&sr=8-1)
Product Description
Documentary on the PT boats of WWII. The story of John F. Kennedy and PT 109 is celebrated in this programme, along with the rescue of General Douglas MacArthur from the Phillippines by Lt. John D. Bulkley's PT boat. Known as the Mosquito Fleet, the small, fast and heavily armed PT boats did much to turn the tide in the Pacific, the Mediterranean and in the English Channel during WW II. The documentary also follows a group of Portland, Oregon PT boat Veterans as they attempt to resurrect a PT boat from the ravages of time and neglect, 60 years after the war's end.
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http://youtu.be/M-I4hZah_Pc
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Oh! to see a squadron of them flying. O0 O0
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the most beautiful aeroplane in the world, and I have personal reasons for saying those words.
my eyes are full just watching that video.
simply beautiful............long may she fly.
neil.
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http://www.britishpathe.com/search/query/%22mosquitoes+with+many+stings%22 ok2
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Its just that I can only ever remember hearing of 2 airworthy Mozzies , one in Canada and the BAE one , just found a link that says the one in Canada and one in the US are under restoration and may fly in the next year or 2 so good news
That's really odd as the Mossie was kept in use after the war into the 50s, I think they were RAF meteorogical aircraft, and I think it is these aircraft that turn up in the 60s films '633 Squadron' & 'Mosquito Squadron'.
So you surprise me saying there are few, if any, flyable examples in the UK as they were kept in service longer than other conemporary aircraft.
Have to admit that the Mozzie is one of my all time favourite aircraft , fasted piston engined aircraft in WW2 I think
Yes, it's one of those aircarft (like the Spitfire) where form follows function.
I believe the photo reconnaisance version was the fastest thing up there til jets appeared. One of the type met a Lightning one day over England and they had their version of the race from the lights. The American pilot must have been sorry he instigated it.
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For what it is worth, the Mossie has now departed our shores, bound for the Americas. Where the man with the large check book lives. It was awesome to regularly have her flying overhead. The sound of one merlin is heavenly. But two. Gees ...
Avspecs, on Facebook, have some wonderful pictures and videos. And some interesting pics of the MkXIV they are tinkering with..
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http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/7747544/WWII-Mosquito-takes-flight (http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/7747544/WWII-Mosquito-takes-flight)
http://www.mosquitorestoration.com/index.shtml (http://www.mosquitorestoration.com/index.shtml)
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Good to see one flying again. Saw one at a airshow, many, many years ago and she looked superb even if she was only a static display. It surprises me that of all the aircraft made in WWII very few remain in flying condition.
Si:)
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Saw one at a airshow, many, many years ago and she looked superb even if she was only a static display
Probably HTE/F, it did fly and gave many impressive displays, sadly it crashed. Think it belonged to RR or BAE
Much missed
Regards Ian
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It surprises me that of all the aircraft made in WWII very few remain in flying condition.
Si,
There's only one reason that more warbirds aren't flying and that's cost.
To restore a Spit to flying condition can easily cost 6-7 figures depending on condition, then there's the annual maintenance costs to keep her airworthy for maybe 50 hours a year, and a Spit is one of the easier aircraft to restore compared to something like a Hurricane. There's also only certain organizations that carry the certs to do this kind of work, and places to manufacture the parts.
Probably HTE/F, it did fly and gave many impressive displays, sadly it crashed. Think it belonged to RR or BAE
RR299 was owned by BAe, crashed just outside Barton on 21-July-96
Mark