Restoring a de Havilland Mosquito

[Kris Cook]

There is a pretty neat article in the Jan/Feb issue of Popular Mechanics about restoring a Mosquito.

For those unfamiliar with this airplane it was constructed almost entirely from wood. Fuselage was a 5/8" thick sandwich of plywood and balsa!!

That, combined with two RR Merlins made it a versatile, and fast airplane.

Article is fairly short and doesn't go into that much detail on the woodworking side but interesting read nonetheless.

[Maurice Mcmurry]

There are several good youTube videos about the Mosquito. Thanks Kris! I will check that out.

I can view P.M. digitaly for free when I log in to our local library.

[Mike Henderson]

Here's the Wikipedia article (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Havilland_Mosquito)on the Mosquito.

Mike

[Erik Loza]

De Havillands are awesome! We caught a flight out of Seattle on a Beaver seaplane last fall. The pilot let my wife ride shotgun.

Erik

[Maurice Mcmurry]

Aviation and History should have been lumped together in school. I would have gotten better grades. I recently read The Wright Brothers by David McCullough. The rave reviews of the book fall short. It is a thick history book that is a page turner all the way through. David McCullough has a short story called Treasure from the Carpentry Shop, its not about airplanes, nor does it have much about Carpentry, but is also recommended.

[Bill Dufour]

I. do not remember the details but during WW2 the Neighbors wife worked in a factory in Saint Louis ? building a small plane out of wood using special oven cured glue. She watched it take off and fall apart in flight because they did not cure the glue properly.
Bill D.

[Maurice Mcmurry]

Eric, Those are great images! Surely that hour meeter has rolled over.

Bill, regarding Saint Louis:

https://aboutstlouis.com/local/history/st-louis-aviation-history#.Yg_Jb8M_ZCg.google

[Erik Loza]

Eric, Those are great images! Surely that hour meeter has rolled over...

No doubt, Maurice. On that same trip, we flew back on a De Havilland Otter (larger version of Beaver). Both had all sorts of retrofitted modern electronics.

Erik

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[Malcolm McLeod]

De Havillands are awesome! We caught a flight out of Seattle on a Beaver seaplane last fall. ...

A co-worker flew out of Vancouver Seaplane base on a Beaver and told me they were getting worried because the pilot was adding oil to the engine just before flight. I assured him he need only worry when the pilot tries to add oil while in flight.

(All radials burn some oil; nature of the beast. Watch the crew do a pre-flight prop pull-thru to clear oil from lower cylinders on the CAF's B-29!)

ETA _ They have all electric Beavers operating out of Vancouver now, too.

[Maurice Mcmurry]

Oh dear. The story about the Regency Hotel balcony collapse in K.C. is in this issue of P.M. That was a big story around here. I remember it well. The Mosquito article has me wanting to read and see more. I have read some about the Sprue Goose too. It would be great to see one of these wooden wonders. I watched the movie Dunkirk twice. I plan on watching it again.

[Frank Pratt]

De Havilland is no more, but Viking Air bought the licensing to build the Twin Otter. I've done work in the Calgary factory where they still make them. The avionics & engines are modern, but the plane itself is much the same as it was back in the day. I was working on a lift 45' above a brand new $7,000,000 plane. Made me a little nervous.

[Kris Cook]

Oh dear. The story about the Regency Hotel balcony collapse in K.C. is in this issue of P.M. That was a big story around here. I remember it well. The Mosquito article has me wanting to read and see more. I have read some about the Sprue Goose too. It would be great to see one of these wooden wonders. I watched the movie Dunkirk twice. I plan on watching it again.


If you ever get near McMinnville Oregon the Spruce Goose is there at Evergreen's museum. Pretty Awesome. I have some pictures somewhere.

[Maurice Mcmurry]

I would enjoy Evergreen's and the Spruce Goose. I made it to Portland once, got to see the Home Depot, it's just like ours. I revisited those Mosquito youTubes today as well as some on the P-38. Fun stuff for an armchair Aviator.

[Bruce Wrenn]

Seems like I remember the Misquito being fast enough to fly down and destroy a V-1 buzz bomber rocket.

[Mike Henderson]

Seems like I remember the Mosquito being fast enough to fly down and destroy a V-1 buzz bomber rocket.

A pilot of a British Spitfire could fly next to a V-1 (https://www.forces.net/heritage/wwii/how-spitfire-pilots-really-rammed-v1-bomb-out-sky)and then flip it by putting its wing under the V-1 wing and starting a roll. The V-1 would not recover from that nudge.

Mike

[Kris Cook]

The Spitfire as well as the later model P51s had the Merlin engine as well.

I have seen the Merlin engine (built by Rolls Royce in Britain, and Packard in the US) referred to as the engine that won the war.

[Erik Loza]

Speaking of Packard, here's a crazy story: My wife's stepfather (died long before she and I were together/never met him) was an executive in the petroleum industry during the WWII era and among other things, worked either at or with Packard in some capacity. His business took him to countries like Iran and Iraq back when civilians still could freely travel there (side note: My MIL has a framed display on her wall with his passport stamps to Afghanistan, etc. and pictures from Iran and so on. Truly one of the most fascinating things I've ever seen). Anyhow, getting back to Packard, SF apparently was also working for the US Gov't as a spy or at least intelligence observer during these trips. MIL explained to me that the gov't would approach people in positions like this, who had diplomatic access to foreign interests and say, "You're going to do this for us". She told me that one time, SF was at a Packard facility and shot a fleeing German infiltrator in the back as he tried to climb a fence and escape capture. SF apparently was also a private single-engine pilot. She said that he would fly between cities by following the railroad tracks. One time, she said he fell asleep at the controls and woke up in a different state. You can't make this stuff up. When I was a kid, I could've cared less about history. As an adult, I can't get enough of stories like this.

Erik

[Bill Dufour]

US PT boats had three packard merlin engines. That was the base for the cigarette racing boats after the war. v12 engines with 24 platinum sparkplugs each. After the war surplus ones cost about $500. The sparkplugs sold for over $750 for a set of 24. Regular plugs cost under $5 for a set of 24. Easy money for some.
Bill D

[Maurice Mcmurry]

I get more and more interested in history as well. I have worked for Col. Peter M. Dunn USAF retired. For nearly 30 years.
Some of his writings are available at the University library. I need to check them out.
-The First Vietnam war Hurst 1985
-The American war in Vietnam Praeger 1987
He is highly decorated and did 3 tours in Vietnam operating mostly in the North.

Col. Dunn looks and talks a bit like Harrison Ford and speaks just as affectionately about the immortality of a quality airframe.


https://youtu.be/b2hZe9ToaEI

[Kris Cook]

US PT boats had three packard merlin engines. That was the base for the cigarette racing boats after the war. v12 engines with 24 platinum sparkplugs each. After the war surplus ones cost about $500. The sparkplugs sold for over $750 for a set of 24. Regular plugs cost under $5 for a set of 24. Easy money for some.
Bill D

Was just watching some YouTube videos a couple of weeks ago with a restored PT boat. Pretty cool.

I remember reading somewhere probably 10 or 15 years ago - in 1970 you could buy a P51 for $5,000. At the time I read that they were worth north of $1MM. Now, probably priceless. I have wanted to go to the Reno Air Show but have never made it. I know there were a few running there a few years back.

[Kris Cook]

Maurice - thanks for the video. I just watched the whole thing.

This may be of some interest. In the early 90s I was in Phoenix for some training and went to Mesa, AZ to the CAF museum to get some pictures. They were getting ready to close and basically let me in and locked the door behind me. Pre-digital (for me) I had six rolls of film with me. I spent the next 2 hours going through the museum on my own. The place was amazing.

The one that stands out for me, and is most ironic - I took a bunch of pictures of the Heinkel HE-111 bomber while I was there. Some years later, that particular airplane was flying from Texas to Missoula, MT and crashed, killing all aboard.

[Maurice Mcmurry]

I wrote a true story that tells about my becoming interested in airplanes. It got a few likes on an aircraft page.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1nv3Ai4q60wy3IseGxbSzCQNitZXbScMsAwvWVKFuJPw/edit?usp=sharing

[Maurice Mcmurry]

Col. Dunns book arrived today. He is a true freedom fighter. I appreciate his efforts more every day.
Reading about the Mosquito already and only on the preface.

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[Curt Harms]

US PT boats had three packard merlin engines. That was the base for the cigarette racing boats after the war. v12 engines with 24 platinum sparkplugs each. After the war surplus ones cost about $500. The sparkplugs sold for over $750 for a set of 24. Regular plugs cost under $5 for a set of 24. Easy money for some.
Bill D

There was a time (late '40s early 50s?) when you could get a Merlin engine with a P51 attached for $500. Today you add three 000 for a ratty one and go up from there.

[Maurice Mcmurry]

youTube took its time getting this video in my "up next" It is a good one.


https://youtu.be/aPr8ayJIJCo

[Doug Garson]

ETA _ They have all electric Beavers operating out of Vancouver now, too.
Not quite yet but they are close. "
Harbour Air has been working on converting its fleet into electric aircraft since 2019, and the company said earlier this year it was hoping to launch its first commercial electric seaplane by 2023 (https://vancouverisland.ctvnews.ca/harbour-air-eyes-2023-for-first-electric-passenger-flights-1.5501756)."

[Maurice Mcmurry]

Col. Dunns book arrived today. He is a true freedom fighter. I appreciate his efforts more every day.
Reading about the Mosquito already and only on the preface.

475668

This was positively the most difficult book I have ever read. The Mosquito plays a small role, flying photo reconnaissance missions. There was one squadron of Spitfires that saw very little action. Dakotas were used often. As to Vietnam being a debacle, it certainly was. Much of the blame could be placed on France for 100 years of treating the Vietnamese poorly. Japanese aggression and war crimes contributed as well. The USA was not a primary player except for some bad and shady activity of the OSS. Douglas Gracey's summary "A basket of crabs" sums it up. (a basket of crabs all heavily armed).