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 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/histo...b8M_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

B93F3F0A-FA1C-4D5B-8C85-0AD752358F2A.JPEG

[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 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