Sunday at the Mossie Museum

Great stuff, Martin!. We are also getting close (in the next six months we hope) to attaching our wing and fuselage. How are you fixed for architectural drawings? Do you have everything you need?

Some photos of our progress here....

https://www.facebook.com/410798616752/photos/pb.410798616752.-2207520000.1424699753./10152901303726753/?type=3&theater

Don

 

That's good news, Don - and thank you for the offer !

I'm pretty sure we're OK for drawings ( most of which have been inherited from de Havilland/BAe ). On the Prototype, we're now down to final detailing ( eg instruments etc, lost/replaced incorrectly over the years ) and most parts now just need re-fabric'ing, painting and replacement. Our FBVI has nearly everything except gun-bay doors which will need to be scratchbuilt into recovered frames.

The vital element for joining wing/fuselage was a custom-built cradle/frame atop the fuselage ( design of which was also used by the people at Calgary, I think ). This protects the weak point between the wing-joint and the canopy orifice which can break like an eggshell if it takes too much stress...........

 

I heard our Mossie guys lamenting about their lack of drawings of the tail fin. Do you have everything in digital format or actual drawings? Are you willing to share/sell copies if we are short in some area? Many thanks!

Don

 

OK Don - pm sent.....

 

Tres bien, Martin.
We have a pretty good thing here, the Nanton Lancaster Society.
Pass by this place often, but seem too busy to stop. Going to make a point of stopping in, take some pictures.
http://www.ruudleeuw.com/canada07-museum-nanton.htm
Heard they had some Mossie parts. Maybe y'all might want to touch base with Nanton, see if there's anything they could contribute or buy.
Cheers.

 

I have often wondered how much lower the casualty rate in Bomber Command would have been, if instead of Lancasters and Halifaxes, the RAF had just built massive numbers of Mosquitos. With a top speed of over 400mph and a max bomb load of 4000 lbs (nearly as much as long-range B-17s), 3 Mossies could equal the bomb capacity of the heavier bombers, get to and from the target faster, and be able to outrun the German nightfighters, even turning the tables by attacking the Nachtjager and destroying them with ease. They were cheaper to build and maintain and only had a two-man crew. Food for thought.

 

You'd have to send them in formation. They'd still have to deal with FLAK and fighters. Couldn't outrun a fighter carrying 4000lb bomb load.
But that is for another thread.

 

Mosquito Cockpit Tour

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=inG1PHdWbGE

 

Mosquito Protoype rolled into the new hangar, October 2019.

I've been away from teh Forum for a while but the Mosquito Museum keeps going.......

Our new hangar officially opened in January 202 but we unoficially rolled the Prototype in as first aircraft to be there ( pretty much on the actual spot on which it was built in 1940 ).

Then COVID happened to spoil the fun and the Museum has been closed to the public for much of 2020. We are raring to go in 2021...............

 

Excellent. Could you sit in the cockpit during the visit?

 

We are working toward having a cockpit section fitted out so that visitors can do this.
Many people ask to sit inside a Mosquito - but it is incredibly 'tight' and claustrophobic. Everywhere your arms and legs go, there are switches and instruments and many of them are surprisingly fragile.
I oce asked a visiting former groundcrew man if this cuased a problem with breakages in WWII.

' Sure' he said ' But in those days, you just got a new part from the stores. no problem !'

Not so easy today !