Sunday at the Mossie Museum

Calgary Alberta (Canada) has a Mosquito they plan to restore. Last I heard it was in a storage bay. Work had not begun.
Hopefully they know about you for parts exchanges and tecnical support and...
that they too can acquire sufficient funding and expertise for this restoration project. See: The Calgary Mosquito Society

If I had a million dollars...

 

Yes, we do indeed know about it and met the driving force behind the project at the RAF Club last year ; Mr Richard de Boer. The airframe is an ex-Spartan Air Services B.35.

With all the recent interest in Mosquitoes and examples being restored/reconstructed in New Zealand, Canada, Australia and the UK, original parts are now becoming incredibly scarce and sought-after.....

 

I don't mean to side track this thread...
but up until recently I had thought that Mosquito's were as extinct as Sterlings. (If, if I had Ten Million Dollars...) http://www.stirlingproject.co.uk/Newsy2b.html

It just thrills me to see so many restoration projects on the go world wide!!!
I just found this one, not listed at http://www.mossie.org/Mosquito_loc.htm

Victoria Air Maintenance (North Saanich BC Canada) is restoring deHavilland Mosquito CF-HML.
(Nearing completion, the owner - Bob Jens - says he will (will) fly it - but once only for photos, then ground it.)

Check back here for updates on the project, where you will see a terrific collection of photos. http://vicair.net/projects/mosquito

Another great reason to hop on the ferry and visit Vancouver Island!

 

Fascinating link, Fred - I only wish that their very professional youtube video lasted a bit longer !

It's B.35 VR796 which was built in 1948. It's a sobering thought that Spartan Air Services bought it, ready to go, in 1955 for the princely sum of Can $1500.00. The process of saving and restoring this airframe started in 1966, when it was rescued from impending dereliction by F/O Don Campbell of Kapuskasing, Ontario.

 

Crikey, I wasn't aware there were so many Mossie restoration projects going on!

 

The 'Office'.....



It's nearly there.......................

 

A little taste of those fantastic Saxophone Exhausts. Use your best speakers / headphones from three minutes on in this excellent tribute video.

At 3:50 enjoy the rare opportunity of experiencing the sound of that percussion sound wave as the aircraft approaches you.

Defending forces must have been badly shaken by the simultaneous arrival of this sound, with cannon shells and bombs.

[video=youtube;Im6BlQvEckU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Im6BlQvEckU[/video]
_____________________________________

Mosquito Cannon, Gun camera and Rocket Projectile footage.
Those 6 pounder Cannon shells were just massive!

[video=youtube;QndLmfp6Y5w]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QndLmfp6Y5w[/video]

 

In my youth I was employed in BC's Plywood Industry - whence the Spruce Plywood came.

I would be interested, very interested in close up shots of disintegrated cross sections of plywood if you can find any, Martin!
- particularly if you could delaminate the layers

I am interested to know if they used Select (Knotless) Veneer in the cores as well as the face and back layers.
- it seems logical to me that knot holes would be subject to vibration failure, as well as a likely cause for moisture failure oft seen in the SE Asian campaign.

On the other hand, Knot swirls are extremely strong sections in veneer.
Perhaps large numbers of knots were a pre-requisite for weight reduction.
- In which case, the maximum allowable size of knothole would be of interest.

Old growth timber (veneer) can be very dense and heavy.
- One has to wonder if they specified lighter second growth timber.

Secondly: has there been any study on
a) the glue used to laminate the plywood?
(Exterior and Interior Grade Plywood use different glues to deal with temperature and humidity factors.
Marine Grade plywood is just that, designed for immersion in salt or lake water.)

b) or on the temperature / pressure / bake time used for this special use plywood?

I'm interested in finding out if there is any record of special technology / technique that went into production of the plywood and / or wood for this wartime application.

From: Commonwealth Plywood - Veneer Lumber Plywood Flooring

The 8,000 Mosquitos built in WWII consumed large quantities of balsa, Canadian Yellow Birch and Sitka Spruce.
When supplies of high quality wood became scarce, Douglas Fir and English Ash were sometimes substituted.

Like all other aircraft, the mosquito was not perfect. It tended to be susceptible to incendiary bullets;
however, it exhibited an ability to take tremendous punishment from conventional flak.
It was simple to repair and easy to fly. It was an aircraft for airmen who affectionately referred to it as the "Mossie".
Group Captain Basil Embrey, a heavily decorated flyer of WWII, later to become Air Chief Marshall Sir Basil Embrey,
described the Mosquito as "the finest aeroplane, without exception, that has ever been built in this country."


Tnx!

 

Are there any surviving Mk. 33 Sea Mosquito (naval version) with folding wings and arrestor gear, used from Royal Navy aircraft carriers?
That would be something to see!





A Mk. 33 Sea Mosquito from the Sinai Campaign

 

Wow - you've been busy today, Fred !

Leave it with me, and I will find answers to all your questions ( as you'll see from the 'How To Fit Engines' thread, I could have asked earlier today !).

I've actually wondered myself about 'knots' but have never asked...now I will !

 

Found it!

Reprint of Government Specifications MIL-S-6073 and MIL-P-6070 for Aircraft Grade Spruce & Plywood.

Lumber specifications listed elsewhere.

"From the vast forests of the “Big Sky Country” in the Pacific Northwest comes the Sitka Spruce for your aircraft.
Lumber inspectors are sent to the mills in British Columbia and Alaska as the ravages of two wars have depleted
almost all of the “old growth” in the United States from which aircraft grade Spruce is developed.
The present aircraft Sitka Spruce production is from trees 50 to 75 years old and older.
These experts supervise the sawing at the mills, for from their many years of experience in working with
this particular grade they are able to direct the sawyers to get the best production from the log.

The lumber is sawed into large timbers and shipped from Alaska by barge to Seattle or Tacoma
and then via truck, or from Canadian points via rail, direct to the remanufacturing plant.
At that point, the lumber, which is in large timbers or “cant form”, is again sawed slowly and carefully by trained
sawyers with 30 to 40 years experience who “upgrade” the aircraft grade from the high-grade cants developed at the mill.
To meet the specification of “Aircraft Sitka Spruce” grade, the lumber must be kiln dried to a government specification known as AN-W-2.
This specification requires that the specific gravity shall be not less than .36,
the slope of the grain shall not be steeper than 1 in 15, must be sawn vertical-grain
(sometimes called edge-grained), and shall have no fewer than six annular rings per inch.
Pitch pockets, bark pockets, streaks, compression wood, wane and brashness cannot be admitted.
Certain very tight knots are allowed under certain conditions.
After the kiln drying operation, further grading is done and if, after surfacing, no defects are found,
it is ready for milling to size and final inspection per government specification MIL-S-6073.
The rate of rejection at this point is extremely high even though there has been constant grading and selection at many points beforehand.
You can readily appreciate why the industry refers to aircraft Sitka Spruce as the “Cream of the Crop”.
Although the supply is now limited, the same rigid standards are maintained as were held in the selection of spars
for Charles Lindbergh’s “Spirit of St. Louis” and the thousands of planes used in both World Wars."

"Aircraft spruce spars are available either S2S (surfaced 2 sides, top & bottom, with rough edges in 4" & 6" nominal width)
or S4S (surfaced all 4 sides to thickness & width)."

Plywood http://www.wicksaircraft.com/catalog/product_cat.php/subid=8091/index.html

"Plywood for aircraft is produced by using glues of the thermosetting, synthetic-resin type. Aircraft plywood meets MIL-P-6070.
The quality requirements for plywood to be used in aircraft are much more exacting than for industrial plywood in general.
The mill specification requires that the plywood be tested for general condition of boards, deviations of thickness,
moisture content, tensile strength of wood, gluing strength, bending test, torsion test and immersion test/boiling test.
Plywood is factory certified. MIL-P-6070 is laminated in a hot press with waterproof glue.
90° grain runs with 8 ft direction. 45° grain runs diagonal; use for spar facing."

From what I have read elsewhere the "immersion test/boiling test" is three hours in boiling water.

 

I seem to recall that the Sitka Spruce came from logging catchment areas like the now infamous
(Spotted Owl and ancient rainforest) protected areas like Carmanah Walbran Provincial Park

It is still in use to this day. Aircraft Spruce and Specialty Company.



Its strange. None of my family or family friends ever flew Mossies, and I have never seen one live in person. Ever.
Yet I have been fascinated by Mossie's since I was a child, more so than any other aircraft, WW2 or otherwise.
(And I am a hang gliding addict.)

 

More photos, especially early days, on the project at TA122

 

The short answer is, I'm afraid, NO.

The TR.33 entered production in November 1945 and only 50 were built. The first 14 had non-folding wings, the remainder had manually-folding (non-hydraulic ) wings. Most of these aircraft were sold off as surplus to the Israeli air force during the mid-1950s.

Ironically, one major relic of these aircraft survives - the wing of the very one I'm involved with, TA122 at the Mossie Museum, was recovered in derelict condition from a Kibbutz in Israel in 1980. This wing is thought to be from either TS449 or TW233, both of which were pre-production TR.33s with non-folding wings ( basically FB.VI wings with beefed-up undercarriages ).

( The above information is subject to amendment if someone finds 20 of them buried beneath the desert....... )

 

The undercarriage of TA 122 is impressive. I didn't realise how solid these could be. The team is doing a tremendous amount of restoration work

 

A nice, quiet day at the Museum today and a chance to catch up with new acquisitions....Mosquito FBVI TA122 'acquired' a nice, late-war type wing roundel over the Jubilee weekend..



And the Museum has acquired a rather interesting 500lb Target Indicator ( daylight type ). A set of fins needs to be fitted, but it's nice to have it displayed with the 627 Squadron Bombing Trophy - as daylight low-level marking was 627's 'trade'......



And finally, a visit by well-known screen and theatre actor Tom Conti and his lady, here chatting to Mosquito team leader Bob Glasby....



They certainly displayed a keen interest in all the exhibits......

 

Tom Conti....Get him on the forums....One of my favourite geezers....

 

Since Martin Bull has gone quiet for a spell...

The Mosquito Aka "The Wooden Wonder" or "The Timber Terror" - Canada at War Forums has some information on the Mosquito construction process,
- as well as lot of trivia information and photos, all of which makes for a good read.

"The bulk of the aircraft was made of laminated plywood The Mosquito's unique wood construction allowed parts to be made in furniture factories across Britain and Canada. To construct the fuselage, 3/8" sheets of Ecuadorean balsawood sandwiched between sheets of Canadian birch was formed inside large concrete molds. Each mold held half of the fuselage and once dry, the control lines and wires were installed and the two halves were glued and screwed together. To complete the process, the fuselage was covered in a doped "Madapolam Woven Cotton" finish. Construction of the wings followed a similar process, and a minimal amount of metal was used to reduce weight."

 

Funnily enough, I was just about to add to this thread

Last Sunday was an occasion for a bit of 'party' at the Museum - a special turnout of members past and present to celebrate the 90th Birthday of our 'resident veteran', Reg Davey. Bob Glasby presented a framed print signed on the back by all of us, of a rather special Lancaster...



We'd remembered that Reg's Lancaster Tour with 514 Squadron had taken place on radial-engined Lanc II's and Reg was 'well chuffed' that we'd got it right, and not given hime a Merlin-engined print !

And here's a posed shot with Bob Glasby and De Havilland historian and author, Philip Birtles...



We all toasted Reg in the clubhouse......survivor of the legendary Nuremberg Raid, a tour on Stirlings with 218 Squadron, a tour on Lanc II's with 514 Squadron and ending the War with a few ops on Mosquitoes with 139 Squadron.

Salute !

 

Open to the public again after the Winter break ; a new, raised storage area was built recently which lets me nip up the stairs to get some higher-level pics of the Mossies...





And spy on the workers, who can be seen examining a pair of relic Hispano cannon on the right..



On display are the new set of 'Hispano 20mm Cannon', which will - hopefully very soon - be fitted into the gunbays.....





And so another year gets under way, with plenty of work to do..............