85 years of the legendary de Havilland Mosquito aircraft

November 25 marked the 85th anniversary of one of the best aircraft of World War II, the de Havilland Mosquito. On that day in 1940, its first prototype took flight at an airfield in the small town of Hatfield, about 30 km from London. The aircraft was created by the British company de Havilland Aircraft.

Even before World War II, the Royal Air Force (RAF) was in dire need of a new medium bomber. At that time, most developers envisioned such an aircraft as all-metal with powerful defensive armament. However, de Havilland proposed a completely different concept: a machine made mainly of wood, with very good aerodynamics, whose only protection would be its high speed. This is exactly how the Mosquito was created. The concept proved to be entirely justified — it was difficult for the fighters of that time to intercept these aircraft.

Serial production of the Mosquito ended only in 1950. In total, more than 7,780 units were built in factories in England, Canada, and Australia. There are at least 40 known variants and dozens of modifications. The Mosquito proved to be an excellent platform for creating aircraft for various purposes: high-speed bombers, reconnaissance aircraft, fighter-bombers, day and night fighters, torpedo bombers, and even mail and passenger aircraft.

One of the best bomber variants was the B.Mk XVI with two Rolls-Royce Merlin 77 liquid-cooled engines with a maximum power of 1,655 hp each. It had a length of 12.64 m, a wingspan of 16.51 m, a maximum take-off weight of 11,340 kg, a maximum speed of 668 km/h, a range of almost 2,400 km with drop tanks, and could carry over 1,800 kg of bombs.

The vast majority of Mosquitos were supplied to Great Britain and its dominions. In addition, during and after the war, the aircraft were supplied to 16 other countries, including Belgium, Venezuela, Israel, China, France, the United States, Sweden, and Yugoslavia.

During World War II, the Mosquito was used in many theaters of war and earned a very high reputation — it was not for nothing that it was called a “wooden wonder.” The crews carried out many unique operations. On January 30, 1943, two daring daytime raids on Berlin disrupted the pompous celebration of the 10th anniversary of the Nazis' rise to power. In the post-war period, the aircraft continued to participate in combat operations, particularly in the Middle East and during the civil war in China.

The wooden construction did not prevent the Mosquito from serving for a long time – the RAF decommissioned its last aircraft of this family in 1963.