de Havilland DH. 98 Mosquito | Wooden Wonder

Warbirds Online has a very great interest in the de Havilland DH.98 Mosquito, an aircraft which was unique in that it was a hugely successful aircraft of WWII and was the only mass produced combat aircraft of the era constructed largely of wood.

The Mosquito was so successful that it was to perform a wide range of roles including Fighter, Night Fighter, Fighter Bomber, Bomber , Reconnaissance, Pathfinder and Trainer to name a few.

As I was growing up in Western NSW in the 1960s the de Havilland Mosquito was in fact the first “Warbird” I ever came across near Narromine, NSW. During WWII an RAF Squadron, 618 was based at Narromine and was a top secret base for the deployment of the “Highball” bouncing bomb. I was able to climb over many of the wrecks of these special aircraft which had been purchased post war by local farmers for the metal fittings they contained.

Today Warbirds Online presents a varied selection of images of the many de Havilland Mosquitos we have visited worldwide, with an emphasis on the many aircraft being restored across the globe.

The Mosquito is a real restoration challenge, being wooden in that the skill set required to restore one is very different to many other WWII aircraft. The wooden construction also ensured that surviving aircraft tend to be past airworthy restoration as the timber and ply deteriorate to the point that it is structurally unsound as does the glue holding the structures together.

Luckily thanks to a group of New Zealand (NZ) restorers it is now possible to construct a complete wooden airframe from the ground up and fly them and over the past decade 3 have flown from the Ardmore NZ airfield with the promise of more to come. The main driving forces behind these aircraft were the late Glyn Powell who pioneered the reverse engineering of the wooden airframe and Warren Denholm of Avspecs who completed the assembly and restoration of the Mosquito.

Throughout the world many enthusiasts and Museums maintain a healthy fleet of displayed aircraft and restorations with recent activity in the UK also aimed at restoring one or two aircraft to flight.

One of the major highlights of our travels has been several visits to the spiritual home of the Mosquito. The de Havilland Aircraft Museum at Salisbury Hall, Shenley, London Colney near London. This Museum is located at the site of the original design of the prototype Mosquito which is one of the 3 Mosquitos on display as well as a host of other DH series aircraft.

Warbirds Online has also visited many of the other surviving de Havilland DH.98 Mosquitos throughout the World  and has collected a large selection of images from those expeditions over the years.

© John Parker 2021

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