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Additional
background Information
The Mosquito was first conceived
by DeHaviland in 1939. Because of the shortage of metal, the
British Air Ministry was less than enthusiastic about this "night
fighter" until it learned that it would use only 200 pounds
of casting.
How could an "all wood"
design have the strength to become a useful precision bomber?
Well by November 1940 the first Mosquito was in the air with
its huge Merlin engines letting it reach close to 400 mph - faster
than most fighters at that time. It would soon prove itself a
great addition to the RAF.
Painted blue to avoid detection,
it could outperform Me109Gs and FW190s. In fact, by the end of
the war, the Mossies racked up 71 FW109 kills. Of the variants,
most Mosquitoes were the fighter-bombers. Carrying 4 x 500 lb.
bombs and equpped with 4 20mm cannons, they were devastatingly
effective against the enemy. Other variants were armed with 57mm
cannons and a buldging bay door to fit a 4000 lb bomb.
Produced
by:
- Mission
and Campaign Design: Leonard Hjalmarson
- Documentation:
Leonard Hjalmarson
- Technical
Advisor: PO Prune, RAF (retired)
- QA:
Thomas Harrington
- 3d
Design: Gerard van der Harst
- Paint:
Thomas Harrington
- Sound:
David C. Copley www.kazoku.org/xp-38n
- Special
thanks to Jerry Beckwith for and crew for the Flight Model Workshop.
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