Mosquito Bomber plans found

More than 20,000 technical drawings of a World War Two aircraft have been found at a factory in Flintshire.

Blueprints of the Mosquito were thought to have been lost but were discovered by Airbus in an office it was closing down in Broughton.

The twin-engine bomber was the fastest and one of the most versatile aircraft to serve during the war.

The find has boosted plans by a group, the People's Mosquito Project, to rebuild the bomber.

The Mosquito, which was largely made from plywood and balsa, was decommissioned by the RAF in 1943.

Bill Ramsey, the project's operations director, who served in the RAF for 41 years, said the drawings weighed 67kgs (148 lbs) in total and were going to be thrown into a skip.

**LINK**

Don't you mean decommissioned in 1963?

Martin C

Fantastic news, the RAF could do with a new fighter. Seriously,glad the person who found them had a sense of history!

Tony

Fake news. The last airworthy Mosquito crashed at an airshow a few years back. It was based at Broughton, flew from there and was serviced there. I seem to recall the remains went back to Broughton. If this story came from someone at Broughton, they deserve the sack for lack of historical knowledge. Come on someone in the know -where is she.

Dennis

Edited By DMR on 09/08/2017 15:30:32

If it's fake news, they have done a great job hoodwinking most of the UK press including the BBC, not least faking lots of photos. Do you know something they don't?

What they found was drawings, not a plane....

Agreed, lots of misinformation there. Looks like they haven't found drawings but 35mm microfilm cards of the drawings. Also, the drawings shown in the link aren't blueprints either. Proper blueprints have a white line on a vivid blue background. Dyeline prints on the other hand can have a blueish purple line on a white background.

Yes, in my time working in engineering from '75 to '88, I only ever saw 2 actual blueprints - one of them for a mechanism first used on Wellingtons which was going through its approval whilst the Bismarck was loose in the North Atlantic. Dyeline prints have a limited life and will fade out yellowish white in a few years.

On the other hand, if the microfiches can be enlarged to readable original-size repros, what's not to like?

Edited By Mick Burmeister 1 on 09/08/2017 17:44:28

Meanwhile three Mosquitos have been built, another on it's way, and more to come. All without the "essential" plans.

Mind you DH didn't have any plans before they started either.

Ian S C

I worked on the last RAF mosquito and put it into long term storage back in 1965, apparently it was still in fly able condition then. It was located at RAF Hullavington then, but I have no idea what happened to it after that.

Dave

Edited By Samsaranda on 09/08/2017 18:35:17

The ones in the picture are 35mm aperture cards. It was my job 40 years ago to make prints from those on photographic paper or film up to 60" x 40". I also spent some time before that as a microfilm camera operator. We did lots of work for the MOD, AWRE and AEA.

Just ask google for "mosquito+broughton". Lots of stories and news coverage of the crash in Manchester. I lived in a house in Chester until 1984 and it flew over when heading out or back in the right direction. No mistaking those twin Merlins sounds.We always went out to look if we were quick enough as the pilot lived close by and buzzed his own house. Nobody locally would have said that of course if he were still alive. You couldn't fail to love to see it and it never flew at night, so never really disturbed anyone.

Dennis

Edited By DMR on 09/08/2017 21:04:26

Currently what is done with these aperture cards is to scan them to PDF format (or whatever is company preference) for viewing on a computer screen.

Martin C

A few years ago I acquired some lovely Australian Coachwood plywood from a mate named Ivor F. (Now deceased).

Ivor found the ply at Hawker De Havilland's old works at Bankstown in Sydney and sent me a birthday card made from 1mm Mosquito plywood - it's inspection date is stamped October 1944. (I shall try to take a photo but might have to try UV light as the stamp is fading)

I managed to purchase about 1 m² from Ivor and used it to good effect on competition aeromodels.

Imagine the weight of crappy 'liteply' with the strength and stiffness of finest Scandinavian birch ply with an epoxy type bond. (The epoxy type bond was required when aircraft fell apart in the heat and humidity of the tropics). Each time I fly these models I think that a little bit of a Mosquito is still flying.

It is so sad that Australia does not produce such beautiful wood nowadays.

* Danny M *

When ever we needed a drawing, we got a print from a 35mm aperture card, so cannot see why anyone should turn up their nose at those, rather than blue or dye line prints. Superior in my view.

The De Haviland Museum at London Colney are in the process of restoring a very early Mosquito. One of the few that actually flew from London Colney factory!

It would be splendid if it could be got to the state where it got a C of A. But that would cost a lot of time and money.

Howard

Edited By Howard Lewis on 10/08/2017 20:18:47

I have a copy of Norman Barfields book, Broughton from Wellington to Airbus, which chronicles the history of the factory from 1939 to the present day. Cheap copies are currently available on Ebay.

Apparently the last were 65 mosquitoes ever built were made at Broughton by De Haviland all between 1948 and 1950. The drawings recently discovered may well be a legacy from that period of production.

When Dad was de mobbed in 1946 he went straight to work at the Broughton factory and remained there until his retirement in the mid eighties. He never mentioned working on the Mosquitoes but he did work on the Hornet which was in production at the same time

Geoff

he did work on the Hornet which was in production at the same time

I like the Hornet, it has a real boy racer look about it

Up to twice the range and 100MPH faster than a Mosquito

Edited By Ady1 on 11/08/2017 09:41:13

Edited By Ady1 on 11/08/2017 09:45:03

And another one on the way. Ian S C

Howard - The Mosquito at the DH museum to which I think you refer is the original prototype and I'm fairly sure that the restoration is now complete. It's been restored for static display and can never fly (shame!) The prototype was built at London Colney, dismantled, transported to Hatfield, reassembled and then test flown. The design office was in Salisbury Hall at London Colney and is still standing, though it's now a private residence.

"I like the Hornet, it has a real boy racer look about it

Up to twice the range and 100MPH faster than a Mosquito"

... and contra-rotating props, so the driver didn't need one strong leg!!

Back in the 60s, CFS(H) got tasked to pick up an ex-Mossie wheel and tyre from a local-ish farm and deliver it to Salisbury Hall, which we duly did. It was still actively involved as the Mossie Museum and fascinating to look around. No digi-cams in those days, unfortunately!

rgds

Bill

I found a small wheel and tyre on a nature reserve at Hams Hall, too large to bring home.

Directly under the flight path for Castle Bromwich I wonder if it fell off the tail end of a Spitfire on its maiden flight

Neil