Warbird Information Exchange

Well? not too much it seems. At least as far as the fuselage is concerned.

The flat piece of the nose window almost looks perfect for it to hold its balance

Tks Mark.

It appears to make it easier to get into and out of the cockpit.

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So what happens...

The engine shop will be busy tearing down two Merlins.

Also, note the metal props.
Many Spitfires had wooden units...anyone know if Mosquitos did?
If not, why?

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That's a good one Archer
As for Mosquito having wooden propeller blades, I'm not aware.
de Havilland was, after all, a manufacturer of propellers as well.
These blades look like they may be repairable. If the bend radius is large enough & not too much material missing.
Wooden blades would make for a lower amount of engine damage.

I'd say the props were not turning when it nosed over, as one blade on each prop isn't bent, so it looks like it's nosed over with both props feathered....?
Very strange.

But the props themselves are not in the feathered position.

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Note political free signature.
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All the visible blades show strike damage.
Even if the strike is at low power, or idle, the engine should be torn down. Don't forget, there is a supercharger in there spinning at about 10 X crankshaft speed.
All of that, coming to a sudden stop, can't be a good thing.

It doesn't appear to be on a runway, so my guess would be: low power set for taxiing, brake problem (either mechanical or in the seat-to-controls interface), gentle nose-over happens, bringing the engines to a sudden stop but with minimal blade deformation due to the low power setting.

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did it have air brakes like most of the brit A/C?

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Yes, the Mosquito’s pneumatic brakes were actuated by the rudder pedals but modulated by air pressure controlled via a bicycle-brake-like lever on the control column.
Plenty of scope for pilot miss-adventure there.

Actually, when I started flying the Nanchang CJ-6 (with the same setup) I found the brake system very easy and very intuitive to use. I was surprised.

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A very belated reply from me, and an educated guess rather than anything definitive, but...

The Mosquito had problems with vibration through the wooden structure, modern operators cruise at higher power settings than might be expected to avoid rough zones of the RPM range. The economical cruise settings that would normally be used are actually very damaging, the prop/engine vibration reverbs through the structure and it can cause structural delamination and even prop reduction gear failures. My thinking is that wooden blades would make this even worse, it was certainly true for some other types (eg. Halifax) that had problems cured by fitting metal blades.

Possibly putting 2 + 2 together and making five, but seems logical to me.

It could work both ways. A metal propellor has more inertia due to higher mass and this will cause a shift in resonance frequency. Wooden props may cause a shift in the other direction. It would be dependant on the installation and resonance frequencies of the installation and wing/fuselage whether a wooden or metal prop provides better performance in this regard. It is not a given that metal props provide better vibration characteristics, you can only say that for one particular combination. I guess on the Spitfire, the balance swung in another direction, leaving them with wooden prop blades.

There is also the concurrent development of various different production methods for blade manufacturing. From shaped wooden props to metal shaped/forged props, to cast billets, to composite props... and I must have left out various other options. Different methods provided differing performance figures, different prop masses and different side effects. The eventual prop chosen was the one that scored the best on a long list of requirements, or it may just have been the one that was available or designed in-house.

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