Mosquito gets finishing touches

[jack973]

Mosquito gets finishing touches

in War Articles / by Jack / on August 8, 2012 at 09:57 /

After seven years of painstaking restoration, the finishing touches are going on an old World War II bomber near Auckland. The combat aircraft is special because its frame was made almost entirely from wood, and when it first entered production in 1941 it was the fastest operational aircraft in the world. Revealed at Ardmore airport, the De Havilland Mosquito FB26 is the only one of its kind to be restored for flight, but it’s not finished yet.

The mosquito will hopefully be in the air soon

A team of eight warbird engineers are in top gear to get the fighter bomber ready to take to the skies next month, an event which will mark the 70th anniversary of the first flight of a Canadian-built Mosquito and commemorate the New Zealand pilots who flew them. “There are a lot of other WWII aeroplanes around you can look at, but these guys remember the Mosquito so fondly – it’s going to be fantastic to give them the opportunity to see it again,” says director of Av Specs Warren Denholm.
It has taken seven years and approximately $3 million to restore the plane up to this point, a tab picked up by a wealthy American collector.

When Av Specs began the project they only had old photos to work with in what is called a ‘basket case restoration’. “It was so had it you could have fitted it in a basket and carried it home,” says Mr Denholm. Nicknamed the ‘Wooden Wonder’, the plane is made almost entirely from wood which had rotted and had to be re-crafted, but all the metal components are original, including the twin Rolls Royce Merlin engines.

“We’ve done all the metal bits, all the fittings and fixtures that bolt on to the woodwork and the systems that make it fly,” says aircraft engineer Paul Levitt. Over the next month the Mosquito will be painted with RAF green and grey camouflage, and it’ll wear the markings of 487 Squadron, a famous New Zealand squadron that served in WWII.

http://www.warhistoryonline.com/war-art ... uches.html

[jack973]

Images: How To Fit Mosquito Engines…….

http://www.warhistoryonline.com/feature ... gines.html

[JohnB]

Only $3 million to date?
Seems awfully inexpensive considering the going price for SE warbirds..(heck, Raytheon wants $1 for a Baron nowdays).

[JohnB]

At that price I'll take one!

With all the molds having been made, I wonder if they'll beuild any from scratch...or do they need a donor airframe for metal bits and of course, dataplate?

[JDK]

With all the molds having been made, I wonder if they'll beuild any from scratch...or do they need a donor airframe for metal bits and of course, dataplate?

There's a LOT of metal in an all-wooden aircraft... Having visited Glyn Powell's workshop in January this year, it's an incredible achievement. Glyn showed Dave Homewood and myself a huge amount of the 'other' stuff you need to make a Mosquito, aswell as his example's main construction - wing and fuselage - which is structurally complete. 'We' need more Mozzies to be built, plus Glyn needs (IMHO) to see a return on investment of his Mosquito building kit, the moulds and jigs, to help pay for the completion of his own example. So if anyone's prepared to put cash behind another - or more - Mosquitoes, that would be A Good Thing.

Regards,

[JohnB]

One possible customer:
A new wing & fuselage might be the best (only?) way for Mr. Week's example to get airworthy again after sitting for so many years in an environment that's had unknown affects on its wood structure.

Also, the molds could be used for FSM's should someone want to do a remake of 633 Squadron. Perhaps our New Zealand friends can talk him into it.

James, did he say if he had a supply of the necessary metal parts to make more? Or are they pieces that would be fairly easy (but expensive I'm sure) to produce?

Last edited by JohnB on Thu Aug 09, 2012 10:57 am, edited 1 time in total.

[JFS61]

Also, the molds could be used for FSM's should someone wantto do a remake of 633 Squadron. Perhaps our New Zealan friends can talk him into it.

Yes, pretty please! The original had its moments (and remains a great childhood favorite) but the plot and special effects left a lot to be desired at times. Could make a great film in the hands of the right director (with the right budget).

[JDK]

One possible customer:
A new wing & fuselage might be the best (only?) way for Mr. Week's example airworthy again after sitting for so many years in an environment that's had unknown affects on its wood structure.

That's about right. And goes for any other extant, potentially airworthy Mosquito, excepting a couple. Bear in mind the glues were either casein or ureaformaldehyde - neither very nice or safe 60+ years on.

Also, the molds could be used for FSM's should someone wantto do a remake of 633 Squadron. Perhaps our New Zealan friends can talk him into it.

They aren't that kind of moulds. A fibreglass FSM would require an external ('female') mould rather than the internal moulds used for the wooden construction. Also the Mosquito moulds are designed to form a wooden sandwich construction - the wall thickness of the wooden structure of the real Mosquito and the engineering structure would be utterly different.

To make 'lookalike' Mosquitoes would just be a different process.

James, did he say if he had a supply of the necessary metal parts to make more? Or are they pieces that would be fairly easy (but expensive I'm sure) to produce?

We didn't discuss that as such. However anyone serious about wanting a Mosquito (or two) with the cash to make it happen would be able to obtain the required 'kit'. My personal opinion is that Glyn has a lot of that - we saw - for instance - multiple seat-back armour plates and fighter type control columns, and a lot of etc. etc...

Regards,

[ErrolC]

Also, the molds could be used for FSM's should someone wantto do a remake of 633 Squadron. Perhaps our New Zealan friends can talk him into it.

Yes, pretty please! The original had its moments (and remains a great childhood favorite) but the plot and special effects left a lot to be desired at times. Could make a great film in the hands of the right director (with the right budget).

I'd be quite happy for MOTAT's Mossie to disappear from display for a year, and come back in RAF Euro colours...
Finish off Ferrymead's to display standard too, and the budget could well still be less than a new set of fibreglass moulds

It might be better to do an Op Jericho movie rather than 633, you can throw in nice attention-grabbing conspiracy theories!!

[ZRX61]

With all the molds having been made, I wonder if they'll beuild any from scratch...or do they need a donor airframe for metal bits and of course, dataplate?

There's a LOT of metal in an all-wooden aircraft... Having visited Glyn Powell's workshop in January this year, it's an incredible achievement. Glyn showed Dave Homewood and myself a huge amount of the 'other' stuff you need to make a Mosquito, aswell as his example's main construction - wing and fuselage - which is structurally complete. 'We' need more Mozzies to be built, plus Glyn needs (IMHO) to see a return on investment of his Mosquito building kit, the moulds and jigs, to help pay for the completion of his own example. So if anyone's prepared to put cash behind another - or more - Mosquitoes, that would be A Good Thing.

Regards,

One of Tim Bartons metal shaping books has some old factory photos of all the sheet metal parts in a Mossie.

[JFS61]

In this day and age of 3-D scanning and printing, CAD driven CNC machines, etc., it shouldn't be that hard to recreate the metal kit for a Mosquito, as long as someone's willing to put in the time, effort, and (most importantly) the dollars.

[Dave Homewood]

Mosquito gets finishing touches

in War Articles / by Jack / on August 8, 2012 at 09:57 /

.....
http://www.warhistoryonline.com/war-art ... uches.html

So "Jack", are you actually well known TV3 reporter Samantha Hayes from New Zealand? Or have you merely stolen her article and photo from the TV3 website, put it on your own site and placxed your name to it??

http://www.3news.co.nz/Mosquito-gets-fi ... fault.aspx

[Dave Homewood]

If you want to hear my interview with Warren Denholm of Avspecs in a special edit purely about the Mosquito project, click here:
http://wingsovernewzealand94621.podomat ... 3_30-07_00

[Firebird]

We didn't discuss that as such. However anyone serious about wanting a Mosquito (or two) with the cash to make it happen would be able to obtain the required 'kit'. My personal opinion is that Glyn has a lot of that - we saw - for instance - multiple seat-back armour plates and fighter type control columns, and a lot of etc. etc...

Well, there is the People's Mosquito Project here in the UK, which is attempting to put together the means to be able to raise the cash to do just that.
They have aquired the few odds n ends remains (and identity) of a crashed/recoved NF30, but whether they could raise the money or not I'm not convinced. It might be possible once Vulcan XH558 has been grounded in the next year or, as 'joe public' will need something else to 'support' once the tin triangle has flown for the last time.

Not sure how the CAA will view a 'new build' Mossie on a permanent UK PTF.....hopefully favourably, but I'm also not so sure about that?

Would dearly love to be proved wrong, and would like to think if it could be done, and flown, it would/could be donated to the BBMF to operate.

[Dave Homewood]

Dave!

What??