Wooden Wonder: The de Havilland DH.98 ‘Mosquito’ Story in Pictures

• During World War II, the de Havilland Mosquito, a wood-based bomber with exceptional agility and light weight, was the flagship aircraft of the Royal Air Force.
• Although the RAF was originally skeptical of the Mosquito’s wooden structure, it was in favor of mounting a purely defensive weapon.
• Because they flew faster than the Spitfire and were difficult for German night fighters to intercept, the Mosquito was used extensively in daylight attacks.

Although the Supermarine Spitfire and Hawker Hurricane are perhaps more famous, the aircraft that most embodies the Royal Air Force (RAF) in World War II may be the de Havilland Mosquito. As the Nazi war machine grew rapidly in Germany, the British Air Ministry was looking for a short to medium range bomber.

Although the Royal Air Force already had  powerful long-range heavy bombers like the Handley Page Halifax II, the force needed lighter and more agile bombers. So the company went to the well-known manufacturer de Havilland.

The business was already renowned for producing fast and agile aircraft, and it was difficult to develop a twin-engine jet that could outrun opposing fighters. Made of lightweight wood, de Havilland’s original design was based on the company’s Albatross aircraft. He felt that the RAF would be most satisfied with a bomber with at least a skin surface.

The de Havilland DH.98 ‘Mosquito’ Story

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RAF skepticism

Geoffrey de Havilland thought that a wood-built bomber could exceed the requirements set by the RAF based on his expertise in the Albatross aircraft. According to BAE Systems, the aircraft manufacturer expected that timber would remain abundant, while steel and aluminum would become scarce in the event of a conflict with Germany.

De Havilland thought he could build an airplane with a maximum speed of 300 mph by reducing the amount of equipment on board. They eventually settled on a concept that would use two Rolls-Royce Merlin engines to outrun any opposing aircraft.

The absence of a machine gun turret simplified the production of the aircraft and reduced unnecessary drag. While the RAF preferred large crewed bombers with heavy armament under current thinking Mosquito could be flown with a pilot and navigator.

During the war, the Air Ministry became more interested

The Air Ministry halted the de Havilland project and instructed the aircraft manufacturer to build wings for other aircraft because they were still not convinced that a weakly armed fast bomber was a good idea. When war broke out in 1939, the Air Ministry was more interested in de Havilland’s fast bomber, but was unconvinced by the aircraft’s lack of armament. Lightly armed bombers had previously caused problems for the RAF, and it was precisely for this reason that the Halifax II was mostly withdrawn from high-risk operations.

In an effort to make things better, de Havilland agreed to include two machine guns in the design one each at the front and one at the rear. The Air Ministry will soon fully support this initiative with new defensive weapons.

On November 25, 1940, the prototype Mosquito made its first flight. By 1941, despite being a much larger aircraft, it was outpacing the Spitfire Mk II in terms of speed. The Air Ministry signed an order for 1,378 Mosquitoes in June 1941 and agreed to mass produce the aircraft. The National Museum of the United States Air Force claims the aircraft was used for photographic camouflage when it was originally put into service.

After a September 1942 raid on Oslo, Norway, the Mosquitos were part of a fleet of aircraft assigned to destroy a major Eindhoven plant. A year ago, day after day, the industries and railroads of German-occupied Europe were targets of mosquito raids.

Daylight raids

According to the National Air and Space Museum, the RAF used its Mosquitoes between 1942 and 1944 to carry out daylight raids and heavy bombers against targets in Germany. The speed of the planes not only caused problems for the Germans, but also made it difficult for the Luftwaffe’s slow night fighters to intercept them.

On 21 May 1945, the Mosquito fought its final battle, searching the seas off the Scottish coast for German submarines. A total of 7,781 mosquitoes were produced in the UK, Canada and Australia between 1940 and 1950.

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