Hunsdon airfield in February 1944 for
Operation Jericho. To do this he is
adopting many of the construction
techniques used for the building of
the original and he’s applying the
same materials of spruce, plywood
and balsa.
Referred to as the “Wooden Wonder”,
The De Havilland Mosquito was
originally conceived by Geoffrey de
Havilland during the early part of
WW2 as an unarmed “fast bomber”
and photo reconnaissance plane
constructed largely of wood. RAF
chiefs initially disregarded the
proposed design since they thought
the idea of an unarmed, wooden
aeroplane was crazy. The plane
quickly received upgrades which
allowed it to carry a vast array of
weaponry and bombs; thus the plane
Max Sparks flew – a fighter-bomber
variant, the FB.VI – carried 4 Browning
.303 machine guns in the nose and 4
20mm Hispano cannons underneath
embedded in the fuselage’s underside,
and could carry up to 4 500lb bombs
(two in the bomb bay and one
underneath each wing).
31
