James’ plane will be 1/8th the size
of the original, with a wingspan of
over two metres. He intends to bring
it into the 21st century courtesy
of complicated electronics, learnt
through his experience of electric
helicopters. He is working from the
plans of Brian Taylor; he opened them
on the floor of the living room. I’m
someone who recently gave up on
putting together an Argos sofa bed
after two minutes and just looking
at these plans hurt my brain. “When
I laid them out for the first time I
thought ‘Oh my goodness! What have
I committed to? I don’t know how to
do half of this stuff!’ ” James admitted.
“Then I thought I’d start with a wing
and I found as I studied the plans and
looked at individual bits I’d start to
work them out. Taken as a whole you
just couldn’t do it. You have to take it
in little sections and solve problems
as you come across them. Thankfully
my dad is a metal worker and wood
worker by trade – he’s an amazing
resource for asking how to do stuff.”
James and his family bought Max’s old
house at a discount because so much
work needed doing: there was no
central heating or insulation and the
place was crying out for redecoration.
The downstairs renovation is nearly
complete, but then there will be more
work to do on it. James also works
as an IT contractor, has a daughter,
Harriet, to take care of, plus there is
another child on the way. So it’s not as
if James can spend all day every day
working on the Mosquito. He believes
he’ll be lucky if the model is flying this
year, the likelihood is it will be 2017 by
the time it’s up in the air. But better a
proper tribute then than an incomplete
one sooner, and this gives time to
drum up the interest the project
deserves and hopefully gain a decent
sized audience for when the replica
flies, an occasion James predicts “will
be quite an amazing day.”
And so an old NHS prescription has
helped trigger a remarkable act of
respect on the part of James Mills, and
I look forward to the time construction
and painting are complete and the
result of his venture takes to the skies
with Max Sparks’ and his navigator
Arthur Dunlop’s names stencilled
onto the fuselage in what will be a
wonderfully fitting tribute.
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