All metal Mosquito ??

[Markus Becker]

Follow up question.

Someone suggested making more Mosquitoes at the expense of heavy bombers. Someone else said this wasn´t possible as the Mosquito needed the work of expert carpenters and that all carpenters with the required skilles were already making Mosquitoes. True?

[Kutscha]

Originally Posted by Markus Becker

Follow up question.

Someone suggested making more Mosquitoes at the expense of heavy bombers. Someone else said this wasn´t possible as the Mosquito needed the work of expert carpenters and that all carpenters with the required skilles were already making Mosquitoes. True?

Markus, considering the number of women one sees in photos building Mossies, I wouldn't put much stock in that statement.

[Markus Becker]

Originally Posted by Kutscha

Markus, considering the number of women one sees in photos building Mossies, I wouldn't put much stock in that statement.

Sounds right. I did a few searches in that online book and "skill" comes up once, "carpenter" and "unskilled" never.

[Nick Beale]

Originally Posted by Kutscha

Markus, considering the number of women one sees in photos building Mossies, I wouldn't put much stock in that statement.

Can't women become skilled carpenters then?

[Kutscha]

Originally Posted by Nick Beale

Can't women become skilled carpenters then?

Only after several years in the trade. Actually the proper trade name would be cabinet makers. Do not ever call a cabinet maker a carpenter!

[Six Nifty .50s]

Originally Posted by Markus Becker

Follow up question.

Someone suggested making more Mosquitoes at the expense of heavy bombers. Someone else said this wasn´t possible as the Mosquito needed the work of expert carpenters and that all carpenters with the required skilles were already making Mosquitoes. True?

I'm sure that deep in the bowels of the British National Archives there lies at least one prewar economic study that compared the estimated number of skilled carpenters with the estimated number of skilled metal workers in the United Kingdom.

The low wing aluminum monoplane was a relatively new technology in the 1930s. As a side note, nearly all wartime fast patrol boats and subchasers were mainly of wooden construction. Steel was too heavy and aluminum welding techniques were not refined enough for efficient mass production. In other words, the shipyards and the admiralty had to compete with other industries for the services of highly experienced carpenters.

[MarkRS]

Originally Posted by Six Nifty .50s

As a side note, nearly all wartime fast patrol boats and subchasers were mainly of wooden construction.

Even further aside, the Admiralty supplied the plans for wooden fast patrol boats to the Russians who in turn were supplying them to other countries at least into the 1980s. Vosper Thornicroft fitted out at least 6 fpts with modern weapon systems and a fibreglass skin on the hull.

[glider1]

Markus
To quote loss rates is meaningless as the missions were very different. True the loss rates of the Mosquito were at times higher than the Blenhiem particually in the early days. However the missions were often beyond the wildest dreams of a Blenhiem squadron or any other squadron of any airforce. Amongst the early missions were the unescorted daylight raids over Berlin, unthinkable in any other aircraft.

There were also many examples of Mosquito's running away from German Fighters but also some where they were caught. At a guess with the Maximum speeds being close, the amount of fuel carried may well have had something to do with it, plus of course the tactical situation. If the Mosquito has any kind of a lead then its going to take a lot of catching.

Again its true to say that the Mosuito bombers normally operated with an escort but sometimes these had to be Mosquito fighters as nothing else had the range/speed combination. Its also true that the PR Mosquitos operated on their own with considerable success.

A final observation, Mosquito's with bulged bomb bays wold normally carry 6 x 500lb bombs on racks made by Handly Page.

[Graham Boak]

As an aside, and from direct personal experience, the rivalry between HP and DH was so intense that I'm rather surprised that HP made any bombracks for DH, even under wartime conditions. As the bulged bombbay was no longer than the original, which could only take 4x500lb if the fins were shortened, are you describing some kind of triple rack? The usual carriage of 6x500lb would be with 2 underwing.

The later Mosquito day bombers were not escorted by Mosquito fighters - the Mosquito was not employed as a day or escort fighter, not least because of its inability to fight with single-engine fighters. The Mosquito made a superb night fighter, and heavy fighter for Coastal Command, but not where enemy fighter opposition could be expected. For longer-range missions, Mustangs were available which could comfortably exceed the range of the FB Mk.VI, but 2TAF did not fly deep daylight penetrations.

The Mosquitos were indeed flying missions with deeper penetration than the Blenheims, but they were employed as a direct replacement. The point is that such missions, however spectacular from the propaganda point of view, resulted in unacceptable losses. As indeed did similar US attempts with the B-26.

[glider1]

Originally Posted by Graham Boak

As an aside, and from direct personal experience, the rivalry between HP and DH was so intense that I'm rather surprised that HP made any bombracks for DH, even under wartime conditions. As the bulged bombbay was no longer than the original, which could only take 4x500lb if the fins were shortened, are you describing some kind of triple rack? The usual carriage of 6x500lb would be with 2 underwing.

The later Mosquito day bombers were not escorted by Mosquito fighters - the Mosquito was not employed as a day or escort fighter, not least because of its inability to fight with single-engine fighters. The Mosquito made a superb night fighter, and heavy fighter for Coastal Command, but not where enemy fighter opposition could be expected. For longer-range missions, Mustangs were available which could comfortably exceed the range of the FB Mk.VI, but 2TAF did not fly deep daylight penetrations.

The Mosquitos were indeed flying missions with deeper penetration than the Blenheims, but they were employed as a direct replacement. The point is that such missions, however spectacular from the propaganda point of view, resulted in unacceptable losses. As indeed did similar US attempts with the B-26.

Briefly
Yes they were triple bomb racks and there were times when Mosquito's were used as the escort, normally they were Typhoons or Mustangs. It wasn't common but it did happen.

I will comment later on losses.