As announced some time ago - the first pictures of the Veterans album I received

[Griffon]

Hello all!

some may have read about the treasure trove I received some time ago.
I finally found the time to do a scan and rework it a little, although the scanner back at my parents house is a really old one which does not feature great quality;

I do present the first picture I scanned though, crash landed Mosquito with serial ending "466"
it came down on the beach near St. Brieux, so maybe this helps in identifying it.
the other shots I have from this Mossie do not help in identifying it, as they do not show any serial or marking.

maybe the experts here can trace this Mossie via the last three digits of its serial.

cheers from Vienna
phil

[Fairlop]

Hi Phil,

Probably, it´s a B Mk.IV or B Mk.IX. See glassed-in nose and narrow propeller blades for example.
I cannot see part of s/n clear but if it´s "466" there is a chance that DZ466 - Mark IV, is your machine.
A little bit strange for me is fact there are no codes. If it was PR camo, OK it should be photo-reco machine.

Regards,
Michal

[Dénes Bernád]

I think I have a couple of photos of probably the same machine, already camouflaged with fishing nets.

Can you confirm the numbers visible on the fuselage (bottom left corner)?

[Griffon]

Hello Denes!

I do have some more photos of this machine, amongst them one of the already camouflaged machine too.
the other show the Mossie from various angles, on from about its 2 o´clock position, where the bent props can be clearly seen.
as all three are bent, the engines were running still when the machine bellied in.
but as I have posted already, not one picture does show the unit code.
the only picture that has some recognition thingies on it is the one I have posted, and I can confirm the number "466" from this picture.

[Graham Boak]

The red/blue roundel on the fuselage suggests a PR machine. The early ones did fly in camouflage other then PRU Blue.

[Stig Jarlevik]

Guys

DZ466 from 540 Sq went missing on a PR sortie in the Paris area on 20.2.1943
Source RAF Aircraft DA100 - DZ999 by Jim Halley and Air Britain

Cheers
Stig

[Hans Nauta]

Gentleman,

Think I've the answer what might match with the concerned Mossie:

DZ466 540 Squadron
Missing from PR sorties to Paris area 20.2.43

Just with the aid of this useful link:

http://www.dehavilland.ukf.net/_DH98%20prodn%20list.txt

As far as I can see it's a copy of the info from the Air Britain RAF Serials.

Best regards,
Hans Nauta

[Hans Nauta]

Ok Stig, you've beaten me with 6 minutes!

Hans

[Fairlop]

I found the connection for B Mk.IV version shape and DZ466. "Converted to PR.IV between 5-12-1942 and 21-3-1943"...

Michal

[Andy Fletcher]

20Feb43 F/O Payne and Sgt Kent 540 Sqn (Mosquito DZ466) took off from Benson to make a photographic reconnaissance of Vienna and Linz area but failed to return.

Best Regards

Andy Fletcher