mosquito fans

[Xasthur]

more eye candy anyone?

http://www.freeroleentertainment.com/Hellmarch_V1.wmv

the shape, the sound, the guns...i'm in love and have been for some time.

That was great, thanks mate.

[Scherf]

This is HX965, EG-C of 487 Squadron, a (nominally) New Zealand unit in 2nd Tactical Air Force. The picture was taken on 3 October 1943, ahead of the squadron's first Mosquito operation the continent, carried out in cooperation with 464 Squadron, their Australian counterparts. The two squadrons attacked a power station supplying St. Nazaire and Brest, using the lov level/shallow dive technique first used by the B.IVs of 105 and 139 Squadrons.

Note the stub exhausts for this daylight operation (up 13.00, down 15.30 according to the 464 Squadron ORB, which is available online via www.naa.gov.au).

This aircraft continued to fly (though not always with front-line units) until lost in the Bodenplatte attack.



Photo from Imperial War Museum site.

[Scherf]

This here is HX913 of 464 Squadron, photo taken in late 1943.

Again note the ejector exhausts.

By the end of December '43, 464 Squadron was sending aircraft against V-1 sites in daylight. The ORB I referred to in the previous post has this aircraft up 08.40, down 10.50 on 23 December 1943, flown by (then) S/L "Daddy" Dale, who later led 21 Squadron in the attack on the Amiens prison, and was lost to flak over Holland in 1945 at the age of 39.

What with the sorties against the sites, followed by the fighter sorties to combat the incoming missiles, the V-1s do seem to have absorbed a lot of the Allied air effort.




Photo is freely available at this resolution on the IWM site - zoomed in to show stub exhausts.

[Scherf]

Truly, I love the sound of my own voice, but I can't see how to delete the dreaded double-post.

[Scherf]

.

[Scherf]

More stub exhaust spam, this time LR275 SY-B of 613 Squadron, taken in January 1944.

613 started by going after V-1 sites in daylight, and along with some later night interdiction stuff, was involved in a number of other daylight operations, against SS/Gestapo bad guys in France around the start of August '44, in support of the Arnhem landings, and notably delivering explosives and incendiaries at zero feet against the Dutch Central Population Registry in the Hague on 11 April 1944.

There are similar pics to this one (ie. with stub exhausts) of LR366 SY-L, which participated in the Hague raid, flown by F/L V.A. Hester.



Pic from Scale Aircraft Modelling Combat Colours Number 5 - no source given.

[Karnak]

That is a better shot.  Much clearer photo.  Pretty airplane too. 

[Scherf]

Yeah, sorry about the resolution on the other ones, however the advantages of the IWM shots are the official nature they convey, the added details which are sometimes on the site, the fact I can tie the 464 ones back to an ORB entry, and sometimes they are stuff one doesn't see elsewhere.

There's another fuzzy IWM shot I'm going to post later of 21 Squadron Mossies raiding an occupied airfield in daylight - smoke and dust rising from bomb strikes, detonations going off in the background, a 109 parked on the field and a trailing Mossie banking away with doors open - speed, daylight, action all come through.

(Heheheh, can't see the exhaust stubs on the trailing aircraft though...)

Naturally, IWM wants $$$ for the full-size versions, my Mossie budget doesn't run to that.

[Scherf]

Well, if we're on the subject of the  IWM and 464 Squadron anyway, here's two more of the Museum's shots of the squadron.

These two were taken on 25 February, 1944, a week after the epic raid on Amiens.


The ORB describes two operations that day, both against V-1 sites, one in the morning (up 11.35, down 13.25) and one in the afternoon (up 16.30 down 18.15). Once again, note the stub exhausts for the daylight operation (insert flogging dead horse gif here).

The aircraft in the foreground of both shots is identified by the IWM as MM403, likely coded SB-V. It was flown on the morning mission by Captain Andy Wakeman, an American who'd initially flown with the RAF before transferring "back" to the USAAF. He was sadly lost just after D-Day in a takeoff accident in a different aircraft.





Again, IWM photos from their site.

[Scherf]

Meh, can't help myself.

Here's the airfield raid shot I mentioned above.



Photo taken from Karnak's Mossie as Scherf banks away, LW Orange last night.

Actually, no. It wasn't all V-1 sites in daylight. This is from April 1944, as Mosquitos from 21 Squadron attack hangars at Gael airfield in France.

Just one of my favourite Mosquito shots.

There's another shot from the same series, showing a (37mm?) flak gun firing just behind the tail of the aircraft taking the shot, with dust rising from a delayed-action bomb strike rising next to the gun tower...

[RTHolmes]

this may be a dumb question but why 5 stubs not 6 for a V12 engine?

[Karnak]

this may be a dumb question but why 5 stubs not 6 for a V12 engine?

The sixth one couldn't be fit in due to the position of the radiator, so the last two cylinders on each side share a stub.

[moot]

I was thinking that.. Strange then that they used the same size stub for double the thruput.

[Scherf]

The sixth one couldn't be fit in due to the position of the radiator, so the last two cylinders on each side share a stub.

True up to a point. The stubs for the Merlin 2x series FB.VIs ended up this way after initial experience in '42 and early '43 with the daylight bombers and recce machines.

Karnak mentioned earlier in the thread that the day bomber squadrons had aircraft with stubs instead of baffles, in order to gain back 10 or 12 mph. Here's one of them, DK336 GB-P of 105 Squadron, taken before Operation Oyster, the attack on the Philips works at Eindhoven, on 6 December 1942.



From memory, 627 Squadron retained the six-stub configuration on the B.IVs it had for low-level marking from April '44 onwards. Will check.

[Scherf]

No indeed, the (low-level marker/bomber) 627 Sqn. fellows had the 5 stubs.

The Mosquitos equipped with two-stage, two-speed Merlins (recognisable by the additional intake immediately below the spinner) all had six stubs. This includes the Bomber boys - it was judged that the greater speed was worth the possibility of the exhaust flames being seen, though the early night bombers had the baffles, of which more later.