Mosquito

[Krusty]

The mosquito had range, and it had firepower, but it was NOT a fighter plane. It was never used as a pure fighter [EDIT: as in send up a squadron on a fighter sweep over the channel, as in engage only enemy fighters and clear the skies], and for a good reason. It was not highly manuverable. Oh, to be sure, it could manuver well... for a bomber, but then so could the Ju88 and so could the He111. Neither of those were put into long range fighter duties, even though the Ju88 had heavy fighter variants.

The simple matter is that, aside from pure speed, the Mosquitos would have been totally outclassed by the average 109s and 190s.

[Bronk]

Originally posted by Krusty
The mosquito had range, and it had firepower, but it was NOT a fighter plane. It was never used as a pure fighter [EDIT: as in send up a squadron on a fighter sweep over the channel, as in engage only enemy fighters and clear the skies], and for a good reason. It was not highly manuverable. Oh, to be sure, it could manuver well... for a bomber, but then so could the Ju88 and so could the He111. Neither of those were put into long range fighter duties, even though the Ju88 had heavy fighter variants.

The simple matter is that, aside from pure speed, the Mosquitos would have been totally outclassed by the average 109s and 190s.

Barring the use as a night fighter I'd like to add.




Bronk

[Karnak]

Originally posted by Krusty
The mosquito had range, and it had firepower, but it was NOT a fighter plane. It was never used as a pure fighter [EDIT: as in send up a squadron on a fighter sweep over the channel, as in engage only enemy fighters and clear the skies], and for a good reason. It was not highly manuverable. Oh, to be sure, it could manuver well... for a bomber, but then so could the Ju88 and so could the He111. Neither of those were put into long range fighter duties, even though the Ju88 had heavy fighter variants.

The simple matter is that, aside from pure speed, the Mosquitos would have been totally outclassed by the average 109s and 190s.

Not entirely true.  Mosquito FB.Mk VIs were often used as escorts for other Mosquito FB.Mk VIs.  The ones assigned as fighter cover wouldn't carry bombs and would flying above the ones assigned to strike.  Mustang Mk III and Mustang Mk IVs were also used for this.

Mosquito FB.Mk VIs were also used as escorts for Mosquito FB.Mk XVIIIs.

That said, none of the early fighter Mossies  had high blown engines, so they wouldn't have worked at all as fighter escort for the heavies.

Comparing the Mossie's effectivness as a fighter, well, no big aircraft is going to be as nimble as a single engined fighter.  The one case I can think of off hand where a squadron of Mosquito Mk VIs had a daylight fight with an Fw190A squadron resulted in 8 lost Mossies and 4 lost Fw190s.  This was a strike force of Mossies that was caught from above as it returned from the mission.  8 to 4 when fighting from a disadvantage and in a multirole aircraft isn't too bad.

[VERTEX]

The Germans considered the mossie so hard to kill that Goring would credit a pilot with two kills if it was a mossie he shot down.

[Karnak]

Originally posted by VERTEX
The Germans considered the mossie so hard to kill that Goring would credit a pilot with two kills if it was a mossie he shot down.

That is, I am pretty sure, a myth.

[Krusty]

Bronk, of course. Night fighters and zerstorers (bomber interceptors) didn't need to dogfight, they just needed speed and firepower.

Karnak, well that's a slightly different occasion. The Mosquito bombers were already hard to catch. If you *did* catch it, it would only take a slight distraction for it to slip away. Having to break 90 degrees because there's something on your tail, even if that something just kept going and rejoined its friend, would leave you miles behind the target when you turned back toward it. I don't count that as a real "fighter" use for the Mosquito, just because of the nature of the mosquito missions

Vertex: Actually it wasn't hard to kill, it was hard to CATCH. I don't know if he offered to count them as 2 kills, but they were the bane of his existence for a while. They were just too damn fast for the LW planes to stop, most of the time.

[Karnak]

A lot of what they were dealing with the also heavy German fighters.  For example, in that documented instance in which an FB.Mk XVIII knocked the engine off of a Ju88 with a 57mm round, the Ju88s there were fighters and in a melee with the escorting FB.Mk VIs while the FB.Mk XVIIIs went after the ships in the fjord.

The Ju88s got their tulips handed to them, FYI.

[Krusty]

I fully believe they would get their arses handed to them

I've flown the Ju88 in AH to appreciate that it *could* make a good heavy fighter, but even a typhoon or a mossie or a fw190 would hand it its arse in a dogfight.

[bozon]

Originally posted by Karnak
This was a strike force of Mossies that was caught from above as it returned from the mission.  8 to 4 when fighting from a disadvantage and in a multirole aircraft isn't too bad.

... and flown by pilots who were not trained in dogfighting as a prime role.

The story of the mosquito always revolves around the same central axis - it was so different and radical idea that the decision makers didn't believe in it. Biggest problem was it was given to bomber command who weren't imaginative enough and didn't know what to do with it - both as a bomber and as a fighter. It was ready for action in summer 1941, after many delays due to skepticism and still it took bomber command a long long time to figure out what it could do.

As stated many times before, it could do what ever the heavy bombers could do - only more accurately, faster, less expensive, and lowering the cost in lives. Potentially, while no ideal, it could also be an escort to itself (fighter escorting bomber variant) in a time when no other fighter could provide escort all the way to Berlin and back.

[zorstorer]

Originally posted by bozon
....Potentially, while no ideal, it could also be an escort to itself (fighter escorting bomber variant) in a time when no other fighter could provide escort all the way to Berlin and back.

Much like the Tornado series of modern aircraft

[Helm]

The comment I remember most about the Mossie was: ...."every Commander wished he had more of them" ...