Ad: This forum contains affiliate links to products on Amazon and eBay. More information in Terms and rules
In the field ready to fight sometime between when the JU-88 and UK Mosquito were fielded.
Timeline similar to the Douglas A-20 Havoc.
Pre-Packard V-1650
I don't think we needed Mosquitos and do NOT feel it is a good plane for a tropical climate due to the wood construction. The jungle can rot your fatigues right off, and is not much more friendly to wood constructs ... though the effects CAN be mitigated with proper care and sheltering ... which was almost never available in tropical bases.
We had the planes we needed and really didn't need more. We won along with the rest of the Allies, but maybe could have had a shorter war (a good thing) if we had pursued other aircraft sooner and with more of a sense of imminent need. Still, what WAS accomplished was amazing enough considering the state of the US industrial base in June 1941, so maybe it could NOT have been done much sooner than it was.
I tend to think the people of the day knew more about what was possible at the time than we do some generations removed from WWII. We might have hindsight, but THEY knew the US people of the time and what was possible.
The glues did give problems but wood structures do not lend themselves well to long term longevity. The greatest problem was shrinkage when Mosquitoes were moved from one environment to another. Wood is difficult to repair in the field and requires a lot more inspection scrutiny.I don't think it was so much the wood couldn't survive the tropics as the glues that was used in the veniers of the plywood, hardwoods and balsawood. The high heat, more than the humidity, degraded the glue's bond. After all, mankind had thousands of years experience on protecting wood from water and weather damage in all parts of the world , but not a lot on protecting the modern glues.