DH Mosquito B bomb aimer

Would the Bomb aimer lie down......that is a pretty dam tight area...would there be a gun mounted in the nose?

B-17engineer said:

Would the Bomb aimer lie down......that is a pretty dam tight area...would there be a gun mounted in the nose?

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no weapon and he would be prone

wow for a 6 hour misson !

No B17, the bomb-aimer in the 'Mossie' was also the 'looker', the navigator, so he would sit to the right and slightly below and behind the pilot, in the (very) narrow cockpit. He would only crouch down and crawl into the nose for the approach to target and bomb run.

Just received Plane Essentials, Info Guide No 1: Mosquito, booklet with 31 pages.
A nice cutaway of a FB Mk VI. Alas no picture or drawing of the essential Bomb aimers position I'm looking for. Have ordered another book Mosquito by C.M.Sharp MJF Bowyer publ.Faber. So the search still continues.

Hope you have some luck Rijnko. I asked my friend (the ex- Mosquito pilot), but he was on B.Mk.IV's, then PRXVI's, so again, the set-up was different. But he is going to see if he can come up with anything.
Keep on trying, I am looking everywhere I can think of.
Regards, Terry.

Thanks very much, Terry!
Regards, Rijnko

Hello again, Rijnko. Have a look at the post from Antoni, todays post, under De Havilland Mosquito?, in AVIATION, Normal Threads,originally by Lucky13.
There's an attachment of a cutaway that must be either a B.Mk XVI or perhaps a B.35. It might help, or Antoni might have futher diagrams/info?
All the best, Terry.

Hi Terry, I have looked at the cutaway, thanks. I think it is of a Mk IX or XVI. As you can see in the Picture Album my Bomb aimers panel is different. The Mk IX and XVI obviously have an automatic bomb distrubitor and a fuse box below it. I think my panel might be of a MK 35, but have no proof of that. So still in search. Regards, Rijnko

2000 viewers have seen this thread, 17 Mosquitobooks on my bookshelf and 5other books ckecked in the library of a Dutch WW2 aircraft discovery group. I think I have to accept now that there is not one published photo available of the bomb aimer's panel in the nose-section. The only possibility is probably a private WW2 photo from a former Mosquito crewmember.

I'm not sure about it.

Well Wurger if you can give me a tittle of a book, please tell me.
I have even bought a Polish book: De Havilland Mosquito CZ.1 , "Polscy piloci na Mosquito", but again no photo found.
Regards,
Rijnko

Dear Mate,

I and Micdrow went through some nice book sabout Mosquito to find the pic for you but unsuccessfully.So it is a problem.

Hi again, Rijnko. This is annoying the hell out of me, not being able to solve the problem!
I can't seem to find the original photo you posted; is there any chance you can post it again, so that I can make some more enquiries?
Now that I'm back in touch with Bob in the 'States, maybe he can shed some light on the problem.
Terry.

Hi Terry,
I have posted two photo's in the Picture Album under "Bombers".
One with a bomb sight and one photo with only panel and camera equipment, but sharper quality. I hope Bob is able to solve the problem.
Regards, Rijnko

Hi again, Rijnko.
Now that I've seen the photos', I have a better idea of what we are talking about!
The camera certainly looks like an F24 and, from what I can see of it, the bomb sight looks like the sight head of the British Mark XIV, similar to the American Sperry T-1, and was used mainly on later Lancasters, after the Course -setting type. It was also used on some Mosquitos, although the use was perhaps limited to role, as the speed of the Mosquito effected the calibration of the sight. I'm no expert on this subject, so there will probably be others on this forum who can clarify this.
As for the bomb control panel, I'm sorry to say it looks more like one from a Lancaster, but again, I'm no expert! The reason I say this is beacause, I have part of one of these at home with me. The component at top left of the unit is the bomb-selector panel. The sixteen switches, in groups of four, selected and armed the bombs, and coresponded to the stations within the Lancaster's bomb bay. (I'm not 100% sure, but I think the Mosquito bomb bay had four, or possibly six, stations.)
Immediately to the right of this switch panel is a pull-down steel clip, which should be attached to the 'housing' by a small chain. This was the jettison switch, which would drop all of the bombs in one go, for example, if they had to be jettisoned in an emergency.
Below the switch panel, the arc-shaped piece, with a rotating switch, could be used to 'salvo' the bombs, by turning the switch across the arc. I believe the 'salvo' could be timed by a clockwork device incorporated within the switch arc. Dropping the bombs from individual stations was, as it was explained to me some time ago, achieved by selecting each staion on the switch panel (1 -16) as required, and pressing the bomb-release button, thereby releasing the bombs on that station in the order, and at the speed, required.
Please don't take this as 'gospel' until, between us (on the forum) we can verify that the equipment is from a Mosquito, but I think that what you have is from a Lancaster, or possibly even a Halifax.
I'll continue my enquiries, but, from the lack of confirmation to date, I really do think that this kit is not from a Mosquito. However, whatever it's from, it's still a good haul, and you could at least build a replica of a Lancaster nose!
I'll let you know if I come up with anything further,
All the best for now,
Terry.

Hi Terry,
My panel is of a Mosquito, no doubt. It is numbered N 986421 (98 is Mosquito)and the Yorkshire Air Museum has confirmed this panel was part of a Mosquito. Also you can see on de www.detailpics.net website at Aircraft - Mosquito B,Mk 35, fourth photo, a panel like mine, but with an automatic bomb distributor panel. I think they have put the panel to the left side to avoid damage when it is fixed on the floor, but I am not sure of that.
So probably Mk 35, but how was it fixed ?
Regards, Rijnko

O.K. Yes, it if was a Mosquito, it's going to be a late Mark, as we've both mentioned, probably a B.35. This is just a guess, but, as the bomb aimer would normally be using his right hand to select and release the load, I would THINK the panel would be mounted on the right (starboard) side, as per the Lancaster and Halifax. I'll e-mail Bob Kirkpatrick in the 'States, and see if he can add anything. I'll let you know when, or if, I get a satisfactory answer.
All the best for now,
Terry.

Yes, you are right. As you can see on the drawing of Micdrow of a Mk 35 on page 1. is a bombsighting computer fixed on the left side and can a small part of the bomb distributor panel be seen on the floor near the glazed nose. So obviously my panel was fixed on the floor but how exactly ? Across the floor like the Mk IX and XVI or forward to the nose as the drawing of Micdrow suggests? A photo would help. Cheers, Rijnko.

Im guessing the answer is just down the road from me but every time Ive asked to get or take pictures of the inside of this aircraft I have been denied. This one is located 30 minutes down the road from me.