FHC's Mosquito Arrives

[Crimea_River]

In case you missed it, first flight occurred last Friday!

 

[Old Wizard]

 

[turbo]

Ooh, ooh, ooh, I love the Mossie =D>

 

[GregP]

Steve Hinton flying left seat. I bet that was a kick!

 

[BiffF15]

That guy flies every first post restoration flight in the US I think!

 

[Airframes]

Brilliant !
Great to see another Mossie in the sky.

 

[buffnut453]

We're heading to Oregon this summer...am trying to persuade SWMBO that the 12-hour drive from there to Everett is worth it. Somehow I don't think I'll win that argument.

 

[Airframes]

A bunch of roses might help .................

 

[buffnut453]

Sadly, she's not bought that easily...which is a good thing (IMHO).

 

[Crimea_River]

That guy flies every first post restoration flight in the US I think!

Well, so far he has flown all 3 in North America, I believe. Here's a shameless mug of me and my "buddy" next to F for Freddie in Abbotsford in 2015 :

 

[Old Wizard]

 

[fubar57]

Great stuff

 

[turbo]

Well, so far he has flown all 3 in North America, I believe. Here's a shameless mug of me and my "buddy" next to F for Freddie in Abbotsford in 2015 :

View attachment 377175

He looks stoked to be in the photo Andy!

 

[Gnomey]

Great stuff!

 

[BiffF15]

That is a snug two man cockpit!

 

[buffnut453]

That is a snug two man cockpit!

I think wartime rationing resulted in skinny aircrew.

But you're right...it's a tight squeeze in there. Must've made crew cooperation pretty mandatory just to reach all the switches.

 

[Crimea_River]

Don't forget, this particular Mosquito is a T3 model, specifically built as a tandem seat trainer. It's not typical of combat models wherein the observer sat slightly behind the pilot so that their shoulders weren't rubbing. That said, the cockpit is very tight, even on those combat models.

 

[buffnut453]

Had a fun experience when I was learning to fly at the ripe old age of 17 at Speke Airport. We came in one morning, grabbed the met and NOTAMs as per normal, and were heading out of the main terminal when we saw the Hawarden Mossie sitting on the apron. The crew were just walking into the building so we asked if we could take a look around the aircraft. When the pilot assented, we dashed over to the Mossie. As we looked around the outside, a friend caught my eye...we were both thinking the same thing, and without saying a word we scooted up the ladder and sat in the cockpit. The pilot came storming out of the met office and shooed us away with a grumpy "I didn't say you could get in it!" Funnily enough, we cared not a jot. We got to sit in, what was then, the world's only airworthy Mosquito...it broke my heart when it crashed a decade later.

Fast forward 2 years from my experience at Speke, and I was going through professional training as a newly-minted RAF officer. A friend and I went down to London Colney to see the de Havilland Heritage Centre where they have the prototype Mosquito. It was a quiet day with few visitors so we got chatting to one of the volunteers. Recognizing he was dealing with a pair of Mosquito nuts, he kindly offered to let us sit in the prototype! Sadly, I have no photographs of the experience but it's etched into my memory.

Happy days! Now we have 2 airworthy Mossies, one near me in VA and the other on t'other coast. Wish there was one flying in the UK, though. It would be fitting given the number of sorties mounted from there.

 

[Crimea_River]

..... Now we have 2 airworthy Mossies, one near me in VA and the other on t'other coast.....

3 actually. Bob Jens of Vancouver, BC, Canada has a flying Mossie as well. It's the one I am standing in front of in the pic above.

Canadian Mosquito FLIES!!!

 

[buffnut453]

What? There's a world outside the US of A? (Sorry...couldn't resist).

Yeah, forgot about that one. Oh to have all 3 of them flying in formation one day!!!