Match-up between Tigercat and Mosquito, who wins?

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Well, the Mosquito was designed as a bomber, the Tigercat as a fighter. Comparing a Mosquito to a Tigercat is like comparing a Dodge Minivan to a Dodge Challenger Both great vehicles, but designed for different uses. Apples to oranges.
 
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Not many F.IIs remained as F.IIs, most were completed as NF.IIs with AI radar.

There were only two 'F.IIs' built - I don't know whether the designation was ever used. The spec that produced the fighter Mosquito was F.21/40; the first fighter Mosquito was the third prototype W4052, which was painted black to begin with and became the first NF.II. This first flew in May 1941. The two 'F.IIs' were named the DH.98B Turret Fighter, referred to in a DH drawing I have pictures of, were built as fighters equipped with a Bristol gun turret, again with a night fighter role in mind to F.18/40. These were the fourth prototype, W4053 which first flew in September 1941 and W4073, which flew in December 1941. Neither was actually fitted with a workable turret, W4053 flying for the first time from Salisbury Hall to Hatfield with a mock-up turret fitted. After the turret Mossie idea was canned, the two turret fighters were converted into prototypes for the T.III trainer variant.
 
One MosQuito (I think) was converted to a single seat configeration. I don't have the numbers with me but the weight saving was considerable as was the improvement in performance.
is this just a false memory of mine or does anyone else know about this
 

A Mk.VI was converted and saved 1,500 pounds, take-off weight being 18,800. Maneuverability was improved and climb was much improved - but still wasn't suitable for taking on single-seaters.
 

W4050 was fitted with a mock turret



Note the holes in the side of the mock turret where dummy guns could be installed to see what effects the turret had on airflow and performance when the guns were pointed in different directions.

W4053 did have a working turret


This, I believe, is W4053



The pictures were posted by you in the Mock Up thread.

Aircraft Mock-Ups
 
Yep. Interesting quote. I thought the turret fitted to W4053 on its first flight was a mock up. Didn't realise it was an original Bristol B.11 turret. It didn't go into mass production and never saw service on any aeroplanes.

Here's a pic of the canopy of W4050 I took in July; the faint line shows where the turret fairing sat. The mounting bolt lugs still exist within the structure.

0507 de Havilland Aviation Heritage Mosquito Prototype turret fairing

0507 de Havilland Aviation Heritage Mosquito prototype
 
It looks like W4050 has been configured as it was with 2 stage Merlin engines around the end of 1942/early 1943. In this guise, with 70-series Merlins, the highest Mosquito speed was achieved.
 
I might be wrong, but approx. 24% (22,500 out of 95,000 total) of US's aircraft losses were in the Pacific Theater. So, I'd love for you to tell a veteran pilot of the PTO that it wasn't the "real stuff".

smh...

As for the rest of your post, I'm sure everyone else will have a go at it.
 

OK then, 1/2 of your fuel is spent and you are 300 miles out at sea. Two Zeros incoming. Good luck.
 
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You have got to be sh*tting me. PTO not important? compared to what????? A Luftwaffe that in the last year of the war suffered losses at the rate of 7 times those of its opponents. That from 1940 suffered consistent equipment and resource shortages as to be reduced to irrelevance?

From mid 1943 onward, the Japanese airforces were reduced to impotence as well, but it would take until the middle 1944 before the Japanese exchange rate in the air overtook those of the Germans .

Both sirforces were out of their depth, Both suffered very expensive and catastrophic losses. Maintaining that impotence was a full time job for the allied air forces in both TOs.

It was no walk in the park for either theatre.
 
The Hornet was just a lighter faster Mosquito wasnt it?
No, it was a completely new aircraft. Completely different fuselage, wings, engines, undercarriage. I'll grant you that the fin was of the familiar de Havilland shape; but by that token the Mosquito was really a twin-engined Tiger Moth.

You have a tendency to assume that different aircraft from the same company must really be the same aircraft, with a bit of badge engineering. The Hornet is not a Mosquito; the Beaufighter is not a Beaufort; the Tempest is not a Typhoon.
 

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