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Don't forget the duct tape and safety wire!Man, all this gibberish learnt at university about the properties of metals? When I did my engineering papers I learned lots in Materials about composition of metals, fasteners, tensile strengths and all that, but absorbed very little that was of practical use as an engineer at my level, for example, if you can't fix it with a hammer, it's an avionics issue. And so on...
Hundred mile-an-hour tape is great stuff, but on a pretty airliner the passengers begin to worry when they see it taping small doors and things closed because latches have broken... If it's not in the MEL the aircraft can fly about for days with tape over the broken doors!
and safety wire!
It was certainly not invisible, but was most certainly considerably harder to pick up than metal aircraft were. I have read this directly in German Air Ministry meeting records, so I would
not call that a "myth".
The feedback from people in USA was nonsense just basically we don't build it so we don't like it and we have the P-38.
I cant argue with that but that isn't feedback it is desires and instructions from people at the top in February 1943. I was recalling something posted here about the early experience with the Mosquito in US hands, which was similar to the B-26. It was made of wood which no one liked, it had a high take off and landing speed and the engines weren't handed. Between September 1941 and February 1943 there were many opinions on the Mosquito, initially Harris and Bomber Command didn't know what to do with it. It was around this time that the British found out they weren't actually hitting anything. The De Havilland "Mosquito"That is absolutely not the case.
A postgram from Washington, received by the Air Ministry on 23 February 1943 contained the first official request from the Americans for PR Mosquitoes.
"We desire to re-equip photo-reconnaissance squadrons in, or destined for, the European Theater at 65 U.E. and North Africa at 26 U.E. with the P.R.U. version of your Mosquito aircraft modified for American cameras. When we compare our aircraft in production and the tactical operational range of your Mosquito with our F-5/P-38, there seems no doubt the purposes combined air forces will be best served if the A.A.F. curtail their conversion of P-38 and rely in part on your Mosquito production..."
The Americans wanted just 3 aircraft in March, 15 in May, 20 in June and July followed by 25 a month for the rest of the year.
The British replied on 8th March that Canadian production was likely to exceed British needs and that these bomber aircraft could be easily changed to P.R. aircraft, the responsibility for which would rest with the Americans.
Unfortunately things move fast in wartime and on 1 April (partly following a British decision to equip Coastal Command squadrons with the Mosquito) the Americans were told sorry, we can't give you any.
When the Americans pressed for at least some Mosquitoes it was Portal who wrote to Arnold saying that American officers had said that their F-5 was 'fully satisfactory for P.R. work, it's as good as the Spitfire'. That is being hoist with your own petard.
Nonetheless, Arnold on 14 April pressed for just 4 Mosquitoes for North Africa, arguing that they were vital for 'special mapping projects' as they could 'go beyond the F-5s range'.
A week later the USN got in on the act, asking for 150 Mosquitoes to train crews for the two Mosquito equipped night fighter squadrons it wanted! This was quite impossible and the Air Ministry with the connivance of the USAAF stalled on the request.
Next the USAAF submitted a detailed breakdown of its Mosquito requirements, 235 by the end of 1943.
British resistance finally crumbled, resulting in the Arnold-Courtenay Agreement by which the British agreed to supply the USAAF with 120 Mosquito aircraft.
The saga did not end here, but the idea that the Americans did not want the Mosquito because they didn't build it, or that the considered the F-5/P-38 capable for some of the tasks in hand is demonstrably false.
This reminds me of the postwar I.Ae. 24 Calquin and the later I.Ae. 30 ÑancúBut what if those same manufacturers decided that the US, without the metal shortage of the UK, could produce a metal version of the Mosquito?
This reminds me of the postwar I.Ae. 24 Calquin and the later I.Ae. 30 Ñancú
View attachment 612891
A true Mosquito, for contrast.
View attachment 612892
Both the Calquin and Ñancú are essentially a metal DH Mosquito. There's no tech on these postwar aircraft that couldn't apply to US design and production in WW2.
Ok, so now the US will mass produce an all-metal Mossie - but where will the engines come from? Rolls Royce and Packard were doing the best they could to keep the many types supplied that required the engine.