Mosquito vs single engine planes. (1 Viewer)

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pinehilljoe

Senior Airman
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May 1, 2016
Are there accounts of the Mosquito engaging single engine planes like the 109 or 190?
 
Are there accounts of the Mosquito engaging single engine planes like the 109 or 190?
Two variants of the mosquito were unarmed, in the vast majority of engagements there was no encounter. The SE fighter either didnt/couldnt engage or the mosquito cruised out of range. I have read that if caught at high altitude a mosquito could avoid the FW190 by going into a shallow dive, at very high speed the FW190 didnt have enough control authority to make a hit.

In straight combat with the Fighter Bomber version the SE fighters had most of the advantages but if you get in the way of 4 cannon and 4 MGs things are not going to turn out well for you. Mosquitos were frequently escorted by SE fighters it wasn't their job to duke it out, always best to use your speed to get away and live to fight again.
 
John Braham claimed an Fw 190 over Denmark while flying a Mosquito on 12 May 1944, I don't know if this was a night claim. I'm sure there were others. I don't know how many Mosquito kills were scored during the day during dogfights against single engine aircraft, if anyone has info, please post!
 
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John Braham claimed an Fw 190 over Denmark while flying a Mosquito on 12 May 1944, I don't know if this was a night claim. I'm sure there were others. I don't know how many Mosquito kills were scored during the day during dogfights against single engine aircraft, if anyone has info, please post!
He claimed two as far as I can see.,I cannot post links on this kindle but it is in his history on wiki John Randall Daniel Braham, it also contains a lot of background to the strengths and weaknesses of the mosquito and how it was used.
 
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"After departing the area he reached the west coast, but Braham had loitered for too long. He spotted two Fw 190s approaching fast from the east. Braham had shot down two of these machines in a Mosquito but he was uncertain of how experienced these pilots had been. There was no cloud cover and the Mosquito could not outrun the faster and more agile single-engine fighters for long. He decided to turn and fight while he still could. In a head-on attack the first Fw 190 pilot missed but the second struck the port wing and engine with cannon fire causing a large fire. The instrument panel and cockpit window was shot through missing both Walsh and Braham by inches. Braham dived to the sea levelling out below 100 feet. He tried to use the fire extinguisher to stop the fire. The German pilot shared Braham's philosophy of ensuring a kill by shooting at an enemy aircraft until it came down. The Mosquito was hit again and Braham crash-landed his aircraft onto a beach at 150 miles per hour"
 
Gentlemen,

According to the book Night Fighter by J.R.D. Braham, 1968, Paperback edition, the FW-190 claimed on 5/12/44 was a day mission. It appears that the FW was used as "bait" as Braham's Mosquito was jumped by a Me-109, as he went after the FW. Braham turned sharply as the Me-109 shot at him and the Mosquito received a few bullet holes for the effort. The 109 then zoomed and either broke off the engagement, or lost the Mosquito. By this time the FW was on the deck about a mile away. Braham, who was also near the ground went after the FW and slowly caught the plane. At 600 yards Braham fired, but his shots were short. Closing within a few hundred yards, as the FW zoomed, Braham fired again and got strikes on the rear fuselage of the FW. The 190 flicked into a stall, dove head on at the Mosquito and crahed into a mud bank along a river. (pages 205-206)



In March or April of 1944, Braham had his first encounter with an FW-190. The 190 had a long range under-slung fuel tank. In the ensuing dogfight, Braham was able to outturn the FW at about 200 mph. Again the FW dove for the deck, and after a long chase, Braham exploded the long range tank which caused the FW to crash. (pages 197-198)



When Braham was shot down, he wrote that he felt his fatal mistake was cruising over enemy territory at 240 mph instead of 300 mph (pg 17). Braham was shot down by Lt Robert Spreckels who supposedly had 44 victories before Braham. (page 217)



I have looked through Mosquito by Sharp and Bowyer. Although the book lists claims, it does not distinguish between day and night Rangers or Intruder claims.



My 2 cents worth.



Eagledad
 
I have looked through Mosquito by Sharp and Bowyer. Although the book lists claims, it does not distinguish between day and night Rangers or Intruder claims.

The lists don't distinguish, but nonetheless single engine types are an extremely small minority of all the claims listed.

Cheers

Steve
 
A member sent me an off line message "Sad to see. You start a thread and not take part in the discussion." If he was was referring to this thread, sorry, the reason I started the the thread was to learn. I don't have any info to add.
 
I would hazard a guess the Mossie victories over S/E fighters were mostly catching the fighter unawares. Physics says that a Twin engine light bomber will lose a dogfight unless the S/E pilot is greener than spring grass.
 
A member sent me an off line message "Sad to see. You start a thread and not take part in the discussion." If he was was referring to this thread, sorry, the reason I started the the thread was to learn. I don't have any info to add.

I would be tempted to reply with two words. The 2nd would be off. You have asked an interesting question and want to learn whats wrong with that.
 
A member sent me an off line message "Sad to see. You start a thread and not take part in the discussion." If he was was referring to this thread, sorry, the reason I started the the thread was to learn. I don't have any info to add.

I have no information what so ever about Mosquitoes vs single engine fighters so I welcome this thread and thank you for starting it.
 
Are there accounts of the Mosquito engaging single engine planes like the 109 or 190?

Here are a couple of Mosquito combat reports, I had readily at hand, describing the shooting down of Fw 190s.

W/Cdr. J. Cunningham, D.S.O. & Bar, D.F.C. & Bar, 85 Squadron, 23/24th August, 1943
W/Cdr. J. Cunningham, D.S.O. & Bar, D.F.C. & Bar, 85 Squadron, 8/9th September, 1943
F/L N. Head, 96 Squadron, 2nd/3rd January, 1944
]F/L N. Head, 96 Squadron, 22/23rd March, 1944
S/L C. A. Cooke, D.F.C., 151 Squadron, 6th May, 1944
Lt. A. A. Harrington USAAF, 410 Squadron, 29th October, 1944
F/Lt. J.R. Gard'ner, 219 Squadron, 2/3 October, 1944

Tactical Trials - Mosquito VI may be of interest as it discusses Mosquito performance in comparison to single engine fighters, including the Fw 190 and Me 109 G-2.
 
I reckon that Mosquitoes claimed just over 30 Fw 190s and a mere 5 Bf 109s throughout the war. Most of these were at night, some are unclear (you can't assume that a single date, as in 13.6.43, rather than a double, as in 13/14.6.43, definitely means a daytime claim) and at least two were definitely by day. Obviously the combat reports, as above, can clarify this.
These numbers should be put into the context of the hundreds of claims made.
The Mosquito, for reasons mentioned, was hardly deliberately targeting S/E fighters, but if it found them at night, in defence of Britain or as an intruder, it could and did occasionally shoot them down.
Cheers
Steve
 
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A member sent me an off line message "Sad to see. You start a thread and not take part in the discussion." If he was was referring to this thread, sorry, the reason I started the the thread was to learn. I don't have any info to add.

If that member has an issue with that, he could contact me and we could discuss his unwanted policing of new threads. You did nothing wrong, as a matter of fact you opened up a great thread with good discussion.

Carry on! :)
 
On January 15th 1945 Mosquitoes from the Banff strike wing tangled with Fw 190's from 9 Staffel JG5. Although no kills were claimed by the Mossie's, 3 Fw's failed to return, two seem to have been shot down by 'V' 143 and 'D' 143, Weisse 4 and Weisse 16, which were also shot down and one would seem to have been shot down by a Tsetse using the Molins 57mm flown by Flying Officer Peacock, Weisse 14.

The Mosquitoes had just attacked shipping at Leirvik when they were attacked by the Fw 190's. In all 5 Mossie's were lost including losses to ground fire.

All information taken from 'A separate little war' by Andrew D Bird, pages 93-102.
 
People come here for information, the learned members provide it, I think that is very reasonable.
 

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