wuzak
Captain
By my reckoning, using data from The de Havilland Mosquito Page, all Mosquito B.MkIV series ii had been manufactured by the end of March 1943. That means there were approximately 292 B.IVs floating around the UK somewhere (minus those already lost) by mid 1943.
Is that a sufficient number to be able to mount effective raids against oil targets?
The B.IX was in production from April 1943 until November 1943. The PR.IX, much the same as the B.IX were delivered from May 1943 until November 1943. There were 54 B.IXs and 90 PR.IXs built.
The first Canadian built Mosquito, a B.VII was completed and test flown in October 1942. Some 25 B.VIIs were built before switching to B.XX production in mid 1943.
So, if we say starting from June/July 1943 we would have approximately 200-250 bomber Mosquitos with a number in reserve coule we mount an effective campaign against German oil targets, the best part of a year before they historically happened?
The B.IV and B.VII had the original, unstrengthened wing (the strengthened wing was introduced on the FB.VI and found its way onto the IX and XX) so could not carry external bombs or drop tanks. That limits their offensive load to 4 x 500lb bombs (maybe 2 x 1000lb bombs - but I am not sure of that) until the bulged bomb bay (late 1943) and the Avro bomb carrier for 6 x 500lb bombs (date unknown) are developed.
mhuxt has posted a spreadsheet which sheds some light on Mosquito losses in daylight operations.
As a side question, do you think bomber Mosquitos were underutilised by bomber command during the war, and particularly during late 1942/1943? There were certainly a lot more F.II/NF.IIs built than B.IVs. Could the production mix have been changed to make more bombers available sooner?
Is that a sufficient number to be able to mount effective raids against oil targets?
The B.IX was in production from April 1943 until November 1943. The PR.IX, much the same as the B.IX were delivered from May 1943 until November 1943. There were 54 B.IXs and 90 PR.IXs built.
The first Canadian built Mosquito, a B.VII was completed and test flown in October 1942. Some 25 B.VIIs were built before switching to B.XX production in mid 1943.
So, if we say starting from June/July 1943 we would have approximately 200-250 bomber Mosquitos with a number in reserve coule we mount an effective campaign against German oil targets, the best part of a year before they historically happened?
The B.IV and B.VII had the original, unstrengthened wing (the strengthened wing was introduced on the FB.VI and found its way onto the IX and XX) so could not carry external bombs or drop tanks. That limits their offensive load to 4 x 500lb bombs (maybe 2 x 1000lb bombs - but I am not sure of that) until the bulged bomb bay (late 1943) and the Avro bomb carrier for 6 x 500lb bombs (date unknown) are developed.
mhuxt has posted a spreadsheet which sheds some light on Mosquito losses in daylight operations.
As a side question, do you think bomber Mosquitos were underutilised by bomber command during the war, and particularly during late 1942/1943? There were certainly a lot more F.II/NF.IIs built than B.IVs. Could the production mix have been changed to make more bombers available sooner?