DE HAVILLAND MOSQUITO PR.XVI

The De Havilland Mosquito is a British, twin-engine, multi-role aircraft with a mixed structure, mainly wooden, with a classic tail. The flight of the prototype took place on November 25, 1940, and the first machines entered the line units in July 1941. The machine was largely made of wooden elements glued with casein glues, and later with synthetic ones. Thanks to this, the machine was very light and showed great aerodynamic properties. Interestingly, it also turned out to be quite resistant to anti-aircraft fire. For this reason, the Mosquito quickly earned the nickname "wooden miracles". Two Rolls-Royce Merlin engines of different variants with power from 1460KM to 1680KM were used as the drive. During the war, a dozen or so versions of this very successful plane were created. The most important of them are, among others Mosquito PR.IX (reconnaissance version), B.IV series I and II (bomb version), F.II (hunting version), NF.II (night fighter with AI.IV radar), one of the most widely produced - FB.VI (fighter-bomber version). Mosquito planes performed numerous functions in the RAF, but the fighter-bomber and bomber versions were the most famous, which made daring raids on German public facilities (e.g. police or Gestapo headquarters) in occupied Europe, often with surgical precision. Technical data (Mosquito F. Mk.II): length: 13.57m, wingspan: 16.52m, height: 5.3m, maximum speed: 610km / h, climb speed: 8.8m / s, maximum range: 1500km , maximum ceiling 8,800m, armament: fixed - 4 7.7mm machine guns and 4 20mm Hispano Mk II cannons.