marine air wrote:What Mosquito is now closest to being the next to fly?
That would be NZ2308. That is of course the Mosquito that Glyn Powell, for a number of years, was building/restoring for himself and is very complete. NZ2308 was acquired last year by the UK-based Mosquito Pathfinder Trust, who are having Avspecs in New Zealand complete the aircraft and have the Duxford, UK-based Aircraft Restoration Co. handle certification in the UK and flight testing - first in New Zealand and then in the UK (and ARCo will continue to be providing operational and maintenance support for the aircraft after it is in the UK). When the acquisition was announced last year, it was said it was anticipated that the aircraft could be completed and in the UK, flying, within only 2-years, which would result in the aircraft flying in the UK as early as 2020, but that is funding-dependent. Here is a photo, which I believe to be a bit dated, of NZ2308 from the MPT Facebook page:
https://scontent.ffcm1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/ ... e=5CBFCD0BAfter that, there is the bomber-variant Mosquito, DZ542, which has been actively taking shape at Avspecs. Here is one of the latest photos of DZ542, showing the glued-up halves of the fuselage together, posted to the Avspecs Facebook page just a couple months ago:
https://scontent.ffcm1-2.fna.fbcdn.net/ ... e=5CC5D3B6The Canadian Historical Aircraft Association has also been working on Mosquito KB161, to certified airworthy condition (everything being done/signed off on to allow it to be a flyer when completed), so that it will be able to be flown if there is sufficient funding to operate the aircraft when completed. Here is a photo from the Canadian Historical Aircraft Association's Mosquito FB page, taken last summer (once it reaches a certain state of completion, it will be coming back apart again so that the wooden sections can receive the fabric covering and coatings of dope and paint):
https://scontent.ffcm1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/ ... e=5CB9831BWith PZ474 now flying, there are three flying examples (active) in the world, and all three of those being from Avspecs - KA114, TV959, and now PZ474. There would be a fourth example considered, that being the very original VR796, based in Canada, but after having flown several times in 2014 and 2015, it has not flown since 2015, and it sounds as though there is no immediate intention by the owner of flying it again. It can be said, however, that within a less than 7-year period (mid-2012 to early-2019), four DH Mosquitoes have now flown (three of which are now in Steve Hinton's logbook).