Avspecs Mosquito and Spitfire update

[Dave Homewood]

Here are some photos taken today at Avspecs Ltd at Ardmore, Auckland, of the Mosquito and Spitfire currently under rebuild.

http://rnzaf.proboards.com/index.cgi?ac ... read=15714

[peter]

Wow she looks beautiful!

[Jesse C.]

Very nice! They are going to be stunners when done!

[Dave Homewood]

More photos from May 2012
http://rnzaf.proboards.com/index.cgi?ac ... read=16268

[hahnej]

Is it just me or does that cockpit look really tiny? Were Mosquitos a single-pilot aircraft only or were they dual seats, or was it a navigator seat...? Also, looks like no pass-thru from the nose area to the cockpit...?

Beautiful aircraft. Can't wait to see it finished.

[daveymac82c]

Thanks for the update!

I'm getting so anxious to see that Mossie take to the skies again!

As for the cockpit set up. With the bomber version, there was only the one seat for the pilot, while the fighter version had two seats Side-by-side. That being said, I think I remember hearing the navigator's seat was set back a few inches further than the pilot, right?

As for dual controls though, I don't think ever built them with dual controls, or at least not dual controls for combat aircraft.

I could be totally wrong, but that's what my brain's database came up with. I hope I'm right, but please correct me if I'm wrong.

Peace,

David M

[Firebird]

davey, de Havilland produced a T Mk III trainer with dual controls, but not for combat as you note. I suppose they made these after some pilots crashed on takeoff/landing. The few pilots I've talked to said the engine swing on takeoff was impressive and could put you right into the ditch if the pilot didn't compensate with power levels and rudder input. Landing could be a serious handful on one engine. A couple of them also said they learned by sitting in the navigators seat of a regular MkVI (single control) and learned by watching the instructor takeoff and land, then were told to "take her up" by themselves after this. Some of these guys had a couple of hundred hours flying under their belt by the time they were posted to Mosquitos, so they weren't dummies and managed to learn by just doing it.

Indeed there was a T.III dual control trainer. The much missed ex-BAe Mosquito that fatally crashed at Barton back in the mid 1990's was a T.III, as is the ex-IWM Mosquito now owned by FHC and now in also in NZ for restoration.

It says a lot for the female pilots of the wartime ATA, that they flew Mosquitos solo, and often for the first time solo, with little more than their ATA pilot notes bookets for reference.

[Mike]

Any news on the Spitfire XVI for Tony Banta?

[Dave Homewood]

Mike, I think that is still in the queue but will start after the XIV rolls out in a few months time. It was in the hangar when I was last there, awaiting its time.

[JDK]

Just to add to a few questions answers...

All Mosquitos were two crew aircraft, and the pilot's seat was slightly forward of the navigator's.

This has a fighter nose, with four .303 guns and ammunition tanks in it, plus four 20mm cannon underneath and back into the fw'd bomb bay.

Those with the bomber / Photo Recon nose had a 'pass through' to the stbd (right) and a prone bomb aimer's position, also used for aiming camera in the PR versions.

Because of the guns in the fighter / fighter-bomber and night-fighter versions, the entry door is on the stbd side. On the bomber / PR types it's on the lower stbd side, the original position. Fighters also had a flat armoured windscreen and a 'stick' control for the pilot, bombers a yoke and a 'Vee' windscreen.

The trainer issue is actually cultural, and shows a difference in attitudes to modern thinking. In the 1930s, British Commonwealth military pilots qualified as 'general duties' and were expected to be able to fly anything within their 'ticket's remit, without type conversions. There were general conversions for things like multi-engine and marine (flying boats and floatplanes) flying but rarely a formal course on a new type. They were expected to just fly what came next. Type conversion as a concept came in during W.W.II and after as a direct result of the general 'ticket' flying qualification becoming inadequate with the diversity and complexity (as well as performance) of W.W.II aircraft.

That's why the Mosquito (and Spitfire) dual control trainer versions were a postwar development, after the vast majority of pilots had learned to fly them without, and had a loss rate to match. Better late (and for training foreign sales pilots) than never.

Regards,