Mosquito to fly again after secret drawings saved from bulldozers
A REDISCOVERED hoard of secret Second World War aircraft technical drawings will be used by enthusiasts to rebuild and launch a Mosquito bomber into the skies above Britain.
More than 20,000 wartime Mosquito engineering drawings and diagrams have been found in the corner of a wartime factory just days before bulldozers were due to flatten it.
The archive includes what are thought to be the world’s only complete set of engineering drawings for the plane, as well as details of variants that never made it off the drawing board.
The drawings, on microfilm cards, have been donated to a charity hoping to restore and fly a crashed version of the versatile, twin-engined, de Havilland aircraft.
The charity behind the project, The People’s Mosquito, said last night the documents provided the invaluable technical details needed to rebuild their plane.
John Lilley, the group’s chairman, said the drawings were found earlier this year by an engineer just before the former de Havilland building in Broughton, near Chester, was to be demolished. He said: “He understood the tremendous historic value in these engineering drawings and how useful they could be. The building itself was soon to be demolished and the contents discarded.
“It’s incredible to think that they might have been lost forever.”
The charity hopes to resurrect the remains of a Mosquito night fighter that crashed at RAF Coltishall in February 1949, while serving with No 23 Sqn.
Ross Sharp, engineering director for the project, said: “As you can imagine, restoring an aircraft that is 70 years old presents several challenges, one of which is a lack of information on the building techniques, materials, fittings and specifications.”
“These plans enable us to glean a new level of understanding and connection with the brilliant designers who developed the world’s first, true, multi-role combat aircraft.”
The Mosquito was designed by Sir Geoffrey de Havilland and was one of the fastest aircraft in the world when it entered service in 1941.
To preserve scarce metal reserves, the plane was made from strips of wood, pressed and glued together in moulds, earning it the nickname ‘Wooden Wonder’. More than 7,000 were eventually built.
Hermann Goering, Germany’s wartime aviation minister, said the aircraft turned him “green and yellow with envy”.
The design was so versatile it served as a bomber, fighter, night fighter, Uboat hunter and reconnaissance plane.
The discarded diagrams include details that were top secret during the war, and even plans for variants that were never built.
New discoveries include plans for the Mosquitoes to carry torpedoes, possibly to attack the German flagship Tirpitz, and a previously unknown photo-reconnaissance plane.
Only two Mosquitos today remain in flying condition, one in Canada and one in New Zealand.