We have been following the efforts of the People’s Mosquito for the past few years as the group has steadily made headway on their plans to build an airworthy de Havilland Mosquito in the UK. This is a grass-roots effort, relying heavily upon small individual donations, as their name suggests. Even without the benefit a major financing source, they have been methodically working their way through the enormous technical and logistical issues in their endeavor, and have made remarkable progress. Working with Retrotec Ltd., the highly-experienced team with a proven track record of major restorations of both airframes and engines for museums and flying collections around the world. Last year, the People’s Mosquito managed to secure an amazing trove of more than 20,000 drawings for the Mosquito, long missing, and previously thought destroyed. But far from just working on the technical side of things, they have also had significant components remanufactured for the wings in New Zealand. And just a few days ago, the People’s Mosquito announced that Retrotec has made significant progress in recreating the immense and highly complex moulds necessary for refabricating the two fuselage halves.
As their press release states… “The bulkheads for Mould A and B have been procured and manufactured. These will be installed onto one-ton box steel frames which are being made in three sections, so they can be painted in RAF yellow and moved to the new factory Retrotec are constructing. Work is progressing and we will be releasing further images and information in the coming months. Thank you again for your contributions which has enabled the project to get this far!”
This is a major step, and now means that two restoration houses will soon be capable of manufacturing brand new de Havilland Mosquito fuselages (with the other being with Glyn Powell and Avspecs in New Zealand). The following images show technicians at Retrotec Ltd. putting together the moulds. This is really fantastic news, and bravo to all concerned!
WarbirdsNews would like to applaud The Peoples’ Mosquito for working so hard to preserve the heritage of the deHavilland Mosquito design. Please do consider donating HERE to this group to help them continue their mission!
Related Articles
People’s Mosquito Contracts with Retrotec to Deliver UK-built Flying Mosquito
The People’s Mosquito – Project Update – February, 2018
de Havilland Mosquito – Trans-Atlantic Collaboration Helps Unlock Her Secrets
Massive Cache of deHavilland Mosquito Plans Discovered
People’s Mosquito – Restoration Update
BREAKING NEWS: Initial Collaboration Announced for Mosquito Project
Richard Mallory Allnutt's aviation passion ignited at the 1974 Farnborough Airshow. Raised in 1970s Britain, he was immersed in WWII aviation lore. Moving to Washington DC, he frequented the Smithsonian’s National Air & Space Museum, meeting aviation legends.
After grad school, Richard worked for Lockheed-Martin but stayed devoted to aviation, volunteering at museums and honing his photography skills. In 2013, he became the founding editor of Warbirds News, now Vintage Aviation News. With around 800 articles written, he focuses on supporting grassroots aviation groups.
Richard values the connections made in the aviation community and is proud to help grow Vintage Aviation News.
The Mosquito is without a doubt the most impressive plane of the war. The things it could do defy the laws of engineering. The same plane with no modifications could;
1. Take high altitude high speed photos and nothing could catch it.
2. Then they could arm it to the rafters and blow U-boats or Panzers up.
3. But most impressive to me it it could carry the same bomb load as a 4 engine bomber along with marker flares and fly ahead of the bombers.
It just does not seem possible. They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Goering spent vast sums of money, resources and man hours attempting to copy the Mosquito. I do not know of any other plane the enemy felt was so sucessful that they had to copy it. I always have wondered if it was modified correctly if it could have been an escort fighter for the bombers to Berlin and back well before the Mustang.
I’m glad to see the heritage of this airplane continue on. Not as famous as the spitfire or mustang maybe, it did have a big impact on the war. Just a side bar, there where more of those plane built here in Canada than anywhere else. Although they where built elsewhere us Canucks did it too!!
Good to hear from you Dan… and yes, the Mosquito is a remarkable aircraft, with production lines on three continents. However, not to diminish your enthusiasm, the overwhelming majority were built in England (although likely from wood sourced in Canada!). Of the roughly 7,800 Mosquitos built in total, Canadian production lines contributed nearly 1,100 airframes, while Australia built just over 200.
Any chances for the US?
Lets say I want to invest…
Absolutely fantastic..I am excited to read these news..on top the Mosquito pla ne is one of my favourite…
Is it possible to keep me informed about the ongoing of the project?
Thank you so much
Yves C Lieser, 12042 Bra / Italy
Saw the first Mosquito from New Zealands Avspec on its final acceptance flight & display!
SO beautiful to see & hear twice the sensory load of a Spitfire!
Incredible to see it idle up to 10m away then have its front doors opened revealing the guns & ammo racks etc!
Keep all these beauties coming for those of us who never saw them in anger!