Customer Reviews

Mosquito At War

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I must admit, in the interests of full disclosure, that I am an unabashed Mossie lover. If you live in the US, books on the de Havilland Mosquito are a bit thin on the ground. It was a uniquely British invention, flown primarily by Commonwealth pilots, and isn't well known on this side of the pond. Indeed, if you only read books about American aviation during WWII, you may never hear about the Mosquito, except perhaps a brief mention. And that is a great shame.

What's so special about the Mosquito, you ask? If you look at it, it's a rather unremarkable twin-engine, two-man bomber, right? On the contrary! The aircraft was made out of wood, the only major Allied aircraft that was. This gave it light weight but surprising strength. It was remarkably maneuverable, and with twin Merlin engines, had power to spare. While most fighters were eventually adapted to carry a fairly meager bombload, the Mossie could carry a respectable bombload long range, accurately release it, and then turn around and shoot down any Germans who thought they had an easy bomber kill in their sights. Unlike the major fighters, each of which had its quirks and limitations, the Mosquito did just about everything right, and you'd be hard pressed to find an operational aircrew with an ill word for this plane.

This book, written by an RAF vet, is not so much about the aircraft itself - there is very little about its development here - but rather about the men who flew it. It's a collection of first-hand accounts of pilots and navigators, discussing their operations in the roles of fighter, bomber, night-fighter, photo-recon, and pathfinders. There's even a story by a Luftwaffe pilot who found himself on the wrong end of a Mosquito gun-sight. There are over 200 B&W photos showing the Mosquito in all its glory, including a few that came home with unbelievable battle damage. The one thing missing is a good exploded or cut-away drawing showing the aircraft's innards, so you can understand how the inside is configured. That aside, the book is uniformly excellent.

I strongly recommend this book to every WWII or aviation enthusiast. The Mosquito was a remarkable aircraft, and richly deserves to be much better known!