The Men Who Flew the Mosquito

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The innovative de Hilland Mosquito represents for many the perfect synthesis of power and beauty and today is regarded as arguably the most versatile of all Allied aircraft built in World War Two. Yet, incredibly there was a time when its very existence seemed no more than a dream. It was conceived by chief designer Ronald E. Bishop in the face of official indifference, if not outright hostility, as few in the British Air Ministry believed that a small, unarmed aircraft built almost entirely of wood and with a crew of just two could survive in modern warfare. Three times the Mosquito project was deleted from Britain's future military plans, only to fight its way into the air and turn in performance figures that left other aircraft behind and its critics dumbfounded. In Air Marshal Sir Wilfred Freeman, de Hilland found a willing champion for their cause and the rest, of course, is the stuff of legends. Some 7,781 examples of the 'Wooden Wonder' were built in no less than forty-three versions. Whether as bomber, day-fighter, night-fighter, pathfinder, attack or reconnaissance aircraft, or even as a trainer, the Mosquito did it all. Much has been written about this legendary aircraft itself, but The Men Who Flew the Mosquito concentrated on the young pilots and navigators who carried out these daring operations against targets in Europe, Scandinavia, the Mediterranean. Asia Minor and South East Asia. Their stories, collated by one of today's leading aviation historians, are as compelling and inspiring today as they were over half a century ago at the height of the Second World War