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Britain's De Havilland Mosquito fighter^1,2,3

Variants

• Fighter
  • F.II: Did not have radar.¹
• Night Fighter
  • NF.II: Used as a night fighter with four 20 mm and four 7.7 mm guns.² Entered service in May 1942.² Had AI Mk IV or AI Mk V radar.³ The aerials were located externally on the nose (arrow heads).¹
  • NF.XII: Night fighter.² Had radar.² 97 conversion from NF.II.³ Had AI Mk VII radar in nose.¹
  • NF.XIII: Night fighter.² Had radar.² First flew in March 1943.³ The AI Mk VIII radar was located in an enclosed nose.¹
  • NF.XV: Night fighter.¹ Wings were extended.¹ Five were converted from B.IVs.¹
  • NF.XVII: Night fighter.² Used the American Mk X radar / SCR.720¹.² 100 converted from NF.II.¹
  • NF.XIX: Night fighter.¹ First flew in May 1944.¹ Had Rolls-Royce Merlin 25 engines.¹ Could carry the AI Mk VIII or American SCR.720 radar.¹
  • NF.30: Night fighter.² High altitude.²
  • NF.36: Night fighter.¹ Post World War II.¹
  • NF.38: Night fighter.¹ Post World War II.¹

Usage

The Mosquito fighters were used by Australia, Britain, Canada, and New Zealand.¹

Bomber Escort

The night fighters would also escort the Royal Air Forces (RAF) night bombers to Germany.¹

V-1 Destroyer

The Mosquito night fighters also destroyed around 600 V-1s in the space of 2 months.¹

Production

The fighter version of the Mosquito was approved for production in June 1941.³

	de Havilland Mosquito F.II1	de Havilland Mosquito NF.XV1	de Havilland Mosquito NF.XIX1	de Havilland Mosquito NF.301
Type	Day fighter1 Night fighter1	Night fighter1	Night fighter1	Night fighter1
Crew	21	21	21	21
Engine (Type)	2: Rolls-Royce Merlin 231	2: Rolls-Royce Merlin 771	2: Rolls-Royce Merlin 251	2: Rolls-Royce Merlin 761
OR				2: Rolls-Royce Merlin 1131
Cylinders	V 121
Cooling
HP	1,460 each1	1,710 each1	1,635 each1	76: 1,650 each1 113: 1,710 each1
Propeller blades	3 each1	3 each1	3 each1	3 each1
Dimensions
Span				54' 2"1 16.51 m1
Length	40' 10"1 12.44 m1		41' 2"1 12.55 m1	41' 9"1 12.72 m1
Height				15' 3"1 4.65 m1
Wing area
Weight
Empty	14,300 lb1 6,486 kg1			15,400 lb1 6,986 kg1
Loaded	20,000 lb1 9,072 kg1			21,600 lb1 9,798 kg1
Performance
Speed @ 14,000' / 4,267 m	370 mph1 595 kph1
Speed @ 28,000' / 8,534 m				407 mph1 655 kph1
Cruising speed
Climb
Service ceiling	34,500'1 10,515 m1			39,000'1 11,887 m1
Range	890 miles1 1,432 km1
Range with drop tanks				1,770 miles1 2,848 km1
Armament
Nose	4: 20 mm1 4: 0.5" MG1
Nose - with radar		4: 20 mm1	4: 20 mm1	4: 20 mm1

Sources:

1. Aircraft of WWII, Stewart Wilson, 1998
2. Fighting Aircraft of World War II, Editor: Karen Leverington, 1995
3. Mosquito Bomber / Fighter - Bomber Units 1942 - 45, Martin Bowman, 1998

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