The Wooksta's Mosquito Blog: Plan V3.0

[The Wooksta!]

"By the looks of it, you failed them all."

The 618 research has hit a wall, largely because I think I've got most of everything available. At least, I looked in all the usual places.

But the references themselves can be wrong. The Sharp/Bowyer the on the type lists all of the aircraft converted for Highball, although it doesn't list DK290. However, I'm not sure if that aircraft carried the full kit and not just mock ups for aerodynamic tests.  This list threw up an oddity. DZ582 isn't listed as one of the original aircraft modified but I have a photo of it with Highball but before the Oxtail mods - indeed, I did it years back with the Tamiya kit and the original Paragon conversion as one of the Operation Servant Tirpitz raiders - so the list is clearly wrong. Or is it the photo caption? The serial isn't clear enough in the photo to be sure.

Another airframe that's missed off the list is DZ493, listed in many sources online as being written off when the undercarriage collapsed after the aircraft swung in take off and hit something. The location? Weybridge. Pilot? Someone called Hutchinson and DZ493 is listed as being allocated only to 618 Sqn. Weybridge is the Vickers facility that did the Highball conversion and Hutchinson was the CO.

Finally, someone on a Highball thread on the Key Aero forum has had confirmation that the Oxtail aircraft had a bulletproof bulkhead in front of the controls that sealed off access to the nose from the cockpit. That's never been mentioned in any of the references. Too late for the Oxtail one I have ready to prime, but I do know that the fighter bulkhead will fit the bomber nose in the Tamiya kits, so an easy fix for the future.

You know where the comments go.

[The Wooksta!]

"Ah hah! Gotcha, gotcha, gotcha! Driving instructor my bottom! You're a vampire and there's no denying it!"

Still trying to track down Highball related stuff and have unearthed several areas of further research.  I knew that post war, the Navy were trialling the weapon under the codename "Card" but the tests seem to have been carried out by the Maritime Armament Experimental Establishment.  They were based at various places, Spilsbury and Conningsby seem to be two of them.  They had four Highball aircraft, a BVI, DZ579, which had received all the Oxtail mods but 618 didn't take it for their Australian tour and it ended up crashing into the sea, killing the crew, after splashback from a drop ripped off the tailplane.  Another of the Oxtail modified aircraft that 618 left behind may have been used by the unit (although the production list says it was with the AAEE) but it ended up as an instructional machine. 

Of the two Sea Mosquitoes used by MAEE, we have the serials - TW228 and TW230 - although I've yet to find a photo of either aircraft, but I do have several of aircraft close to them in the production run, TW227, TW229 and TW232.  Being in the first block, they don't have the Lockheed undercarriage nor the folding wing, so building them just got easier and they're that shade more colourful too, as the other aircraft in the block are in EDSG/Dark Slate Grey over Sky with Type C markings.

The other Highball aircraft used by MAEE was PZ281, an FB.6, and apparently the remark was made that "Highball and guns are a potent combination".  Ironically, several aircraft built on the line at the same time went to 618 in '44 as continuation trainers. PZ281 ended it's days as an instructional machine, having only been used by De Havilland and then Vickers for Highball/Card development.

Several photos of members of the MAEE in front of a glazed nose single stage Merlin Mosquito have surfaced on another site, although it's hard to tell if it's a Highball modified aircraft.  Personally, I think it's either a B.XX or B.XXV, two of the latter serving with the AAEE.

So, a Highball Sea Mosquito and a Highball FB.6 now get added into the build mix.

Not a Mosquito but 618 related.  I've got the wings on for the Beaufighter II whilst the Spitfire VIII is at a similar stage.  I just want to know what filter it had underneath - short or long and the rudder style.  Normally, I'd be quite happy to just make it up, but I've done the research to do it properly, so I may as well continue.

Edit: I've found a photo of PZ281!  Google search found it and apparently it was taken at Wisley.  Now I *think* that was a Vickers facility and the photo isn't particularly large but it does appear that the underside aft of the cannonbay has had some modifications.  And the eagle eyed amongst whoever is following this thread may spot another Mosquito in the hangar in the background that would appear to have four blade props.  The resolution/size is too low to make out the Highball mods for sure, but that, I am confident, is DZ579 or one of the Highball Sea Mosquitoes.



The photo does clarify several things about that production batch, namely paddle props and night fighter camouflage. Interestingly, it appears to have bomb racks under the wings.

A search for a better quality copy of the photo proved useless - it was in a 2014 ebay auction and thus long gone - but the search DID turn up the serials for three Avengers that were at Wisley as part of the Highball trials, the serials being FN766, FN795 and JZ317. 

So, more pieces of the puzzle are turning up.  A victory of sorts after all.

Comments for those bored enough to follow the thread and can actually be arsed to reply go here:
https://www.whatifmodellers.com/index.php?topic=49042.0

[The Wooksta!]

"Do not stick you head out of the window. I wonder why not?"

Basically a bump so TsrJoe can grab the limited info within.

However, having seen a photo of a proposed Centaurus version - and I thought my abandoned one was original -  I'm gathering the bits to have another go. A Tamiya one plus a set of Brigand nacelles could be a good start.

And sod the warning - it's my bloody thread anyway!

[The Wooksta!]

"You took your time, you b*******!"

Having had cause to look inside an Airfix late Mosquito again - a B16 with Colin's PR 34 conversion, I noticed that the canopy comes with the earlier blisters as optional drop in panels if the modellers wants to do an earlier B/PR.IX.  Except the canopy is specifically for a pressurised aircraft that would have the external framing.
Barracuda do a replacement but without the external framing.  I think he's cocked up.

Having found that the Airfix glazing fits the Tamiya, albeit with minor surgery, I'll need to do a swap to finish the NF.XV that's lurking in a box.  I do have the correct paint now and one of the aftermarket peeps do the relevant decals.  I do want to do the prototype NF.XV at some point, with the nose guns and have a plan in mind.

I'd like to do the prototype, W4050, at some stage with the two stage Merlins and the extended wingtips.  That means either swapping out the nacelles on the Tamiya or adding the wingtips to the Airfix and giving it a Tamiya canopy.  I'll go that route to give me a spare canopy for a Tamiya converted to a B35.  But no one does the decals for a black outlined P marking...

I've also cast a few more Highball bits for some planned recycling of older models, to do the 305 and 105 sqdn aircraft that were proposed initially before it was foisted on Coastal.

Which reminds me I have an NF.XIII that was going Coastal with underwing rockets.  A Tsetsefly in similar colours could be interesting, with the radar in the underwing pod.

I'm not looking to do any Mossies in the near future, what with doing a tour on Spitfires again, but it's always worth thinking about.

Link to comments thread upthread.

[The Wooksta!]

"That I don't know. But when the council come to demolish the house tomorrow, Michael, they're going to find it already demolished from within!"

The acquisition of... quite a few Mosquitoes recently, plus a BFO cannon conversion kit, has given me some cause for thought.  Specifically operations from carriers by 618 Sqn or other similarly equipped lunatics.  I say lunatics, but they were decidedly brave men.  Servant was a suicide mission, with the aircraft at the end of their range flying into the guns of a battleship and a cruiser at low level - and if they survived that, they had a steep climb over a sodding great mountain behind the ships, likely full of flak guns, and very little fuel to get back, so either a parachute and hope that the Norwegian resistance could get to them before the Gestapo or a ditching in a decidedly cold North Sea.  It makes 633 Sqn look like a walk in the park.

However, I digress.  A 32lb cannon aircraft onboard ship is perhaps not such a good idea, but a TseTsefly adapted in the same way could make more sense, as would your common or garden rocket equipped FB.VI, albeit with an ASH radar nose.  And rockets or BFO cannons might not raise objections from crass US admirals unwilling to let the Brits play in their sandpit.

The 32lb cannon is an interesting conversion, but I may well add a few extras.  Possibly four blade props, definitely tropical filters as most late war single stage Merlin aircraft seem to have received them on the production line, and definitely the armoured nose that the TseTseflies got.  As for colours?  Well, Pacific seems a bit obvious and I think it's been done so likely Coastal and operations against German shipping off Norway.  IIRC the TseTseflies were transferred to one of the Scottish strike wings but never got their better colour schemes, sticking with the same night fighter scheme they always wore.

It's also the navalised PR.XVIs, as other than the three 618 Sqn got, there were three others post war.  Some more thought about those is in order.

Final thoughts lead back to 618 and what colours would they carry in their operational use?  The scheme they saw out their days at Narromine or perhaps something more akin to the Sea Mosquitoes?  BPF style markings are a given, whatever the colours underneath.


Comments for those bored enough to follow the thread and can actually be arsed to reply go here:
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For more information, please reread.

[The Wooksta!]

"This should get things going!"

Done a little bit of work on an FB6 that's going to get the BFO cannon conversion.  Cleaned up the tropical intakes, removed the lower flaps as the armoured ones are in the kit and located some more resin bits to use, including a couple of blanking plates that really should be for the Highball conversion but are ideal to block off the gaps under the cannon bulge.  Also dug out a TseTsefly nosecone.  Which made me think about my possible navalised one, so obviously I had to dig the rest of the bits for that too. 

One of the things I was planning to do with the Airfix PR16 was a PR32 with the extended wingtips, but the bits I'd...er, cloned for personal use (truthfully, your Honour) were all intended for the Tamiya kit, and I have some two stage Merlin nacelles of my own concoction that I've been wanting to try out for four years which also fit to the aforementioned Tamiya kit, so it looks like one of those will be getting used instead.  I just need to steal an Airfix PR.XVI canopy, which I know does fit the Tamiya kit.  The Tamiya will fit on the Airfix, so I get to do a PR.IX that way.

Whilst I was digging in the resin bits box, I discovered a cloned Tamiya floor from the B.IV.  One of the things I really dislike about the Airfix 16 is that the cockpit interior is in part somewhat clunky.  The seat certainly is, ditto the stick and the floor decidedly basic.  The Tamiya Mosquito is a good twenty years older but has far more finesse than the newer Airfix.  Anyhoo, the floor fits quite snugly.  I did find some resin seats too, although missing the arms, and these may get pressed into service too.


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For more information, please reread.

[The Wooksta!]

"I laughed and laughed and laughed!"

Having looked through the Mosquito stash in the loft, I discovered a part started FB6 that had some of the conversion work started to turn it into an FB.XVIII TseTsefly, I just can't remember what I'd intended to do with it.  I already have one assembled that was going to be a 618 detachment aircraft flown by Des Curtis, so what was the second going to be?  I'll have to look through the references.  Anyway, having one part done means that I have a head start on the Oxtail one, and most of the resin bits are to hand.  I just need to find some four blade props.  And a cockpit floor.  I seem to have either mislaid it or stolen it for something else, possibly for use as a basis for the T3 cockpit interior.

It was whilst I was thinking about T-3s, I considered that they'd need some sort of trainer for deck landings so a two stick Sea Mosquito might not be too much of a stretch.  The Navy did get Mosquito T-birds anyway.  File that away for future use.

One of the others dug out is largely there in terms of sub assembly work.  I mean the undercarriages are all done, as are the props.  I've a feeling, and a label on the box confirms, that I'd intended it as a 14 Sqn aircraft in the Coastal strike scheme, but I may well use it as a shortcut to one of the post war High Ball test aircraft, FB6 PZ281.

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I've posted this up thread, but it's since vanished.  Photographed at Wisley at some point after April 1945 - and that is a Highball B.IV in the hangar behind - and at some point during the conversion to Highball.  Wonder what colours this spinners are, because they're darker than Med Sea Grey.  Hmmm, no, can't, because it has underwing bomb racks and I didn't set the wing for those.  Back into the loft...

Having been looking through my Highball folder for the above photo, I was intrigued by a clip I'd downloaded a while back, with a Highball attack against a railway tunnel (I mean, Mosquito Squadron had to have some basis in reality).  Anyway, whilst trying to ID the particular aircraft (you failed, Mr Fibuli, you failed!), I noticed two curious things.  Firstly, it had underwing tanks and secondly, 6 stack exhausts outboard.  TBH, those were the only ones I could see and on the starboard outer, but some UK based aircraft did have them.  DK290/G certainly did, prior to becoming the Highball aerodynamic trials aircraft, and all Australian production Mosquitos did.
The second bit of footage is of Mosquitos dropping Highballs at Astley Walk range and one definitely has four blade props.  Again, no serial, but the code letter is quite prominent, so it's possible both of these aircraft could be tracked down.

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[The Wooksta!]

"Who can tell?"

Interesting article found whilst trawling for photos of various Mosquitoes used by 618 Sqn.

https://www.royalnavyresearcharchive.org.uk/Article_hooked_Mosquito.htm

Whoever those Mosquitoes in the article belonged to, they were categorically not 618 Sqn.  Theirs were all tucked away in Australia, and the other aircraft modified for Oxtail are accounted for.



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[The Wooksta!]

"Ah hah! Gotcha, gotcha, gotcha! Driving instructor my bottom! You're a vampire and there's no denying it!"


What does this look like to you?

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Yes, and it looks the same to me too. It does look like some random junk pulled out of the back of a shed. 

Except that this shed was in Australia. In particular somewhere near Narromine.  Which if you recall was the last resting place for 618's Highball Mosquitoes.  And this random collection of junk are some bits out of a Highball Mosquito.

Does this mean anything?  Well, not really, until you realise that the painted bit is part of the bomb cradle AND IT STILL HAS 1945 PAINT ON IT!  This confirms beyond any shadow of a doubt that the Highball Mosquitos were categorically not painted in PRU Blue underneath, and possibly not RAAF Sky Blue.  Fred could well correct me, I'm not too au fait with Australian colours, but I'm reasonably convinced that it's Azure Blue.  Ian Thirsk mentions in his Wingleader book on single stage Mosquito Bombers that the undersides were Azure Blue.  Who am I to disagree with him?  And having pored over the photographs in another of his weighty Mosquito tomes, I'm now of the mind that it was ONLY the undersurfaces that were repainted and the uppers retained their Ocean Grey/Dark Green scheme and the grey faded under the harsh sun to the point where it looks more like Medium Sea Grey.

And here's another nugget.

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An unidentified Highball Mosquito during deck landing training on HMS Implacable.  Nothing unusual there, there's the odd fitting seen under the wing when the external overload tanks visible, which is extra proof that the Highball modified aircraft were plumbed in for drop tanks (several of the aircraft during the drop trial films can be seen sporting the 45 gal ones), but then I notice that there's no tropical filters.  Now, as the deck landing trials were in UK waters, no need for them.  Reasonable enough, but having trawled through the available photos on the hard drive of the aircraft aboard Fencer & Striker, there's no clear shot of the engines to prove one way or another that they were fitted to the aircraft before they set sail (every single sodding one has the relevant section obscured...), I couldn't find confirmation that they had them at all, as in many photos, most aircraft either have their engines either covered or removed.  But then I do find one, they DID have them fitted at some point between the UK and Australia and that they had them at the point they were scrapped.

Again, why does this mean?  And again, not much.  It is giving me a clearer picture of what was happening and it does mean that any Oxtail converted aircraft finished in standard RAF European Day Bomber colours is unlikely to have tropical filters (which is limited to those used post war by AAEE/MAEE - of which photos are rare - or the deck landing aircraft, which are few) and the Oxtail aircraft in RAAF style markings have the filters and Azure blue undersides.

I've also got another code tie up too.  Which is nice.



Now back to trawling for photos.


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[The Wooksta!]

"Well! That is the first sensible thing you have said all day."


A 618 Sqn thread on Britmodeller has assisted in getting me a couple more serial/code tie ups, unfortunately not the Highball machines but I've got a positive ID on one of the PR aircraft left in Australia, NS732 YI.

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I cropped down a larger pic of the graveyard and played about with the levels. 

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Can't ID the other aircraft serials, the photo isn't of a high enough resolution to pull anything more out of it. But I can tell what the other aircraft are, which is a start.   There's another photo, but there's even less fine detail.

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Most of the aircraft have either their props or even engines removed, but the ones at the back with their 4 blade props are the Highball aircraft.  The two in the foreground are the surviving PR.XVIs, NS735 had an accident mid air and dived into the ground, killing the crew.  I've ID'd what aircraft I can.

So, a bit further forward, but not much.

Comments for those bored enough to follow the thread and can actually be arsed to reply go here:
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