The Mosquito was a twin-engine aircraft, powered by a pair of Rolls-Royce Merlins with the pilot and navigator sitting side by side. Unorthodox in design, it used a plywood structure of spruce and balsa in a time when wooden construction was considered outmoded. In the conceptual design stage, de Havilland designers found that adding any defensive armament would significantly reduce the aircraft's maximum speed. Realising that the loss in performance was not worth the benefit, the initial bomber version was designed without any guns. The Mosquito was a very versatile aircraft; originally conceived as a fast day bomber, the various roles of the Mosquito included: tactical bomber, pathfinder, day or night fighter, fighter-bomber, intruder, maritime strike and photo reconnaissance aircraft.
The Mosquito inspired admiration from all quarters, including the Commander-in-Chief of the Luftwaffe, Hermann Göring. Göring was due to address a parade in Berlin in the morning of 30 January 1943, commemorating the 10th anniversary of the Nazis' being voted into power. The low level attack of three 105 Squadron Mosquito B Mk. IV on the main Berlin broadcasting station put Reichsmarschall Göring off the air for more than an hour, as he was about to launch into a scheduled speech.
The Reichsmarschall was not amused:
“ In 1940 I could at least fly as far as Glasgow in most of my aircraft, but not now! It makes me furious when I see the Mosquito. I turn green and yellow with envy.
The British, who can afford aluminium better than we can, knock together a beautiful wooden aircraft that every piano factory over there is building, and they give it a speed which they have now increased yet again. What do you make of that?”
— Hermann Göring, January 1943,
The Mosquito inspired a German imitation, the Focke Wulf Ta 154 Moskito, which, like its namesake, was constructed of wood. It was also used as the basis for a single seater heavy fighter the de Havilland Hornet
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