The Mosquito Log

Of all the aircraft that won the special affection of aircrew and general public alike during the Second World War, one of the most remarkable was the Mosquito. Of wooden construction at a time when metal for the aircraft industry was at a premium, it was to become one of the most versatile aircraft in history, continuing in use until 1958 - when it made its last operational flight, over the Sinai desert. It was manufactured not only in Britain, but in Canada and Australia as well, and was sold to the air forces of thirteen other countries.
Internationally known for his masterly reconstructions of key military, naval and air battles throughout history, Alexander McKee here tells the story of the much loved Mosquito largely through eyewitness accounts. The brainchild of De Havilland's, the 'plane received approval from the Air Ministry in 1940 and was handed over to the RAF's Aeroplane and Armament Experimental Establishment at Boscombe Down in 1941. At first there seems to have been some reluctance to fly this high-speed wooden aeroplane, but it was to prove itself a thousand times over in the years that followed.
Altogether there were 43 marks of the super-efficient little aircraft, some armed, others not. Through the vivid reminiscences of the men who designed, built and flew her, this book traces the details of her construction, her proud record of operational flights, both nighttime and day-time, her photo-reconnaissance flights, support role on large-scale bombing raids, and her career in the Far East and in peacetime. Finally the author looks at the saga of the prototype, saved from destruction in 1959 by an appeal, and now displayed at Salisbury Hall near Hatfield, former home of the De Havilland enterprise.
Illustrated with one hundred rare and unusual photographs, this account of the Mosquito not only brings the human dimension into the story, but vividly conveys, in the words of those who lived through it, what it was like to be involved in the production and operation of this gallant little 'plane.

by Alexander McKee
Published by Souvenir Press 1988 1st edition. 207pp illustrated, appendix. 18x24 near fine, including d/j.





Note:
"Long" descriptions, where shown, may have been taken from the book's dust jacket notes, and as such are relevant to the date of publication (e.g. any references to "new edition" "previously unpublished photographs" etc.) and not the present.

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