112 FLYPAST May 2015FROM THE WORKSHOP MOSQUITO PROTOTYPE
Founding Father
G
eoffrey de Havilland Jr, son
of the company’s founder
and chairman, sat at the
controls of the sleek twin-engined
machine with John E Walker, chief
engine installation designer, in
the right-hand seat. At 15:45 on
November 25, 1940, Geoffrey
pushed the throttles forward and
the all-over yellow aircraft took off
on its maiden flight.
The DH.98 Mosquito was a
private venture, funded by deHavilland Aircraft – hence it
was wearing the ‘B Condition’,
or ‘trade-plate’, serial E0234. It
was destined to be an incredible
success, adopted by the RAF in a
wide range of roles and variants
and manufactured in Australia and
Canada as well as the UK. Its final
RAF operational sortie was in 1955- but it was 1963 before the type
retired from support duties.
That yellow prototype was
followed by another 7,780
examples; miraculously E0234
survives and celebrates its 75th
birthday this autumn.
Salisbury Hall, at London Colney
in Hertfordshire, where E0234
was built in conditions of great
secrecy, is today the home of the
de Havilland Aircraft Museum.
Restoration of this, the very first,
Mosquito is under way and the
museum plans to have the work as
complete as possible to celebrate
the anniversary.Hidden treasure
Between December 1940 and
January 1941 the ‘B Condition’
marking E0234 was replaced with
the official Air Ministry serial
W4050. After an exceptional life
of test and trials the prototype
‘Wooden Wonder’ was grounded
late in 1943.
Standard components, including
its Rolls-Royce Merlin 70 series
engines, were then removed from
W4050 for use on operational112-116_Mossie_fpSBB.indd 112 16/03/2015 14:33