Fly Past

B

100 YEARS OF THE ROYAL AIR FORCE

BOMBERS RAF CENTENARY CELEBRATION 63

Below

Personnel of 1409

Flight in front of

a Mosquito IV at

Oakington, May 1943.

Bottom left

The RAF Museum has

two Mosquitos, both

built as B.25s and

converted post-war

to TT.35 target-tugs.

Displayed at Cosford

in the colours of 627

Squadron is TA639,

built at Hatfi eld and

put into storage at

Shawbury in April

1945. It was converted
      to a TT.35 in 1952
      and served until the
      fi nal Mosquito tugs
      were retired at Exeter
      in May 1963. It was
      transferred to the care
      of the museum on July
      5, 1967. RAF MUSEUM
      http://www.rafmuseum.org

DE HAVILLAND MOSQUITO

was possible - see below. At Swanton

Morley, in November 1941 much

was made in the press of the first

operational Mk.IVs of 105 Squadron.

On May 31, 1942 the unit

embarked at dawn on the first of the

type’s many famous raids, a quartet

flying to Cologne in Germany in

the immediate aftermath of the

‘Thousand Bomber Raid’ in order to

disrupt rescue and salvage operations.

Three of the fast-flying machines

returned, but Plt Offs Kennard and

Johnson were killed when W4064 was

hit by flak.

The Pathfinder Force was formed in

August 1942 and Mosquitos were its

main equipment. The twins had the

endurance and agility to spearhead

the heavy bomber streams and mark

the targets. From December 1943

the Mk.XVI was introduced and

it facilitated another Mosquito-

dominated operation, the Light Night

Striking Force (LNSF).

Just as the inaugural raid by 105

Squadron emphasised the ‘nuisance’

factor, the Mk.XVIs and later B.35s

of the LNSF were intended to

create mayhem finding targets of

opportunity and over-loading the

German air defence system.

The Mosquito B.35 was paid off by

Bomber Command by 1952 with the

advent of another multi-role twin-

engined wonder, the English Electric

Canberra. By this time surplus

B.35s were getting into their stride as

target-tugs, a role that was to give the

Mosquito a further decade of service.

The final TT.35s retired in May 1963.

VITAL WEATHER EYE

Weather reconnaissance sorties

were a vital element of all forms of

operational planning and this task

mostly fell to Coastal Command

during World War Two. At Bircham

Newton weather specialist 521

Squadron had been flying a mixture

of Mosquito IVs, Bristol Blenheims,

Gloster Gladiators, Lockheed

Hudsons and Supermarine Spitfire Vs

from Bircham Newton. The unit was

disbanded on March 31, 1943.

The following day two specialised

units came into being to take over

521’s duties: 1401 Flight at Bircham

Newton to handle North Sea

weather data, and 1409 Flight. Based

Oakington and later Wyton, adjacent

to most Pathfinder units, 1409’s

Mosquitos undertook sorties deep into

Europe bringing back accurate data

to provide the raid planners of both

Bomber Command and the USAAF

Eighth Air Force with up-to-the-

minute weather information.

Code-named ‘Pampa’ these sorties

were a vital element of the assault

on Germany. By August 1944 the

personnel of 1409 Flight had chalked

up an incredible 1,000 Pampa sorties.

The unit gave up its Mosquitos when

“Our scheme was to discard every item of equipment

that was not essential, design for a two-man crew and

no rear armament, relying on high speed for defence.”

it moved to Upwood in July 1945 and

employed Consolidated Liberators on

data-gathering flights deep into the

Atlantic until the spring of 1946.

COOKIES

The Avro Lancaster was not the

only aircraft to be able to carry the

4,000lb ‘Cookie’, or ‘block-buster’

bomb. Although the cylindrical

weapon weighed twice as much as the

‘Wooden Wonder’s’ original bomb

capacity, the design team realised,

with reduced range, it was possible.

The bomb doors were replaced by

distinctive bulged versions and these

were retrospectively fitted to Mk.IVs

and as standard to Mk.IXs and later

bomber versions.

On New Year’s Day 1944 a new

unit came into being at Graveley,

Huntingdon. This was 692 Squadron,

tasked with perfecting the use of

Cookies within the Mosquito force;

its first raid with 4,000-pounders was

staged on February 23/24, striking

at Dusseldorf. The unit moved

to Gransden Lodge in June and

disbanded there in September 1945,

As the Lockheed Martin F-35

enters frontline service with the RAF

this year, the type’s versatility will be

emphasised and lauded. It is as well

to remember that in 1941 the RAF

possessed an aircraft with almost all

of the attributes of its 21st century

stablemate, including the ultimate

‘stealth’ material - wood!