BOOK OF THE MONTH
The RAF’s Legendary Wooden Wonder and its Most Extraordinary Mission
Never was the old aviation adage that if it looks good it flies good more true than of the streamlined and beautifully proportioned de Havilland fighter bomber" So begins the latest work of military aviation history from Rowland White.
White will be familiar to readers from the excellent Vulcan 607 and Harrier 809, both set in the Falklands Conflict. Unlike these books, Mosquito is not concerned with a single operation or small limited war. Instead, the beautiful twin Rolls-Royce Merlin engine warplane flew during World War Two. As such, Mosquito is not a tight narrative, instead roving to and fro across the enormous multi-dimensional conflict.
Of all the World War Two subjects that authors have written about, few can be of equal importance to that of the fighterbombers. In all theatres, aircraft possessing the manoeuvrability of fighters with the hitting power of small bombers could inflict incredible damage on the enemy. I would argue that the finest of these aircraft was the British-built Mosquito. Constructed from very thin layers of wood glued together, the aircraft was light, which, combined with two of the …
