The de Havilland DH98 Mosquito was a very versatile World War II aircraft, and was used as a light bomber, fighter-bomber, night fighter, maritime strike aircraft, and for photo-reconnaissance.
This photo shows the two massive engines quite well. Note there are only 5 exhausts on each side where we might expect 6 (for a V12). The early models had issues with the exhausts and radiators interfering, so merged the front two cylinders on each bank into 1 exhaust.
When it was introduced, the "Mossie" was the fastest aircraft on either side of the war, so its defence was often pure speed. As the war progressed, both sides created faster fighters, but for a multirole aircraft, it was impressively fast!
Here's the Mosquito parked before its flight, and being admired by some fans. As you can see, it is an unusual size for WWII: big for a fighter, small for a bomber, but obviously that combination of being relatively small with 2 big engines worked.
This movie shows a low pass over the runway, with a climb at the end. The roar of the twin V12 engines is very prominent. The engines are Rolls-Royce Merlins, producing 1710 hp (1280 kW) each.
Sources: Warbirds Over Wanaka 2024 program, Wikipedia.
I usually write a blog post about once a week. The latest post can be viewed here: So Unaware: You can make you own choice, but be aware. (posted 2024-11-11 at 17:01:55). I do podcasts too!. You can listen to my latest podcast, here: OJB's Podcast 2024-08-22 Stirring Up Trouble: Let's just get every view out there and fairly debate them..
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