The plane that saved Britain

[crosslandkelly]

Channel 4, 8pm. The story of the Mosquito.



The greatest British plane of the Second World War? That must be the Spitfire, surely. Wrong. Former Royal Marine and pilot Arthur Williams insists it was the Mosquito, a plywood and canvas “wonderplane” that flew so fast it didn’t need guns: the enemy couldn’t catch it.

The Mosquito’s brilliant design launched a new kind of warfare – high-speed, low-level bombing in daylight (previously, only one per cent of bombs had hit their target) – and turned the tide of the war.

 

[presterjohn]

I often felt out of kilter as a youngster because this was my dream plane of the War not the Spitfire. Oh how I with the ignorance of youth wished I could have been a Mosquito pilot. Thanks for the heads up on this one I will be recording it for sure.

 

[Mesquite]

Thanks for the heads up Colin.. recorder has been set

 

[Nonsuch]

I reckon it's: 1) Spitfire (although the Hurricane probably deserves it just as much), 2) Mosquito, 3) Lancaster. However ever since seeing 633 squadron I have been hooked on the Mosquito. Beautiful plane - da da da da da da dah dah!

Recorder set...

 

[Paul_B]

Lancaster bomber. Well I live near Lancaster and I like the beer to!

 

[sandbender]

Not a British plane but one that we used.

The Douglas C-47 Dakota, it would have been quite a different war without them.

I love the Mosquito though, I'll check out the program.

There is a nice period photo here showing a line of Mosquitos and notes as to the fate of each plane.

 

[Biker]

Off to watch that programme right now. First time I've watched a TV programme since Christmas! Let's hope it's not too dumbed down.

It's just started to rain here and with thunder too. Soooo nice to hear it and feel that cool breeze! I melted earlier today!

 

[rik_uk3]

The Hurricane was by far the most effective fighter in the Battle of Britain if only by outnumbering the Spitfire.

 

[Graham_S]

I've always liked the Mosquito.
A very elegant looking aircraft, you don't see lines like that any more.

 

[Big Stu 12]

Loverly plane, he did it justice, just a shame that we will not see one in the air along side the BoB Flight with the Spitfire, Hurricane, and the Lancaster .....

 

[Biker]

Yeah, enjoyed that programme a LOT. Good presentation and hardly dumbed down at all. I hate it when they say things like "It has two engines, can you count the engines? See? It has one either side of the middle bit where the driver sits".

Thanks for bringing this to my attention Colin, well worth watching.

 

[JohnC]

A decent program, liked the presenters enthusiasm...

 

[wingstoo]

Loverly plane, he did it justice, just a shame that we will not see one in the air along side the BoB Flight with the Spitfire, Hurricane, and the Lancaster .....

You never know, some old farmer will probably have one as a chicken coop somewhere...

Great programme, good job we built them faster during the war though, eight years is a long time and a good effort.

 

[Mesquite]

I was lucky enough to once see the only example at the time flying when it over flew an airshow at Hatfield airfield. That must have been about 1990.

What a stunning sight to behold and it still remains one of my aviation spotting highlights Sadly it crashed killing both crew in 1996

The last flying Mossie is in New Zealand. Here's a video of the view from the cockpit as it's flying.

[video=youtube;rGfQQWOsoB8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGfQQWOsoB8[/video]

 

[petrochemicals]

mustang tomahawk was its equal, used by the British, long range fighter rather than bomber, but both off the same principal, both as revolutionary, both as pivotal. Thank god hitler didn't build those sort of planes.

 

[crosslandkelly]

mustang tomahawk was its equal, used by the British, long range fighter rather than bomber, but both off the same principal, both as revolutionary, both as pivotal. Thank god hitler didn't build those sort of planes.

He was very busy building these, was old Adolph.

 

[MT606]

the program makers should have changed the name of the program really......'Mosquito story' or 'wooden wonder' would have been better. The Hurricane was the bird that saved us, the spit got the glory, the Blenheims, Wellingtons, Whitleys and Hampdens did their bit aswell, hammering the boche barges in frog ports.
I enjoyed the show, made a good change to see a bootneck with real (as opposed to contractual BBC driven tosh!) enthusiasm for the subject and not see a 7ft orangutang toff dramatising every word (even if he does have a history degree). Its a shame not much was said of the people that put it back in the air in NZ, I missed the odd part here n there so maybe wrong?

 

[forrestdweller]

Lancaster bomber. Well I live near Lancaster and I like the beer to!

have you ever been to dresden?!

 

[wingstoo]

have you ever been to dresden?!

Have you ever been to Auschwitz? Belzec? Chelmno? to name a few.

War is war unfortunately and although Dresden was somewhat hammered it was deemed a legitimate target.

But heyho...

 

[sandbender]

"...Have you ever been to Auschwitz? Belzec? Chelmno? to name a few.

War is war unfortunately and although Dresden was somewhat hammered it was deemed a legitimate target..."

I have been to both Auschwitz Birkenau and I have lived in Dresden.

Atrocities by one side do not justify the same from the other, the Poles, Jews, Trade Unionists, Freemasons etc. at who died at Birkenau were also deemed to be a legitimate target.

"...was somewhat hammered..."

Five times as many people died in one night in Dresden than were killed by the Hiroshima atomic bomb, somewhat hammered, yes.

This isn't a jab at you, or the RAF crews, I visit the Commonwealth War Grave here in Hungary each remembrance day and see the graves of so many young men, most less than twenty one years old who perished here. However lots of folks brush off the Dresden bombing as being 'thats just war isn't it', no it isn't. It was an atrocity, all you need to know is there to read in the history books and the internet, if you can digest that and still think the bombing was justified you have a cold heart.

He was very busy building these, was old Adolph.

The Me262 was easily the best looking fighter plane of the Second World War, or possibly ever IMHO.

The 'kids' on the street obviously think so too.