----- Original Message -----
From: "Jay" <dagobertii@home.com>
To: "Military Vehicles Mailing List" <mil-veh@mil-veh.org>
Sent: Monday, May 07, 2001 3:27 AM
Subject: Re: [MV] Mosquito vs. B-17G
> One other important factor against mass-production of Mosquitos vs.
> B-17s was the raw materials required. As it stood, we already used up a
> lot of the Stika Spruce used in aircraft, which only grows in a limited
> region of the west coast and Canada.
>
Ultimately almost 8,000 were made here though.
>To replace all those B-17s with
> wooden aircraft would have decimated the species, and would not have
> been nearly as practical in the same numbers as Boeing could produce
> aluminum aircraft.
>
The only "exotic" stuff used is balsa wood, the ply skins are quite mundane.
>Plus, while there were enough cabinet makers in
> England for the Mosquitos made there, I wonder if we would have had that
> kind of handmade workmanship available in the US- at least in large
> enough numbers to meet the production demands?
>
Hey, steady ! There's ten times the people in the US to this tiny island !
In fact the design using a moulded laminate technique was to minimise
skilled labour, most were built by young females drafted in with quite small
demands on additional skilled craftsmanship to complete the airframe.
> However, the one thing I am suprised at is the fact that the Mosquito is
> not a more popular choice among homebuilders of experimental WWII
> replica aircraft. It would seem a natural, done in 7/8s scale, and
> using converted Chevy big-block V-8s. Hmmm... Anyone have a set of
> plans for one of these handy? :-)
>
It would be nice and likely only possible in the US, failing that we may
have to rely on someone like Kermit Weeks to re-build a real one, after he's
done with the Tempest V that is. . . . . . . . !
Richard
Southampton - England
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Tue Jun 05 2001 - 23:18:31 PDT