Speaking of Kermit Weeks, I have some good photos with one of my halftracks and
or Dodges with Kermit's Mosquito at the Breckenridge Airshow in West Texas.
Also have some pretty good video of this great aircraft flying as well. I've
always gotten a kick out of an ideling or slow taxi Mustang going by, as those
Merlins always sounded as if there was a cam lob or two missing......but you
should have heard the Mosquito!!! It was pure V12 Ecstasy!! I believe Kermit's
Mosy is still at the EAA Museum in Oshkosh and hasn't been flown in about 10
years for fear of delamination. As it turned out, it was a good thing it was
there at the time of the big hurricane which virtually destroyed his air museum
in Miami. This has now become a satellite museum with the main facility being
just outside of Orlando. He enlarged a small lake there to accomadate his
Sunderland Flying Boat. Another impressive aircraft! If you ever get the
chance, I highly recommened his Fantasy of Flight Museums. Outstanding!
By the way, anyone need a Merlin Engine? I still have one left, in the crate.
Richard Notton wrote:
> ----- 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
>
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Tue Jun 05 2001 - 23:18:31 PDT