YouTube - rare de havilland mosquito combat footage

YouTube - de Havilland DH98 Mosquito

YouTube - || de Havilland Mosquito - DH.98 / RAF / WWII / GunCam ||

And EEEK!

YouTube - Mosquito crash

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I just can't bear to watch RR299 crashing. Two men died in it, and the last flying Mosquito was destroyed for ever in what has to be one of the most sad and tragic 'Warbird' accidents ever.

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"Stand by to pull me out of the seat if I get hit" - Guy Gibson

great vids!
except for that last one!

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Scott

The Mosquito crash footage brings back painful memories of the Fairy Firefly No:WB271, crash at the Duxford airshow in 2003.

Minutes before the crash I watched the two seater aircraft taxing past-with the pilot and passenger smiling and waving to the crowd-before taking off to perform its fateful aerobatic display.

Both crew members were killed in the accident.

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Regards
John

"It is always wise to look ahead, but difficult to look further than you can see" - Winston Churchill

That last video is tragic! Last time I saw it I was a fair bit younger but the second it starts to loose control, well, what is there to say. The voice of the commentator says it all. Do we know what caused the crash?

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There's no honorable way to kill, no gentle way to destroy. There is nothing good in war. Except its ending.

The starboard engine suffered a sudden loss of power during a standard 'wing-over' manouevre, causing loss of control. At higher altitude, the pilot could have recovered but at the relatively low-level display altitude the aircraft 'spun-in'.

The Mosquito was so totally destroyed that the cause could not be identified with 100% accuracy. However, a very extensive AIB investigation concluded that float-height stops in both carburettors had been set incorrectly and this, under certain conditions, could have caused a momentary restriction of the fuel-flow under negative-G.

This was most likely the cause ; pilot error was certainly not a factor as the flight plan and manoeuvres were well within normal limits.

Very, very sad and a grim reminder of just what a knife-edge these old aircraft operate under today and did operate under in WWII - a very slight thing could kill you.

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"Stand by to pull me out of the seat if I get hit" - Guy Gibson

Cheers Martin. As you say, a tragic reminder.

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There's no honorable way to kill, no gentle way to destroy. There is nothing good in war. Except its ending.