The late Stuart Howe is today largely forgotten, yet this unassuming but determined individual proved a driving force during the formative years of the then Mosquito Aircraft Museum and made a significant contribution to Mosquito preservation. Simply put, without Stuart’s foresight and tenacity, TA122’s rebirth could never have been realised.
A late-production Mosquito FBVI powered by Merlin 25s, TA122 (DH construction number 982698) was assembled at de Havilland’s Hatfield factory in late February 1945 and finished in the standard night fighter scheme of overall medium sea grey with dark green upper-surface camouflage. Delivered to No 44 Maintenance Unit at Edzell on 8 March 1945, TA122 was prepared for active service and issued to No 605 Squadron at Coxyde/Koksijde, Belgium on 3 April. Allocated the unit codes UP-N, it became the personal aircraft of 605’s commanding officer, Wg Cdr Angus Horne, and made its only operational sortie, a night intruder mission to Esens, north-east Germany, on 2 May.
Horne was posted to headquarters No 2 Group in August 1945, taking TA122 with him. It joined the No 2 Group Communications Flight, initially at Evere and later Gütersloh. Nominally passed to No 4 Squadron, the renumbered 605 and p…
