Mosquito RR299 in "Mosquito Squadron "

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12 years 6 months

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Did our much loved but sadly lost mosquito have dummy guns added to its nose for the film like the aircraft in 633 squadron did?Anyone know?

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20 years 7 months

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Haven't seen the film in years, so can't comment, but it would have been made up to match the others, at least in terms of colour scheme.

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13 years

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Well certainly not in:

May 1973 Air Display, Liverpool (Speke) Airport

Nor in June 1982, the penultimate 'on airfield' Air Display at Liverpool (Speke) Airport

Thank you for the gratuitous opportunity to post photos of the absolutely delightful Mosquito T.3 RR299/HT:E (G-ASKH). "Spit 1940" have you any particular time-period in mind when asking the question? I know the 1968 film 'Mosquito Squadron' aircraft wore HT:- codes, did the earlier '633 squadron' film also do so? The two films do get confused, both being some time ago! The one photo I have of TA634/HT:G (G-AWJV) in Mosquito Squadron paint is too blurred to show if it had dummy guns in addition to the TT.35 glazing painted over. Have quickly hunted around for lists of the aircraft involved in the two films, but so far looked in the wrong sources! Have found a note though that at the Families Day at Hawarden 10.6.67 and 15.6.68 RR299 was silver overall, by 7.6.69 it was in camouflage as HT:E and remained so for many years following.

If anyone has photos taken at Liverpool Airport Air Displays 1956-1984 perhaps they could drop me a PM?

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7 years 9 months

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Very short answer, yes, she did have dummy guns fitted for Mosquito Squadron!

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18 years 6 months

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I have a special interest in 'Mosquito Squadron'. I wrote a book called 'Planes on Film' which has a chapter on '633 Squadron' and includes a section on 'Mosquito Squadron.' All published accounts state that dummy guns were fitted to all Mosquitos used in the film. However all the other Mosquitos had the dummy guns attached to a curved piece of wood which was attached to the perspex nose cone of the B35 by drilling two holes and using nuts and bolts. Some of the surviving Mosquitos used in 633 and Mosquito still have these small holes in the perspex to this day. In the case of RS712 owned by Kermit Weeks the two holes are currently filled by small nuts and bolts and this can be seen in photos. So how did they fit dummy guns to RR299 without drilling holes in the wood since she was a T3 with a solid nose? I have no idea . It is possible that RR299 never had dummy guns as they were too difficult to fit. She was always kept in the background as she had a different nose and windscreen from the other Mossies.

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7 years 9 months

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My information for my post above comes from a photo and caption in " de Havilland Mosquito An Illustrated History " Vol 2, Ian Thirsk, Crecy 2006, page 370.
Pat Fillingham is the pilot and the photo was taken during filming of 'Mosquito Squadron'. The dummy guns look particularly long but it doesn't say how they were attached.

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18 years 6 months

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I have this book and on looking at page 370 it does show dummy guns which appear to be attached to a curved piece. How they were attached is a mystery as I would be surprised if they drilled holes in the nose for this purpose.

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I’ve read Colin’s Book it’s excellent! And I even got his books on War Movies and 80s action films too! Loved em!

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"Mosquito Squadron" seems to have surfaced again at the top of the military movies channels. Having been on a B17 I never understood why the Mosquito, which was faster, more able, and carried a larger bombload didn't replace it.

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"Mosquito Squadron" seems to have surfaced again at the top of the military movies channels. Having been on a B17 I never understood why the Mosquito, which was faster, more able, and carried a larger bombload didn't replace it.

I was touring a B-17 with an American friend of mine who was also the crew chief of maintenance of that fort at the time.
I always like to tease Americans by saying things like, "the B-17 is a real good, 4 engine, medium bomber".
I commented that the Mosquito could take the same payload, the same distance with only two crew.
His reply was "yeah, but they could never put up a raid of a thousand Mosquitos!"

True enough!

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Well certainly not in:
May 1973 Air Display, Liverpool (Speke) Airport
Nor in June 1982, the penultimate 'on airfield' Air Display at Liverpool (Speke) Airport

Maybe I'm missing something, but I think spit1940 was asking about RR299 during filming of Mosquito Squadron, which from memory was 1967/68ish and any mods would probably be gone after five years?

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13 years

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In defence I did state that it was a 'gratuitous opportunity' to post photos of a splendid aircraft. The colour scheme worn is that applied for the film, with the fictitious film side codes still worn 5 years on, although I do recall that the scheme was reapplied at some stage in the years after the filming. Look closely and the line between top and underside colours is slightly different around the nose on the two photos.