Among the many strings to the de Havilland Mosquito’s bow, its use by British European Airways for research into clear air gusts is arguably one of the least-known
Mosquito PR34A G-AJZE, formerly RG231, outside its hangar at Cranfield. The aircraft were painted grey with maroon registration letters and BEA’s ‘flying key’ emblem on the nose and tail fin. KEY COLLECTION
Flying ever higher and faster brought many new opportunities, but obstacles too. One of them revealed itself as World War Two progressed: the phenomenon of clear air gusts. Put simply, this was the sudden, unexplained onset of serious turbulence in conditions that otherwise gave no warning of such an occurrence. Generally encountered between 30,000 and 35,000ft, it saw, as one period report put it, aircraft being “jerked up and down as though running over a corrugated runway.”
