Driftless
Donor
tis to push the Flamingo a bit a
The Mossie didnt have Plywood surfaces, the fuselage and wings were covered in shrink resistant Madapolan cotton cloth then painted with Dope then several coats of red Celullose paint and finished with a coat of Aluminium paint. The problems in Asia were in only one small batch of Mossies built by Dehavilland that was traced to undertrained staff not following the strict construction guidelines. I have read different versions of the tale but it seems that two or three aircraft crashed three more had to be struck off charge and another 12 or 20 had to be repaired and have a wing panel replaced. It wasnt the wood that had the problem it was the Casein resin glue that was affected by Mildew, production from 1943 used Aerolite Formaldehyde resin instead. Mossies and Hornets served in Asia till the mid 1950s with zero problems caused by humidity.
It wasn't an issue with the design, from what I've read they identified production and maintenance issues that created the tropical climate issues.
The Mosquito was used in naval attack.
The production commonality withe Beaufort sounds plausible. Perhaps DH gets some prewar interest that butterflies the Beaufort?
I stand corrected on the Mossie's durability.