no, it's the same plant - although I don't know if it would be useful for fibres after it has gone to seed?Perhaps there is some confusion between flax grown for fibres and flax grown for seed for linseed oil?
If needed they could be escorted later on by US aircraft, LL P-51s, or even the long range Spitfire that was never put into production,
Eventually sure, but I'm thinking about 1943. In 1944 thr Tempests were locked down V-1 hunting, while Typhoons were doing Fighter-bomber duty. Plus by then P-51s have murked the Luftwaffe anyway.What about Typhoons or Tempests as escorts for the Mosquitoes?
Typhoons were the chosen escort for Jerichoe, Feb 1944.Eventually sure, but I'm thinking about 1943. In 1944 thr Tempests were locked down V-1 hunting, while Typhoons were doing Fighter-bomber duty. Plus by then P-51s have murked the Luftwaffe anyway.
Sure in Amiens France, not an escort for strategic attacks on German factories.Typhoons were the chosen escort for Jerichoe, Feb 1944.
What about Typhoons or Tempests as escorts for the Mosquitoes?
I think that this means that bombing by Mosquitos, using accuracy to make up for a lack of throw weight, isn't really a practical idea if it requires special hard to get sights or the sort of training that only exists on a special wing level. Another problem with scaling up Mosquito attacks is the issue of 'creepback' were successive aircraft drop their bombs shorter than the initial aircraft. While this can be mitigated against and even made use of to an extent with heavy bombers I think it would cripple a heavy Mosquito attack which doesn't have to bombs to spare on creepback and needs to put everything right on target.
SABS wasn't necessary for their precision.Just looking at the SABS bombsight, only 1000 were delivered during the war and apart from a short sojourn with the PFF served only with 617 sqn until Tiger Force 9 and 44 sqn Lincolns were equipped with SABS, but too late for the Pacific war. This was the most accurate bombsight of the war with an average accuracy of 170 yards from 16,000' in mid 1944, decreasing to 125 yards by early 1945. The British also formed a pair of precision sqns using the Mk XIV sight which got 195 yards accuracy, better than the average of 270 yards of regular Mk XIV sqns and the Norden sight.
I think that this means that bombing by Mosquitos, using accuracy to make up for a lack of throw weight, isn't really a practical idea if it requires special hard to get sights or the sort of training that only exists on a special wing level. Another problem with scaling up Mosquito attacks is the issue of 'creepback' were successive aircraft drop their bombs shorter than the initial aircraft. While this can be mitigated against and even made use of to an extent with heavy bombers I think it would cripple a heavy Mosquito attack which doesn't have to bombs to spare on creepback and needs to put everything right on target.
I don't think it's likely, but I like it. As you say without the focus on heavies there are more resources for Coastal Command to win the BotA in 1942.How about a POD during the invasion panic of 1940. Britain stands alone against a hostile Europe and the Luftwaffe contains thousands of bombers. What the British need is a cheap to produce and operate bomber capable of being produced in large number that also wouldn't effect the building of fighters and the production of fighter pilots. Te British decide to prioritise the Mossie (nearing the end of its development at the time) at the expense of the of the heavies.
With the higher demand expected from 1940 training of production staff starts in late 1940 so when large scale production commences in late 1941 there's a large force of workers with the relevant skills. New factories intended for the heavies are converted for the production of the Mossie.
Further the stock piling of the required materials can start in 1940 reducing bottle necks later in production. Also with the indicated aim of mass production solutions can be sought to shortages of materials like balsa wood. In OTL some Mossies where produced in the Commonwealth. However could production have been increased if only components where produced then shipped to the UK for completion? Certainly ordering wooden components from the US furniture industry is a possibility.
With few or even no heavies the opportunity costs of the choosing to produce the Mosquito are many. Firstly the British get more planes than OTL, some used for the many roles the Mossie was famed for and the rest used for a massive and sustained bombing campaign. Secondly aircrew are high quality volunteers so a reduction from 7 in a Lancaster to 2 in a Mosquito would aid the war effort by being able to divert these men to other areas like the PBI. Further its often said that to keep a heavy flying took 57 men, I suspect it took far less for a Mosquito. Indeed the specially made airbases with long runways that were produced across Britain wouldn't be required in this scenario again saving considerable labour. Thirdly the work force who IOTL produced the heavies would be reallocated not only to the production of Mossies but to other aircraft types like, transport, ASW and fighter bombers, all of which were at least as useful as heavies and arguably more so.
By 1941 the Mozzie is operational
By 1942 available in reasonable numbers
By 1943 and on wards its raining destruction down on the Third Reich.
Lets for this scenario sate that by 1943 there are around 1500-2000 (and very few heavies). The Mosquito's are used for both day and night bombing. These raids are much smaller yet more frequent than Bomber Commands efforts OTL this has the benefit of forcing the Germans to spread there defences and means that many different types of target can get hit. OTL due to either bombing in large formations to either survive (US) or get enough bombs onto target due to issues of bombing by night (UK) they had to use larger formations so had prioritise target types. However with the fast Mosquito they don't need such big formations as it has the speed to survive at day and the accuracy to hit the target at night. I beleive this would bring the Nazi ability to produce war material to a crashing halt earlier than OTL. Reducing the war by months!
That never really happened IOTL despite the massive bombing going on, underground factories weren't really an answer either. Plus the enormous disruption in production from shifting people and factories East, leaving the industrial Ruhr a ghost town, was not feasible given that the entire reason the Ruhr popped up is that was where the coal was. Plus then Mossies can start engaging in transport and oil facility destruction and collapse the German economy that way, while leaving France and Western Europe unsupportable by the Germans.With a purely Mosquito force German industry would respond by moving east out of range, or at least where bomb loads would be exchanged for fuel. You would still need heavies to reach that far with a useful bomb load.
German FLAK was never a big killer of aircraft, far less for the most faster Mossies; they could hit big bombers, more than twice the size of a Mossie, but even then they weren't particularly good at it.Another minor point is that Luftwaffe flak guns would have then to cope with high level bombers by day and night (large calibres) and low level bombers which are fast rate small calibre. Doing both would impact further upon German industry.
As an aside would an jet engined metal version of the Mosquito have gotten the same performance?
The Mosquito was made of wood laminate which helped save aluminium.
If we are building theminstead of (or at least instead of part of) the Lancaster force, why cant we make them in metal?
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They would be easier to track on radar ....
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Post WW2, the Argentine IAE 30 Nuncu fighter sort of fits your description. Nunca resembled an all aluminum version of Dehavilland's Sea Hornet and it achieved similar performance.
Back to wartime production methods: to achieve the same performance, a metal Mosquito would need the same attention to surface detail as North American Mustang and jet fighters because faster speeds require smoother skins to reduce parasitic drag and maintain laminar airflow farther aft. That requires flush rivets and carefully butted skin joints.
Precisely fitted skins would reduce water incursion. Water incursion was a problem with wooden Mosquitos because it increased empty weight and increased radar returns.
Speaking of radar returns ............ I wonder how much silver dope (containing powdered aluminum) contributed to radar signature. Most fabric-covered airplanes have a layer of aluminum dope or paint to reduce sunlight (UV) damage.
Balsa wood fillers (glued to aluminium skins) could still reduce weight and vastly reduce the numbers of rivets by reducing the number of internal stiffeners. for examples of balsa block internal stiffeners, see the experimental racer built by the DeHavilland Technical School TK 4 racer built in 1937.
Increasing the supply of balsa for airplanes means finding an alternative to balsa wood in the life-rafts carried by every ship. Deck space was not a big issue because many ships still carried full-size, wooden life boats. Forget about substituting rubber boats because rubber was too valuable for tires, hoses, etc.