Warbirds in a Barn

[packerbacker]

WOW....thanks for sharing those pics. I absolutely love old aircraft, heck I even like the newer ones. I was in Naval aviation myself but during the Vietnam era. This is a pic of a friend of mine in front of a restored Mosquito located at the Oshkosh, Wisconsin EAA museum. We spent a day there. It's planes like these and the gutsy guys that flew them that won the war.

 

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[Monty]

Wasn't the mosquito called the last of the wooden airplanes? I know they were fast and light for their size and much feared by the Germans during the war. Is the owner of the planes planning to restore any of them or are they just there? Monty

 

[extractor]

great post thanks

 

[Kiwijohn]

packerbacker..
Thats a great photo. From the glazed nose, that one is a bomber or a reconnaisance model.
All carried 2 crew and you can just see the front edge of the navigators seat in the first cockpit
photo. He sat much higher than the pilot and would crawl forward into the nose for bombing.

Monty
DeHavilland had a lot of experience making wooden aircraft prior to the Mosquito. As I mentioned
earlier it had lots of advantages due to shortages of alloy during the war. Another advantage was
that they could be built by civilians with sub assemblies being made by joinery factories, piano
makers and even undertakers, who made coffins. The main spar was spruce and the rest of the wing
was wood also. The flight control surfaces were alloy apart from the flaps which were wood.
DeHavilland also made a jet fighter/trainer, the DH115 Vampire. Maybe this was the last wooden
aircraft? It had a wooden cockpit using the same laminate construction as the Mosquito.
In fact there is the remains of one of these in the barn also! It was a twin boom aircraft and I'm not
sure what the booms were made of.
The owner of the planes has no plans to restore them. As you so aptly put it...............
"They are just there"
They are known by the warbird community worldwide and I'm sure future generations will restore
them.

 

[sasnz]

packerbacker..
Thats a great photo. From the glazed nose, that one is a bomber or a reconnaisance model.
All carried 2 crew and you can just see the front edge of the navigators seat in the first cockpit
photo. He sat much higher than the pilot and would crawl forward into the nose for bombing.

Monty
DeHavilland had a lot of experience making wooden aircraft prior to the Mosquito. As I mentioned
earlier it had lots of advantages due to shortages of alloy during the war. Another advantage was
that they could be built by civilians with sub assemblies being made by joinery factories, piano
makers and even undertakers, who made coffins. The main spar was spruce and the rest of the wing
was wood also. The flight control surfaces were alloy apart from the flaps which were wood.
DeHavilland also made a jet fighter/trainer, the DH115 Vampire. Maybe this was the last wooden
aircraft? It had a wooden cockpit using the same laminate construction as the Mosquito.
In fact there is the remains of one of these in the barn also! It was a twin boom aircraft and I'm not
sure what the booms were made of.
The owner of the planes has no plans to restore them. As you so aptly put it...............
"They are just there"
They are known by the warbird community worldwide and I'm sure future generations will restore
them.

After parting with a few million i would guess.

Sasnz