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Old February 29th 04, 04:48 PM
Keith Willshaw
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"Ed Majden" wrote in message
news:X0o0c.645634$X%5.618654@pd7tw2no...

"Keith Willshaw" \
Badly, think of what happened to the Me-110's in the
Battle of Britain. The Mosquito was lightly built and couldnt
manoeuvre as well as the Me-109. It was fast to be sure BUT
couldnt cruise at high speed for the range required.


I agree, it would have difficulty against a BF109 or an BF190. As for
range, the Mosquito dropped bombs on Berlin and they acted as path finders
for the RAF night bomber missions.


Sure but to do so they cruised at an air speed of around 240 mph
at night. The famous day time raids against the prison at
Amiens and the gestapo HQ in Copenhagen required an
escort of RAF single seat fighters

One, I think would have to weigh the
loss of a B17 crew against the effectiveness and loss of a two man

Mosquito
crew. I just read the book. Schweinfurt, disaster in the skies, by John
Sweetman. During the early raids the USAAC believed the B17 could protect
itself but they were sadly proved wrong by the high losses. A Mosquito
escort may have saved some of these crews.


Its unlikely since the Mosquito would have been struggling
to save itself in these circumstances. The most likely outcome
would be the loss of both aircraft.

Until the Mustang came on seen,
Spitfires had an escort range of 175 miles, the P47-230 miles, the
P38 -520 miles and then the Mustang, listed as over 600 miles which took

it
past Berlin.
I wonder how much better a P38 was when compared to the Mosquito. I have
heard in some case, with the P38 they weren't sure who was escorting who!
Can't remember where I read that!


The P-38 was a much more capable day fighter than the Mosquito.
The mossie was an excellent aircraft but it was unsuitable as a
day escort.

Keith