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Aviation History
1943
1943 - 1165.PDF
MAY 6TH, 1943 FLIGHT 471 THE MOSQUITO stresses, are of the same fundamental con- struction as that of the fuselage, that is to say, with two skins of plywood with a packing of balsa wood between them. The edges of these tank doors are secured to angle-section strips bolted to the ribs and spars by numerous Simmonds stop nuts. The trailing-edge portion of the wing is of generally similar construction, but the ailerons are of light alloy construction with sheet covering of the same material. The trailing-edge flaps are of the slotted type and are of wooden construction, with spruce ribs and plywood covering. The dihedral angle of the wings begins at the fuselage side, so that there is only a short length of spar which is horizontal. All the rest of the wing ^is set at dihedral angle. The wing tips are made up as separate units screwed on to the main wing when the navigation lights have been installed. The two undercarriage units are identical and interchangeable. They comprise the usual structure of steel tubes, with the front legs hinged at their tops and the real legs having a "break- able " joint operated by an hydraulic jack. In the compression legs themselves, however, ^n un- usual feature is found. In place of the usual hydraulic or oleo- pneumatic undercarriage leg, De Havillands have made use in the Mosquito of a system which was found to work very satisfactorily in the Moth, but which had not previously been attempted on a machine of the weight of the Mosquito. The shock-absorbing medium is a pile of rubber blocks working in compression. It will be realised that this avoids the Section through leading-edge radiator of the Mosquito.The airflow is controlled by the flap at the back, the front being open. A perspective view is given on p. 469. A Mosquito fighter flying over the Mediterranean n the neighbourhood of Malta. Split construction is employed in the Mosquito fuselage to facilitate installation of equipment. need for very accurately machined cylinders and thus effects a very great saving in time during manufacture. These struts have been found to be perfectly satisfactory in service. The tyres and wheels are Dunlops, fitted with pneumatic wheel brakes. The retractable tail-wheel unit has a Dunlop wheel with Acta tyre which conducts electricity into the ground. The two Merlin XXI engines are mounted on engine bearer frames in the form of steel tubes bolted to the front spar of the wings and to the fixed portion of the undercarriage structure. Starting is by an electric motor and booster coil, and priming is by a Ki-gas pump in each engine nacelle. The engine cowls merge neatly into the wing surface, and it will be observed that in con- formity with modern practice the nacelles are mainly below the wings. The Merlin engines drive De Havilland three-bladed hydromatic fully feathering airscrews The Fuel System For normal ranges all the fuel is carried in wing tanks, of which there are eight, four on each side. The two outer tanks each have a capacity of 24 gallons, the nest two a capacity of 34 gallons each, while the capacities of the inner tanks are 65J gallons and 78 gallons respectively. The total petrol capacity is thus 403 gallons. For particularly long-range work extra tanks may be fitted in the fuselage. These have a capacity of 150 gallons, bringing the total for long-range work up to 553 gallons. Actual performance figures may not be quoted, but in view of the fact that the wing loading is over 42 lb./sq. ft. one may assume that the Mosquito is capable of a speed not very
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