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Aviation History
1945
1945 - 0382.PDF
2O2 FLIGHT FEBRUARY 22ND, 1945 MOSQUITOES OF THE 8th U.S.A.A.F. 01 lui a quick trip westwards. Usually it means that a weather front is approaching a target area. It is the duty of the crews to find height and base of cloud, direction and speed of front, icing conditions, temperatures and general infonnatiou. The trip usually entails flying into and through the front to get a check on turbulence. Navigational Accuracy One trip was made by Capt. R. L. Lee with Lt. W. A. Diggers as navigator. The job was to test long-range navigation equipment over various areas. They flew from England via Corsica to San Severe in Italy, where they landed, From San Severo the Mosquito went on experi- mental trips to Varna on the Black Sea, Belgrade, Budapest and Vienna At ali these points the navigational fixes were within 'one half-mile to one mile of the actual spot over which the aircraff was flying. This accurate long-range navigation ties up with another important duty carried out by the Mosquitoes, and that is night photography In this work it is safe to say that the Americans are well ahead of the rest of the world. As long ago as March, 1929, they were taking experimental air photographs by flashlight over the Capitol and developing and printing the finished pictures on board the aircraft. The small flashlight used then has developed into the 700,000,000 candle-power M.46 flash-bomb used to day. A light as powerful as this allows of an exposure of i/25th second This shutter timing is obtained by making a slit travel across the film at a speed synchronised with the forward speed of ihe aircraft over the ground. So effi- cient is this arrangement that apertures as small as f/6.3" can be used. The flash lasts about one-tenth of H second, and it is possible, by the employment of photo-electric cells, to ensure that the photograph is taken at the peak of the light intensity. Twelve flash-bombs can be stowed in the bomb bay of The wet and dry bulb thermometer mounting on the noseof one of the Fortresses used by the Heavy-Weather Squadron. The weather observer sits at a. table facing the instrument. a Mosquito. The point 4s, however, that these night photo- graphs, in conjunction with accurate navigation, cover an area sufficient to ensure that the specified target will be included in the picture For many years the Americans used multi-lensed Fairchild T2 and T3 cameras, but a great deal of their war work has been done with the 5111.x 5111. K24, which is the U.S. version of the R.A.F.24 camera. The Training Unit has three dual-control Mosquito Vis for the pilots to learn to handle their new craft. Seventy per cent, of the Mosquito crews have done 700 hours or more on Fortresses or Liberators before being posted to this much-sought-after assignment. The conversion course includes 5 hours' dual, and another 20 hours' solo flying are put in. Of the pilots who are posted for training, some four out of five make the grade, and the remainder are returned to the pool. An American Mo-quito XVi 01 the Light-WeatherSquadron, seen from under a Fortress of the Heavy- Weather Squadron. Both types are used, the Fortress overthe Atlantic and the Mosquito wherever the enemy may be encountered or where high speed is desirable
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