UNDOUBTEDLY one of the greatest and most versatile aircraft of the Second World War, the Mosquito was also the world's first true multi-role combat aircraft (the second not arriving until the Panavia Tornado). Designed by a company with no previous experience in producing high-performance military aircraft, de Havilland managed to produce a timeless classic which will remain one of those spine-tingling machines now sorely missed in British skies. However, while I write these words, far away in New Zealand, the sound of a pair of Merlin engines in harmony is to be heard in the skies once more, as Jerry Yagen's long project (Canadian-built FB.26 KA114) is now back in the air. The Mosquitoes versatility during the Second World War saw the aircraft operating in a variety of roles including as a pure unarmed bomber, a heavily armed fighter-bomber, rocket and heavy cannon armed anti-shipping aircraft, radar-equipped night-fighter, an unarmed reconnaissance aircraft, meteorological, trainer and finally as a target tug. From the PR.1 to the T.43, there was not a role the Mosquito could not be adapted to carry out; the aircraft was even modified for light transport work both during and after the war.
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