PERHAPS one of the most famous Mosquitos of all time, MM4I7 T-for-Tommie of 487 Squadron RNZAF did not chalk up an extensive range of operations. In fact, it only flew two and stayed with the unit for just over a month. If a certain degree of popularity has surrounded MM4I7, this seems solely due to the availability and frequent use of a set of air-to-air photographs taken in 1944 and the later selection of model kits based on these. But the lesser-known story of what it did - or rather had done to it - is the stuff of legends. Formed at Feltwell, Norfolk, in September 1942,487 Squadron absorbed a number of New Zealanders from the Commonwealth Air Training Programme.Then flying Lockheed Venturas, they will always be remembered for the tragic Amsterdam raid of May 3, 1943, when they lost ten machines in the space of ten minutes. In an operation control and timing blunder, 40 crewmembers were killed or taken prisoner.
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