British De Havilland Mosquito Aircraft warming up its engines

A De Havilland Mosquito PR Mk XVI British combat aircraft, part of RAF’s 140 Squadron, warming up its engines before a night photographic reconnaissance mission. Melsbroek, Belgium, February 15th 1945.

The light, quick and agile De Havilland Mosquito stood out due to the fact that it was constructed of mostly wood. It originally served as a fast bomber, but during the course of the war it evolved into a multi purpose combat aircraft. Multiple prototypes and variants of the Mosquito were built.

The aircraft was introduced into the Royal Air Force in 1941, despite initial orders for the project to be scraped, and served for the rest of the war years in the European, Mediterranean and Italian theatres of operations.

Book suggestion ⤵️

📖 de Havilland Mosquito: An Illustrated History (Stuart Howe, 1992)