DeHavilland Mosquito, hand carved by ?

by David Bailey

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After seeing Frank Dargies’ beautiful Mosquito finished in PRU Blue and based at RAF Benson, I thought you might like to see another one that was done over sixty years ago.

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My Mother was at Benson during WWII and says that there was a man there, whom she believes was a civilian employee, who enjoyed whittling models in his spare time. She asked him if he could make her a Mosquito, and this was the result. Crude by today’s standards, but he captured the lines nicely, and the paint seems a good match. Perhaps he used the real thing? As you can see it’s taken a few knocks over the years, but as a young boy I really couldn’t resist playing with it! The warping of the prop discs seems to have occurred recently, I guess the lifetime of that era’s plastic is just about up. And there were no decals in those days, details such as roundels, fin flashes, and wingtip lights were hand painted.

Last year the Toronto Aerospace Museum http://www.torontoaerospacemuseum.com/ held a Mosquito symposium, and for the occasion my Father obtained a trophy display case to enclose the model. (Both my parents, in their 80's, are working members of the museum). Several participants were quite enthralled by this historical item, and had their photos taken with it. Today it was my Mother’s turn to have her picture taken with this treasure which has been enjoyed by three generations of Baileys so far. If you visit the Toronto Aerospace Museum ask if 'The Muffin Lady' is there that day and say hello!

Dave

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Photos and text © by Dave Bailey, aka 'The Rat'