This film is a good complement to other accounts of this airplane's development. Growing up in Montreal during WW2 made us somewhat aware of of Canada's industrial contribution to the war effort. I would urge anyone who is a fan of machinery and aircraft evolution to find this video on the internet, What I found intriguing, was the footage,which presumably uses actors on a film set to show how the designers worked out the design concept.in a secluded setting away from the De Havilland headquarters. One of the actors bears an uncanny resemblance to Hollywood star. Boris Karloff. However. no mention is made in the credits of these sequences. Other links to more recent "real time" videos are easy enough to get to.
2 Reviews
Unexceptional Documentary.
rmax30482329 February 2012
Warning: Spoilers
I loved the Mosquito. What an airplane -- versatile, fast, sleek. It was deservedly one of the best-known British warplanes of World War II. Its design was innovative too -- a two-seater, built of wood, powered by two Rolls Royce Merlin engines. It was intended to be a fast light bomber. It carried half the bomb load of a B-17. The Mosquito was adapted to many other roles during the air war, including: low to medium altitude daytime tactical bomber, high-altitude night bomber, pathfinder, day or night fighter, fighter-bomber, intruder, maritime strike aircraft and fast photo-reconnaissance aircraft.
It was used as a bomber in some famous low-level strikes against Gestapo headquarters in occupied Europe and in destroying the wall and some buildings of a Nazi prison where resistance fighters were kept, allowing them to escape.
The film itself, although I enjoyed it, doesn't really do the aircraft justice. It's essentially a one-hour tribute to the De Havilland aircraft company. There is some fascinating footage from the strike on the prison and attacks on the Tirpitz in a fjord.
But the material isn't really organized chronologically, or along any other discernible dimension, so it's hard to grasp just where we're at in viewing it. Then too, the narration sometimes sounds like a war-time pep talk. A lot of well-deserved praise for the airplane and those involved in its production but not much detail about that production. Early experimental models were fitted with dorsal turrets and other filigree because the Air Ministry was doubtful that an effective bomber could be fast enough to need no armament. And no mention of the Germans' jet-powered Arado reconnaissance aircraft that matched the speed and utility of the Mosquito at the end of the war.
Nice shots, though, of a modern still air-worthy Mosquito in flight. I may be a bit tepid towards this documentary but never the airplane.
It was used as a bomber in some famous low-level strikes against Gestapo headquarters in occupied Europe and in destroying the wall and some buildings of a Nazi prison where resistance fighters were kept, allowing them to escape.
The film itself, although I enjoyed it, doesn't really do the aircraft justice. It's essentially a one-hour tribute to the De Havilland aircraft company. There is some fascinating footage from the strike on the prison and attacks on the Tirpitz in a fjord.
But the material isn't really organized chronologically, or along any other discernible dimension, so it's hard to grasp just where we're at in viewing it. Then too, the narration sometimes sounds like a war-time pep talk. A lot of well-deserved praise for the airplane and those involved in its production but not much detail about that production. Early experimental models were fitted with dorsal turrets and other filigree because the Air Ministry was doubtful that an effective bomber could be fast enough to need no armament. And no mention of the Germans' jet-powered Arado reconnaissance aircraft that matched the speed and utility of the Mosquito at the end of the war.
Nice shots, though, of a modern still air-worthy Mosquito in flight. I may be a bit tepid towards this documentary but never the airplane.
See also
Awards | FAQ | User Ratings | External Reviews | Metacritic Reviews
