Iconic British Aircraft

[facthunter]

Checking up on the Hornet and Sea Hornet they are a direct derivative of the Mosquito  and are still wooden. The only remaining one is being restored in New Zealand where they have great skills and have restored at least One Mosquito.. Most have a dorsal fin that makes the tail look  Un-deHavilland. My informant about the metal construction was in the 60s and most people didn't know much about these types in detail because they weren't used for long and not made in large numbers. but they were never made of  metal. Nev

[kasper]

Fact Hunter.  Nope.  
 

the hornet and sea hornet had bonded metal skins on the bottom of the  wings which were wood and skinned in wood in the upper.  
 

whilst looking familiar to the mosquito and sharing many construction features it was a blank sheet design and not a derivative or development of the mosquito 

[facthunter]

Get on the NZ website. The hinges on the sea Hornet are of course metal. That and other reliable sites say it's a DIRECT DERIVATIVE.  Nev

[skippydiesel]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Havilland_Hornet

 

My DH Hornet understanding is:

Conceived as a single seat, long range fighter, for the Pacific theatre.

Came from the same "stable" as Mosquito and resembles a scaled down version of the famous fighter/bomber

"Handed"/contrarotating props to facilitate carrier operations, for the Sea Hornet varient

There was at least 3 main variants - Sea Hornet, Recon (probably had a camera operator) & Hornet

Predominantly of metal construction

Did not see "action" during WW2

Did see "action" during the Malayan "Emergency" mainly in ground support

Used specially adapted, small frontal area, Merlin engines

Could outperformed the erly jet aircraft of the era, in pay load, duration, climb, probably lost out at altitude

The design lost out to the dawning of the Jet fighter

Claimed to be a pilots aircraft/delight to fly.

Probably the ultimate  & most beautiful 2 engine piston fighter ever developed

There was a contingent based at Bankstown, NSW, Australia

 

[facthunter]

It's NOT predominantly of Metal  construction. That's what I had wrong at the beginning. Some people who had them disposed of them in favour of Lockheed Lightings as it was clear they weren't going to last long structurally.   Nev

Edited May 16, 2023 by facthunter

[skippydiesel]

1 hour ago, facthunter said:

It's NOT predominantly of Metal  construction. That's what I had wrong at the beginning. Some people who had them disposed of them in favour of Lockheed Lightings as it was clear they weren't going to last long structurally.   Nev

Okay - more metal than the Mosquito