DH91 Albatross - The father of the Mosquito?

[@Norrie-jj2ve]

Early in his career, and apart from piloting the original UP-G, my uncle Jacky was a co pilot on the Albatross while with 271 sqn, not very often, but as a 20-21 year old, it must have been an amazing time for him..:-)

[@AUG4791]

Was in the museum last week! Wonderful place and beautiful museum!

[@nigellawson8610]

The fuselage profile of DH 91 is reminiscent of the Lockheed Constellation even though the de Havilland design is a good few years older.

[@johnjephcote7636]

The shape of the fuselage can have lift characteristics.

[@downwindchecklist6567]

Really impressive. The craftmanship of our forefathers is really impressive. And to think they did all just with their hands and brains and close to no technology makes it even more impressive. Thank you for putting the info a video together. I just discovered your channel and subscribed right away. Do keep sharing these fantastic gems with the world!

[@babaganoush6106]

Well I would suggest they used simple materials using the most technology that there was available at that time. So for instance the main fuselage was created in two halves where the plywood was pressed over a concrete mould. This created a monocoque which was still unusual even in 1940.

[@charlesdavis7940]

Outstanding presentation. Very interesting. Thank you!

[@AUG4791]

Another 2 weeks after my previous visit I was there again. Seeing different things and talking to some of the very friendly volunteers there, like talking to this friendly gentleman. This gentleman gave me the tip to search for a Book "Beauty of the skies" got the book now at home. A good tip great book!

[@kevinfarley7732]

Possibly the most beautiful aeroplane ever made!

[@calgarymosquitosociety2061]

Significantly the Albatross fuselage was constructed in halves on moulds and made in layers of birch ply, balsa and birch ply, then banded with metal straps. This process is exactly what was adapted for the Mosquito as well.

[@ricardokowalski1579]

DeHavilland not only designed for flight performance, they also included manufacturing considerations. Respect🎩

[@stephenmorse342]

Albatros Flugzeugwerke GmbH were early in the concept during WW1 with their semi-monocoque plywood fuselaged Albatros D.1.... another Albatros!! (yes, one "s") :)

[@VincentComet-l8e]

The Albatross and the Mosquito - two beautiful aeroplanes. The DH designers certainly had an eye for lines/proportions/elegance and came up with two winners here. I know a little about the structure of the Mosquito and the inherent strength of the wing and fuselage is just amazing. The ply-balsa-ply sandwich of the fuselage is only around ¾“ thick but completely rigid, needing very little internal bracing. Calum Douglas, author of ‘The Secret Horsepower Race’, who had access to many original documents from the German Air Ministry, has related how often the Mosquito was mentioned in the minutes of their meetings - but not in a favourable way. Because, basically, they hated and loathed it with a vengeance, as it had caused so much damage and inflicted so many setbacks on them…

[@lucianoandrade5007]

I'm a Brazilian, subscribed to this channel, who fell in love with the incredible history and beauty (characteristic he inherited from the DH.91 Albatross) of the DH.98 Mosquito, making it my favorite plane ever since I read the book 'Mosquito The wooden wonder' - Edward Bishop, when I was 12, now I'm 55 - it's been a long time - he's my desktop wallpaper. Despite looking in several books and videos, I never got more detailed information about how they managed to pressurize a fuselage made of wood for the high-altitude versions, not even photos of this assembly I could find, could you make a video on this topic or at least tell me give more details? Thank you very much for the beautiful service in keeping the history of this incredible company alive.

[@deHavMuseum]

Thank you for your comments. There are many books available on the DH98 Mosquito, which discuss how the plane was designed and built. We are currently working on a number of videos on the Mosquito. These will cover some of the design features of this remarkable aircraft. We hope to share these with you on KZbin over the coming weeks.

[@babaganoush6106]

Hi the albatross wasn’t pressurised like it’s contemporary the Douglas DC2.

[@smalcolmbrown]

Really cool. Thank you.

[@mtacoustic1]

Sort of looks like a mini Lockheed Constelltion. Wonder how it would haver performed with a single vertical tail and a tricycle gear?

[@thunderace4588]

Thank you.

[@babaganoush6106]

The dH 98 mosquito could be perceived as de Havillands answer to the Lancaster. The mossie had a large bomb capacity and could carry similar ordinance (highball). But it was Arthur Harris’ intransigence that limited the use. Certainly the author Len Deighton makes the case for the mossie in his book ‘Bomber’.

[@babaganoush6106]

Hi one of my favourite aeroplanes of all time. An unusual photograph of the dH91 I haven’t seen that tailplane before. Most of the photos I’ve seen have a ‘clean’ tail with no struts. Wouldn’t have hurt to mention that the comet racer that won the 1934 race G-ACSS Grosvenor House lives breathes and flies at the Shuttleworth Collection just up the A1 from the dH museum. Also G-ACSP Black Magic is being rebuilt in Derby having been found in Portugal.

[@deHavMuseum]

The first examples of the DH91 had the tail shown on that photo. According to Graham Simons book ("De Havilland Enterprises"), "data gained during the early flights show that the inset strut-braced fins and rudders gave poor longitudinal stability when the aircraft was climbing at full throttle and low airspeeds, so completely new cantilever tail was designed and built to overcome this defect with end-mounted fins carrying unbalanced rudders". This "clean" tail is seen on many other photos of Albatross aircraft. Thank you for your comments on the two Comet Racers. It would be great to see Amy Mollinson (ne Johnson)'s "Black Magic" back some time soon. We have a replica Comet Racer here in the museum - maybe we should do a video on that 1934 race some time.

[@babaganoush6106]

@@deHavMuseum yes please a video on the race and include the replica…..where was it made?

[@deHavMuseum]

The replica was originally built in Australia for a film of the air race some time ago. It has since had some restoration work done by volunteers at the Museum.

[@smalcolmbrown]

Thanks :)

[@ArizonaPoet]

Mosquito's wing center section was ribs of aluminum. Saw one in a hanger in Cali disassembled. Wing structure was NOT entirely wood.

[@VincentComet-l8e]

Not sure what point you’re making, unless you’re just trying to be pedantic. All the major load-bearing components of the wing - spars, ribs, stringers, skin etc - were wooden. That doesn’t leave very much else, does it? But I’ll grant you that the engines and undercarriage weren’t made of wood. You're probably confused, and are thinking about the later DH Hornet, which did have alloy structural components in the wing. Regardless, however, why the peevish, unpleasant tone...?

[@babaganoush6106]

@Michael Cohenthe use of wood in the mosquito was due to several factors, firstly it was a non-strategic material so there wasn’t the competition for wood from other manufacturers, second it was cheap, third it was light and fourth it had a low radar signature. As the war progressed radar improved and operators were able to spot mosquitoes. In the Far-East they were believed to have had plywood delamination problems, but actually this was identified as a result of poor quality control at the factory. The dH 91 also suffered from delamination problems which eventually led to them being scrapped mid-war. Note Mike and frank costin (ex de Havilland employees) were great exponents of plywood developing many cars using ply including one that entered a formula one race.

[@VincentComet-l8e]

@Michael Cohen Sorry - there seems to have been a bit of a mix-up. Nothing at all wrong with your comment, and mine was intended for ArizonePoet.

[@babaganoush6106]

@Michael Cohen i of course bow to your greater knowledge of materials. With regards to combat damage or crashes the mossie could absorb some punishment as the fabric and dope wings allowed bullets and cannon shells to pass through. The use of wood as a non strategic material allowed the main wood parts to be thrown away. It’s cheapness was key, a lesson the allies learned early in the war and Nazis only in the last 18 months (he 162 etc).

[@calgarymosquitosociety2061]

You are 100% wrong. There are no metal ribs in the Mosquito's wing. The ailerons are metal. The rudder frame is metal covered in fabric. There are no aluminum ribs in the Mosquito. Don't know what you were looking at, but if there were metal ribs, it wasn't a Mosquito. (From they guy who's been restoring one for the past 10 years).

[@paulhelman2376]

The prototype suffered structual failure of the fuselage aft of the wing root while taxying. Basically it broke in half.

[@uingaeoc3905]

Are you going to cover De Havilland engines too?

[@deHavMuseum]

We intend to - the scripts are being refined at the moment for several videos on de Havilland engines.

[@paulhelman2376]

Both Albatros and Mosquito prototype had rear fuselage structural weakness.

[@pauls.2526]

Still building mosquitoes in Auckland, New Zealand.

[@janlindtner305]

👍👍👍

[@davidtapp3950]

It would appear that no-one has supplied you with even a model of the DH 91. Such a shame.

[@DavidSiebert]

It is a really pretty plane but the DC-3 which was from the same time period was just as fast but carried a larger payload and with only two engines probably a lot cheaper to operate. But boy the 91 was better looking.

[@mothmagic1]

The difference being we had no mass prodution facilities for aircraft at the time. deHavilland knew their market and the Albatross was exactly the right machine to fill the slot.

[@zofe]

No! Mosquito came out of a glider.