Editing De Havilland Mosquito (section)

==Production==
[[File:MossyPrepare42beautypic.jpg|thumb|B Mk.IV ''DK336'' of [[No. 105 Squadron RAF |105 Squadron]] being prepared for [[Operation Oyster]], December 1942. This aircraft crashed near [[Shipham]] while returning from Cologne on 27 January 1943<ref>{{Cite web | place = UK |url= http://www.airhistory.org.uk/dh/mosquito.html |title=de Haveland Aircraft Produiction, DH98 Mosquito |website= Air history |access-date= 2020-04-19 |archive-date=31 March 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200331111305/http://www.airhistory.org.uk/dh/mosquito.html |url-status=live}}</ref>]]
About 5,000 of the total of 7,781 Mosquitoes built had major structural components fabricated from wood in [[High Wycombe]], Buckinghamshire, England.<ref>Cole, Roger. High Wycombe – Local History Series. Stroud, Gloucestershire, UK: Tempus Publishing Ltd., 2001. {{ISBN |0-7524-2290-1}}.</ref> Fuselages, wings and tailplanes were made at furniture companies such as Ronson, [[G-Plan|E. Gomme]], [[Parker Knoll]], Parslow Furniture,<ref>{{Cite web |date=2018-12-23 |title=Furniture firm's history: 'It all began with racing win' |url=https://www.bucksfreepress.co.uk/news/17315997.furniture-firms-history-it-began-racing-win/ |access-date=2024-05-16 |website=Bucks Free Press}}</ref> Austinsuite and Styles & Mealing. Wing spars were made by J. B. Heath and Dancer & Hearne. Many of the other parts, including flaps, flap shrouds, fins, leading edge assemblies and bomb doors were also produced in the Buckinghamshire town. Dancer & Hearne processed much of the wood from start to finish, receiving timber and transforming it into finished wing spars at their factory in Penn Street on the outskirts of High Wycombe.<ref>{{Cite web |title= Mosquito Main Wing |url=https://www.pennstreetchurch.uk/gallery/picture.php?/21 |access-date=2024-03-20 |website= Penn street church}}</ref>

Initially much of the specialised yellow birch [[wood veneer]] and finished plywood used for the prototypes and early production aircraft was shipped from firms in Wisconsin, US.<ref name="Connor-Madison, pp. 2-3.">Connor-Madison 2007, pp. 2–3.</ref> Prominent in this role were Roddis Plywood and Veneer Manufacturing in [[Marshfield, Wisconsin|Marshfield]]. In conjunction with the USDA [[Forest Products Laboratory]], Hamilton Roddis had developed new plywood adhesives and hot pressing technology.<ref>[http://www.foresthistory.org/publications/fht/fhtspringfall2005/fht05_hotr_wisconsin.pdf Forest History, Fall 2005, pp. 65–66] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131004223150/http://www.foresthistory.org/publications/fht/fhtspringfall2005/fht05_hotr_wisconsin.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131004223150/http://www.foresthistory.org/publications/fht/fhtspringfall2005/fht05_hotr_wisconsin.pdf |archive-date=2013-10-04 |url-status=live |date=4 October 2013}} Retrieved: 30 July 2013.</ref>{{Efn |Local memories are of teams of young women ironing the (unusually thin) strong wood veneer before shipping to the UK.{{Refn | {{Citation | url = http://www.marshfieldnewsherald.com/article/20131023/MNH01/310230453/Marshfield-women-recall-building-engineering-marvels-skies | title = Marshfield women recall building engineering marvels of the skies | work = Marshfield news herald | date = Oct 23, 2013}}.}}}} Later on, paper birch was logged in large quantities from the interior of British Columbia along the Fraser and Quesnel Rivers and processed in Quesnel and New Westminster by the Pacific Veneer Company.  According to the Quesnel archives, BC paper birch supplied ½ of the wartime British Empire birch used for Mosquitoes and other aircraft.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=City History | work = Quesnel & District Museum and Archives|url= https://www.quesnelmuseum.ca/local-history/city-history|access-date=2021-05-12| place = [[Canada | CA]] |archive-date=16 April 2021|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210416171441/https://www.quesnelmuseum.ca/local-history/city-history|url-status=live}}</ref>

As the supply of Ecuadorean balsa was threatened by the [[Battle of the Atlantic|U-boats in the Atlantic Ocean]],<ref name=forest>{{cite web |title= The use of wood for aircraft in the United Kingdom | id = Mimeo. No. 1540|url=https://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/downloads/cn69m810j |pages=7, 21 |publisher=[[Forest Products Laboratory]], Report of the Forest Products Mission |date=June 1944 |url-status=live |quote=Exigencies of supply have necessitated the considera-tion of other woods, however, and of other substitutes in connection particularly with Mosquito production. Certain artificial foams and mechanical equivalents appear to approach balsa wood in efficiency at a specific gravity of 0.1|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220115235138/https://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/downloads/cn69m810j |archive-date=15 January 2022 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Cooper |first1=John |title=Mineral plastics at war (Letters: May 2021) |url=https://www.chemistryworld.com/opinion/letters-may-2021/4013566.article |website=Chemistry World |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210813225400/https://www.chemistryworld.com/opinion/letters-may-2021/4013566.article |archive-date=13 August 2021 |language=en |date=May 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref> the [[Ministry of Aircraft Production]] approved a research effort to supplant the balsa with [[calcium alginate]] foam, made from local [[brown algae]]<!--Peter Plesch at Cefoil-->.<ref name="rsc">{{cite web |title=Making aircraft from seaweed! |url=https://edu.rsc.org/download?ac=11206 |publisher=[[Royal Society of Chemistry]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220115233123/https://edu.rsc.org/download?ac=11206 |archive-date=15 January 2022 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Slab of solid Ca alginate foam. |url=https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/objects/co536021/slab-of-solid-ca-alginate-foam-made-in-imitation-alginate-foam |website=collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk |publisher=[[Science Museum, London]] |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20220115215410/https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/objects/co536021/slab-of-solid-ca-alginate-foam-made-in-imitation-alginate-foam |archive-date=15 January 2022 |language=en |quote=Made in imitation of balsa Wood (as a substitute for use in the Mosquito Aeroplane). Density is ca. 0.1g/mL. Made by P.H. Plesch at Cefoil Ltd, 1944. |url-status=live}}</ref> By 1944 the foam was ready, but the U-boat threat had been reduced, the larger B-25 bombers were in sufficient supply to handle most of the bombing raids, and the foam was not used in Mosquito production.<ref name=Plesch>{{cite web |title=Plesch, Peter Hariolf (Oral history) |url=https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/80014864 |website= [[Imperial War Museums]] |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20200805195927/https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/80014864 |archive-date= 5 August 2020 |language=en |date=1995-04-13 |url-status=live |quote=his work at Cefoil Ltd on alginate compounds as substitutes for balsa wood used in construction of De Havilland DH.98 Mosquito}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title= Cefoil Seaweed Factory |url=https://www.secretscotland.org.uk/index.php/Secrets/CefoilSeaweedFactory |website= Secret Scotland |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210813104611/https://www.secretscotland.org.uk/index.php/Secrets/CefoilSeaweedFactory |archive-date=13 August 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref>

===Canada===
In July 1941, it was decided that DH Canada would build Mosquitoes at Downsview, Ontario. This was to continue even if Germany invaded Great Britain.<ref>Birtles 2017, ch. 8.</ref> Packard Merlin engines produced under licence were bench-tested by August and the first two aircraft were built in September. Production was to increase to fifty per month by early 1942. Initially, the Canadian production was for bomber variants; later, fighters, fighter-bombers and training aircraft [[#Variants|were also made]].  DH Chief Production Engineer, Harry Povey, was sent first, then W. D. Hunter followed on an extended stay, to liaise with materials and parts suppliers. As was the case with initial UK production, Tego-bonded plywood and birch veneer was obtained from firms in Wisconsin, principally Roddis Plywood and Veneer Manufacturing, Marshfield.<ref>Connor-Madison, p. 11.</ref> Enemy action delayed the shipping of jigs and moulds and it was decided to build these locally.{{fn|A consequence was that Canada used concrete shell moulds right from the start, rather than the wooden mounds made by pattern makers in England.}} During 1942, production improved to over 80 machines per month, as sub-contractorEs and suppliers became established. A mechanised production line based in part on car building methods started in 1944.<ref>Toronto Air and Space Museum, "Community Memories – Mosquito Aircraft Production at Downsview",
[http://www.virtualmuseum.ca/sgc-cms/histoires_de_chez_nous-community_memories/pm_v2.php?id=story_line&lg=English&fl=0&ex=00000430&sl=3189&pos=1 Accessed 11 September 2017] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221003060935/https://www.communitystories.ca/v1/pm_v2.php?id=story_line&lg=English&fl=0&ex=00000430&sl=3189&pos=1 |date=3 October 2022 }}</ref> As the war progressed, Canadian Mosquitoes may have utilized paper birch supplied by the Pacific Veneer Company of New Westminster using birch logs from the Cariboo, although records only say this birch was shipped to England for production there.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2005-02-01|title=Cariboo Pulp & Paper|url=https://www.pulpandpapercanada.com/cariboo-pulp-paper-1000193567/ |access-date=2021-04-01|website=Pulp and Paper Canada|language=en-US|archive-date=14 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210614021556/https://www.pulpandpapercanada.com/cariboo-pulp-paper-1000193567/|url-status=live}}</ref> When flight testing could no longer keep up, this was moved to the Central Aircraft Company airfield, London, Ontario, where the approved Mosquitoes left for commissioning and subsequent ferry transfer to Europe.{{citation needed|date=November 2020}}

Ferrying Mosquitoes and many other types of WWII aircraft from Canada to Europe was dangerous, resulting in losses of lives and machines, but in the exigencies of war it was regarded as the best option for twin-engine and multi-engine aircraft. In the parlance of the day, among RAF personnel, "it was no piece of cake."<ref name="Christie">{{cite book|last=Christie|first=Carl A.|title=Ocean Bridge – The history of RAF Ferry Command|year=1995|publisher= Midland Publishing | place = Leicester, England|pages=245–77}}</ref>{{Refn | {{Citation | title = A Country by Consent – World War II – Ferry Command | first = Carl A | last = Christie | archive-date = 2017-09-13 | url =
http://www.canadahistoryproject.ca/1939-45/1939-45-09-ferry-command.html | access-date = 11 September 2017 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170913003931/http://www.canadahistoryproject.ca/1939-45/1939-45-09-ferry-command.html |date=13 September 2017}}}}{{Efn|Rumors that were hard to credit circulated, including for example the theory of "auto-explosion".}} Considerable efforts were made by de Havilland Canada to resolve problems with engine and oil systems and an additional five hours of flight testing were introduced before the ferry flight, but the actual cause of some of the losses was unknown. Nevertheless, by the end of the war, nearly 500 Mosquito bombers and fighter-bombers had been ferried successfully by the Canadian operation.<ref>Hotson 1983, pp. 77–87.</ref>

After DH Canada had been established for the Mosquito, further manufacturing was set up at DH Australia, in Sydney.  One of the DH staff who travelled there was the distinguished test pilot, [[Pat Fillingham]]. These production lines added totals of 1,133<ref>Thirsk 2006, p. 52.</ref> aircraft of varying types from Canada plus 212 aircraft from Australia.{{Efn|The latter were fighter-bomber variants, PR aircraft and trainers, all for use in the war against Japan. Aerial surveys of Australian territory continued with the PR types until 1953.{{Sfn | Birtles | 2007 | at = ch. 8}}}}

===Exports===
In total, both during the war and after, de Havilland exported 46 FB.VIs and 29 PR. XVIs to Australia; two FB.VI and 18 NF.30s to [[Belgium]]; approximately 250 FB.26, T.29 and T.27s from Canada to [[Republic of China (1912–1949)|Nationalist China]]. A significant number never went into service due to deterioration on the voyage and to crashes during Chinese pilot training; however, five were captured by the [[People's Liberation Army]] during the [[Chinese Civil War]];{{Sfn | Birtles | 2007 | chap = 8}} 19 FB.VIs to [[Czechoslovakia]] in 1948; 6 FB.VIs to [[Dominica]]; a few B.IVs, 57 FB.VIs, 29 PR.XVIs and 23 NF.30s to [[France]].  Some T.IIIs were exported to [[Israel]] along with 60 FB.VIs, and at least five PR.XVIs and 14 naval versions. Four T.IIIs, 76 FB.VIs, one FB.40 and four T.43s were exported to [[New Zealand]]. Three T.IIIs were exported to [[Norway]], and 18 FB.VIs, which were later converted to night fighter standard.  [[South Africa]] received two F.II and 14 PR.XVI/XIs and [[Sweden]] received 60 NF.XIXs. [[Turkey]] received 96 FB.VIs and several T.IIIs, and [[Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia|Yugoslavia]] had 60 NF.38s, 80 FB.VIs and three T.IIIs delivered.{{Sfn | Bowman | 2005 | p = 163}}  At least one de Havilland Mosquito was delivered to the Soviet Union, marked 'DK 296'.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Carl-Fredrick Geust|first= Klaus Niska|title= Red Stars In The Sky: Soviet Air Force In World War Two |publisher= Tietoteos |year= 1981|isbn=951903559-1 |location=Finland|page =36}}</ref>

===Sites===
Total Mosquito production was 7,781, of which 6,710 were built during the war.

 [[File:De Havilland Mosquito IV ExCC.jpg|thumb|Factory-fresh Mosquito B.XVIs built by Percival: visible serial numbers are ''PF563'', ''561'', ''564'', ''565'' and ''562''.]]
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:right"
|+Production{{Sfn | Bowman | 2005 | p = 163}}|-
! Producer and site
! Number built
|-
| align="left" |de Havilland [[Hatfield, Hertfordshire|Hatfield]], Hertfordshire
| 3,326
|-
| align="left" | de Havilland Leavesden, Hertfordshire
| 1,476
|-
| align="left" | [[Standard Motor Company]] ([[Canley]]), [[Coventry]]
| 1,066
|-
| align="left" | [[Percival Aircraft Company]], [[Luton]]
| 245
|-
| align="left" | [[Airspeed Aircraft]], [[Portsmouth]]
| 122
|-
| align="left" | de Havilland [[Hawarden Airport|Hawarden]], [[Chester]]{{Efn|A former Vickers-Armstrong shadow factory.}}
| 88
|-
| align="left" | [[de Havilland Canada]], [[Toronto]]
| 1,076
|-
| align="left" | [[de Havilland Australia]], [[Sydney]]
| 212
|}