ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 144369
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| Date: | Friday 13 April 1945 |
| Time: | 17:20 |
| Type: |  de Havilland DH.98 Mosquito B Mk XX |
| Owner/operator: | 139 (Jamaica) Sqn RAF |
| Registration: | KB148 |
| MSN: | XD-L |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 2 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | RAF stn Upwood, Huntingdonshire, England. -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | Landing |
| Nature: | Training |
| Departure airport: | RAF Upwood, Huntingdonshire |
| RAF Upwood |
Mosquito KB148/L: Took off at 17:05 hrs for test/training flight. 13/04/1945
Landed at 17:20 hrs but the Mosquito swerved off the runway RAF Upwood and was damaged beyond repair.
Crew:
F/O (Aus.409436) Thomas Lewis PARSONS (pilot) RAAF - Ok
F/Lt (136355) Richard John BURGESS DFC (nav.) RAFVR - Ok
11:00hrs Batman (usually a woman) would knock on our door, and waken Dick and I. We would have a shower, then go to the Officers Mess in time for our first meal of our 24 hour day, which was everyone else’s lunch. At about 2 pm we would walk to the Flight hut, look at the blackboard to see if we were on that night, and to which aircraft we had been allotted. We would get a ride out to the dispersal site, where all the mosquitoes were parked. I would consult with the “chiefy”, find out if any work had been done overnight on the aircraft, walk over with ground staff, walk around and inspect control surfaces, tyres etc. get the staff to hook up the ground battery trolley used for starting, Dick and I would climb up the silly small ladder into a very small cockpit, fit my parachute in the metal seat, and we both would check all the instruments etc. Check petrol, turn on tanks, give a signal, and start the engines. If all OK give a signal to remove chocks, and taxi out to the runway threshold. Run up both engines, check magneto drops at about 1600 revs on each magneto, brief full burst, back to about 1000 revs. Do cockpit drill TMPFFI etc get green light from tower and take off. Watch for swing when tail lifts, and about 120mph start to lift off. When airborne, raise undercarriage at about 300ft, raise flaps and climb away to about 10,000 feet, watching oil temp & pressure and all the other little things. When Dick finishes checking his instruments and the H2S, back we go, join the circuit, undercarriage down on down-wind leg, cross wind flaps and turn in at about 125–130mph, line-up and do a wheeler landing. A stab of brake when the tail drops and taxi in to dispersal. Talk to ground staff if necessary, they fill fuel, fit 2 drop tanks on wings fill them, armourers load bombs etc for the night to be ready after tea.
Back to Officers Mess, no drinking, have a rest and a light meal and to the briefing room by 7pm When the C.O., briefing officer and met man walk in we all stand, and seated by the C.O. Up to now the wall map is covered, the covers are removed to show the target for the night. All phones from the base are now disconnected from the outside. Time announced when the Lancaster’s will be over target. We MUST be there 3 minutes beforehand. Not earlier not later. Each one of the 12 or 14 pathfinder aircraft flies independently, never to see the others, all at one height going in the same direction. Bombers are under us. We are usually picked out by German searchlights. When about 50 miles from the target, the flak comes up very close. They are very good at this. Once we start the run in, no dodging flak. Just down with the seat, down with the head and watch the instruments. On the way to the target, if we were a long way back, and the flak was getting close, I used to crib a bit. I would do a gradual turn of 5 degrees to port, drop about 100 feet and count 10 seconds, turn gradually back and count another 10 seconds etc. hoping that my Nav would not go too crook at me. I reckoned I could dodge the flak this way.
The radar, or as we knew it, the H2S had an 8 mile blank centre, and this was not so good for good navigation. We had to line up way back, open bomb bay doors and keep the head down and fly very accurately. Dick would count down, I would push the button on the control column, which started the camera going as well as releasing the load of flares and high explosive or incendiary bombs, whichever was our load. Two minutes exactly straight and level, to allow the camera to take good pictures, then close bomb doors, and head home quick smart.
One night, the Oil Temperature on the starboard motor started to go up as well as an Oil pressure drop, so I feathered the prop and come home on one engine. Actually with no load, the one engine took us home at about the same speed as we did with 2000 pounds of bombs.
Berlin and back was about 3 hours 45 mins. The Lancaster’s used to take about 8 hours for the return trip.
Dick would give me courses to somewhere near the Wash on the east coast of England. I would pick up our own beam and bring the Mossie in on the beam. Landing a Mossie with one engine was quite dicey, too much torque when power taken off, so we used to have to glide approach the last 500 feet at about 180 mph. I only did that in daytime practice. I am glad I never had to land on a glide approach at night.
In we go, check with ground staff, back to Intelligence to report, then off to some bacon and eggs at the Mess between 3.00 and 4.00am in the morning. Back to bed, and hopefully sleep until about 11.00am when our batman wakes us up, and we start the whole lot again.
Sources:
1.http://www.airhistory.org.uk/dh/_DH98%20prodn%20list.txtt
2.http://www.156squadron.com/display_newpff_roll.asp?ID=139
3.http://www.aussiemossie.asn.au/index_files/Page7211.htm
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 13-Mar-2012 09:50 | Nepa | Added |
| 07-Jan-2013 08:33 | Nepa | Updated [Source, Narrative] |
| 22-Jul-2014 09:24 | giggs | Updated [Aircraft type, Location, Destination airport, Narrative] |
| 03-Apr-2015 07:18 | SIS07 | Updated [Location, Narrative] |
| 24-Aug-2015 16:22 | Nepa | Updated [Aircraft type, Narrative] |
| 01-Mar-2016 16:59 | Charlie Harper | Updated [Cn, Narrative] |
| 19-Jun-2019 20:13 | Nepa | Updated [Other fatalities, Narrative, Operator] |
| 29-Sep-2021 11:14 | Nepa | Updated [Source, Narrative, Operator] |
| 13-Dec-2021 19:04 | Nepa | Updated [Nature, Narrative, Operator] |
| 04-Aug-2022 18:03 | Rob Davis | Updated [Narrative] |
| 08-Oct-2023 07:42 | Nepa | Updated [[Narrative]] |
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