What was the mosquito aircraft employed by the British in World War II?
The de Havilland Mosquito[1] was a British combat aircraft that excelled in a number of roles during the Second World War. It served with the RAF and many other air forces both in the Second World War and postwar (see Operators below). The Mosquito was a twin-engine aircraft, powered by a pair of Rolls-Royce Merlins with the pilot and navigator sitting side by side. Unorthodox in design, it used a plywood structure of spruce and balsa in a time when wooden construction was considered outmoded. In the conceptual design stage, de Havilland designers found that adding any defensive armament would significantly reduce the aircraft’s maximum speed. Realising that the loss in performance was not worth the benefit of the defensive armament, the initial bomber version was designed without any guns. The Mosquito was a very versatile aircraft; originally conceived as a fast day bomber, the various roles of the Mosquito included: tactical bomber, pathfinder, day or night fighter, fighter-bomber,
