The Last Mosquito

This is an edited video that was originally uploaded by staffordbing that records, in detail, the crash of the last air worthy de Havilland Mosquito. I’ve included a link to the report into the accident: It was a scorchingly hot Sunday on 21st July 1996 when I attended the airshow at Barton Aerodrome where the pilot of the Mosquito had given a superb display. On the final run, the aircraft made a steep climb and then the pilot seemed to lose control; I can remember a spectator standing next to me saying:“He’s lost it, he’s lost it...“. I turned and watched the pilot working hard on rudder control to negate the tail spin during the crash dive but he didn’t have enough clearance before hitting the ground at Chatmoss. It’s almost certain that had there been enough height, having achieved full engine RPM, that the pilot could have saved the flight. In an interview that I gave to a journalist minutes afterwards I estimated that the final speed before impact was around 300 knots (both engines running at full throttle) also that most of the fuel was spent during the airshow as there was little fire, I also suggested that aerodynamic stability had been compromised at the top of the loop. I had been a lot closer to the drama than staffordbing as I was beyond the control tower and at the end of the runway where the fire engine was stationed--not far from Chatmoss--so I had a clear view of the actual crash.