Duxford Mossie – The New Colours

Personally i think it looks great, all concerned on the restoration should be congratulated.

It could be worse !

What ever your opinion surely everybody agrees it is better than this.

The same argument could be applied to the Avro York. In RAF service it took part in the Berlin Airlift. But it was used in service and ultimately preserved by Dan Air and their enthusiasts. Like the Comet, it is fitting that they are both painted in Dan Air colours. Without their efforts both could have been lost to us.
mmitch.

This is obviously going to be one of those Marmite discussions,[you love it or hate it 🙂 ].
The majority of people that visit museums are NOT aviation buffs,they will look at the plane [because they are there for a day out] and say,”oooh that looks like the plane in that film that was on the t/v other day”or “oohh thats pretty”
They will look at the pretty scheme and maybe read up a little about it,but with the Red Arrows Hawk,the Red Arrows ARE more famous than the plane will ever be to non aviation buffs 🙂 .The Hawk will be the Plane the Red Arrows flew[to the younger ones who were’nt around for the Gnat] and therefore would be instantly recognisable to 99% of the visitors.
Another point is that the Hawk is more plentiful and therefore you could have one preserved in the Red Arrows Scheme,one in Black for the training mode.
My point is really to ask the question,Are we preserving the aircraft to be true to itself and it’s own airframe history or to show the Plane in the scheme /situation it was used and recognised for the majority of the time.? 🙂
This may be a bit controversial but as the airframe is rare and there to be true to it’s own self BUT also to teach people about the types previous usage, why can’t they split the painting scheme down the middle,one side shows the actual airframes scheme and the the other represents the aircrafts most regular use.
I know it won’t be popular with the purists [who are arguing on this anyway]but it would allow the majority of visitors to see it’s most used and famous types identities.[oh well it’s an idea i’ll duck now 🙂 ]

To be honest I could not care less what colours it is painted. At least it is bright and likely to catch kids interest which can only be a good thing. To me the design/engineering is far far more interesting than ifthe colour scheme is accurate & relevant.

I am with StormBird anyway. I want to see one fly not hung from the roof of a museum.

Jonathan

IMHO the target tug livery, although very colourful, brakes up the graceful shape of the nose intake of the Tempest.

Cees

Target Tug Schemes…

In general I think the target tug scheme looks good and it esp. looks good on the Mosquito. There are plenty of Mosquitoes world wide that are painted in various schemes so why not the TT scheme on the Duxford machine? I do have a problem with the Tempest though…a one if a kind on display and I think it should be in a final WWII camo scheme!!

EVeryone has their own opinions though…at least the aircraft survive and are being looked after!!

Get her out and make her fly again.

Hmmmmm not bad 😉 , like a new one straight out of the box :p .

I don’t really care what they look like anymore :rolleyes: .

I JUST WANT TO SEE MORE MOZZIES FLYING AGAIN SOON 😮 🙂 .
(not just dust collector’s 🙁 )

Cheer’s all 😀 , Tally :dev2: Ho! :dev2: Ho! Phil :diablo: .

I think it is an entirely appropriate scheme for the airframe, and think it looks fantastic. The fact that the Mosquito was used as a target tug for so many years has greatly aided its preservation in later years. If you compare the scheme that it now wears to the AWFUL scheme it had until recently, it is a 500% improvement!

I think the important thing to note is that it is the only scheme that this particular airframe actually served in, which to my mind makes it the correct scheme to paint it in.

Cheers

Bruce

Will we appear to be splif 50:50 here. No bad thing.

IMHO I think the scheme is superb and its nice that it is painted in accurate colours, however, I wouldnt have been screaming for her to be painted in these colours if thay had chosen a famous Bomber scheme. I would be more concerned if she was being left to rot outside.

Sorry Chaps , I think its a awful scheme for such a rare and wonderful aircraft, and goes for The Tempest at Hendon too. Just My opinion,

While I personally really like the target tug scheme on both the IWM’s Mosquito and Hendon’s Tempest, I am slightly worried by part of the reasoning behind the decision to paint these aircraft in these schemes.

To justify this paint scheme with the need to show a different (and very important) aspect of the RAF is quite acceptable. To do it just because the aircraft has no wartime service means that this aeroplane purely represents itself, and not the Mosquito as a type. I am quite sure this is not the main reason for choosing this colourful scheme, however…..
If the IWM is only going to paint aeroplanes in there own genuine colours, then I will expect the CASA2111 to be restored into Spanish AF markings and the ‘Ju52’ to be repainted into a Portugese scheme. This is clearly (I hope) not going to happen as these aeroplanes represent far greater things as they are (or will be, in the case of the CASA).

I do not expect that the IWM has any such idea in mind (although there was talk of the Sunderland being painted into a French scheme many years ago) and is simply producing a more attractive exhibit. Let’s face it, compared to how this Mosquito used to look, it now looks fantastic, even if it doesn’t suit your personal taste.

Well done IWM

Now PLEASE tell us when the roll out will be. Some of us will pay the entrance fee just to photograph this beauty outside!!

Or better still, put it out on the ramp during ‘Flying Legends’ and let everybody see it 🙂 🙂

Willow

Hi,

I would have to say it is probably correct to paint the mossie in those colours. From a personal point of view, I would like to see it in WW2 camouflage but this is probably being selfish. There are other aircraft at DX that wear camouflage that we can see.

I think the point of a museum is to educate people about the past etc, and also get ‘new blood’ interested in aviation. I bet not too many kids would be interested in looking at a load of planes that are all painted in the same colour. If being painted as it is makes children actually notice it and read the details etc, it is a lot more valuable than being painted camouflage and them just running past it to look at something else. Afterall, it will belong in their hands one day. It also tells the story of a less glamorous roll that often gets overlooked.

James

Hio Neilly,
Thanks for a moderate response. Just to pick up a thread and clarify. It’s true what you and I want isn’t part of the choice. It’s a tough old world. As MarkV has said, above, the current requirement for museums of the IWM’s calibre is that the actual aircraft is conserved as accurately as possible. That means the scheme it wore; and given the choice between a stored generic bomber scheme and a rare and under represented arm of service, I think the IWM chose right. You don’t; fair enough. It’s got nothing to do with ‘political correctness’ and the IWM isn’t a memorial, it’s a museum. They have different functions, and the IWM incorporates a number of memorials, but it’s primary requiremet is to present it’s artifacts as honestly as possible.

St Clement Danes and the Mosquito Museum (the old name I know, Bruce) are irrelevent in this discussion, but I’d like to add a ‘well done’ to the Mozzie museum. Neilly, would you lke to say why St Clement Danes said ‘no’? I can guess, but there’s usually a reason, isn’t there?

Snapper. Interesting post. Kind of shows how spoit we are with DX, because if you take away ALL the non camo aircraft, you’ll setill have more in camo than most national museums have in their entire collection!

Cheers

Neilly, the Mosquito scheme is not there to ‘impress’ you or to act as a ‘memorial’. Its simply an accurate recreation of the scheme this airframe wore when it was operated by the RAF. Its really is that simple and very much in keeping with current thinking wherein we try to re-create the exact and authentic markings ssociated with an actual preserved airframe rather than ‘adopt’ a a scheme that it did not actually see service in. Look at PV202, (sorry IAC 161) for a similar story. It has nothing to do with any lack of respect or loss of opportunity to respect the valiant Mosquitos crews.

On a serious note, there aren’t really that many camo aircraft at Duxford. There are plenty of warbirds, but with US schemes and others. Plus we have jets, we have civil junk (oops) and so on. I think that this scheme looks way better than the old one (dreadful) and shows the lines of the aircraft very well. But as to how I’d like to see it painted given the choice? Indicative of the major role in history of the Mossie.

JDK,

I think we’ll have to disagree on this one. I’d like to know all the Mosquitoes painted in front line WW2 squadron colours are? The only Mosquito painted to represent a frontline WW2 Squadron is TA 634. The others are either post war or have incorrect colour scheme (brown instead of grey!). I’m not including W 4050.

I think TA 719 should’ve been painted in accurate WW2 camoflage & the markings should’ve represented a frontline squadron such as 105 Squadron. The first Squadron to be fully equiped with Mosquito Bombers. The Mosquito should’ve been dedicated to those Mosquito aircrew that made the ultimate sacrifice, so we can have this discussion. If you think I’m labouring this point slightly, did you know the Mosquito Aircrew Association wanted to have a plaque to honour those Mosquito Aircrew who lost their lives in WW2 mounted at St. Clement Danes Church & were refused! Fortunately, the Mosquito Museum took a different view & for anyone whose interested there will be a dedication on the 10th April 2005.

So, while I agree with you that Mosquito target tug pilots did some useful service, don’t you think you should take into account other factors, too. At the end of the day it doesn’t matter what I think, the paint job is done. I’m just very sad that Duxford have gone this route.

TTFN,
Neilly

Put very well James. I think thats the point I wanted to make earlier but couldnt quite put it as succintly.

Neilly, I wouldnt be too worried about people forgetting what happened in the period 1939-1945. Interest in the second world war seems to be thriving particularly with the interest that television and film has shown the subject. Whilst these films (Pearl Harbour for example) and tv shows (the channel islands drama on itv which i sadly forget the name of and ‘Night Flight’ ) are not always accurate, they are still respectful and generate further interest in the subject.

best regards, steve

Neilly,
I defer to your knowledge of the Mosquito, but (if I may say, in a nice tone) I think you are talking rot here. 😉 . The IWM (like most acredited national museums) try and retain / return artifacts to their own colours form, rather than representative of the type. (Yes, thanks, hold that list of exceptions – I’m talking current, core policy of museums, and the conservations they are doing NOW.) There’s no ‘politically correct’ here except the (extremely irritating) same old use of the term by those who don’t agree with the decision.

As the UK has a museum dedicated to DH, and several Mosquitos in front line colours, it’s hardly the end of the world. Would you, with your magnificent website want the Mosquito only remembered for a couple of hysterical war films?

As ever we can choose to see and hear what we want to see and hear. Indulge me a moment – I can see some DX visitors talking about the famous wooden wonder on sighting the aircraft. (Quite a few people have heard of it you know.) Noticing the colours, they look at the caption board and read about the brave and unsung TT crews and (pay close attention here…) learn something. – Which is what Museums are for – NOT to reinforce our predjudices (thats ‘pre-judgements btw) but so we have the opportunity to learn.

Having tried to research TT aircraft recently, I was shocked at how little info there is – because of shortsighted, narrow attitudes such as this. Quick let’s paint all the Spitfires into Douglas Bader’s colours. :rolleyes:

As they say, discuss!

I’m sure the guys at Duxford have done an admirable paint job, but it should’ve been put into wartime camoflage colour scheme & dedicated to the crews who flew this aeroplane into battle. Anyway in a few years time no-one will remember there was a war between 1939-45!

I wonder which is going to be the next aeroplane to get the polically correct makeover?

Neilly