Looks like the remains of a ‘Proctuka’ -G-AIEY is the best known but there were two others -the fin and rudder assembly looks Proctor too!

It’s not Viv’s dreaded ‘Proctuka’, as the angles are wrong. I presumed the tail-surface in the background was the tip of a Mosquito tailplane, but looking at it again you may well be correct…..
A lot of stuff was lurking around even up until as late as the 1970’s. I was offered about four containers crammed full of Mosquito spares in the early 1980’s, but at the time I had no suitable storage, and I recall it all went to the USA. I was very sorely tempted I do know. Merlins, radiators et al, and not corroded junk either. Of more interest to this thread, I do recall that when the Strathallan B35 was sold to Kermit Weeks, it went for what was – even then – a pittance….my memory may be fooling me, but it wasn’t much more than £100,000, I was very sorry to see it go, but at least it was nice to know it was in safe hands.

‘Do not scrap’…..

Post 355.
Mark,
Thread-drift, but;- In the foreground of this photo appears to be the remains of a Proctor, – the stbd main u/c leg etc. I can’t remember the ID offhand, I will have a note in some dusty corner, but I’m sure someone here will remind me….! I suspect this is the one that appeared in the (Rather naff..) film ‘Mosquito Squadron’, masquerading, very unconvincingly, as a crashed ‘German’ a/c. Strangely enough, I ended-up with some of that one…! I never cease to be amazed at the way old photos turn-up on the web…!
Snoopy 🙂

Chalk & Cheese.

I haven’t read this entire thread, but watched the page count rising and guessed where it was going. I’ve read the first few and the last few comments. Some of the comments seem to have been old chestnuts about using other materials, or even engines etc. I’ll keep my three ha’peth as succinct as possible.

1. A Mosquito is a definite article. Built to appropriate drawings,specifications and incorporating the correct assemblies.
2. Anything else is a replica ‘Mosquito’ by definition. Period.
3. This thread was supposed to be about building a Mosquito, not a ‘Mosquito’.

I’ve got no axe to grind when it comes to replicas, I just think posters are mixing two ENTIRELY different animals here. Building a ‘real’ Mosquito isn’t about size or shape – it’s a technological exercise. A Mosquito requires vastly more resources, money and discipline than a replica. You can’t make it up to suit you pocket, you have plans to follow. Airworthiness issues aside, once you mess with certain fundamentals, you might just as well throw all the parameters away. As touched upon by other posters, the authenticity issue also affects funding in a fundamental manner. Most replicas are essentially private ventures. Building a Mosquito will be hugely more realistic with popular backing. Reading the previous posting about the Vulcan was very sobering. As any sort of enthusiast, one has to feel truly humbled by a successful effort on such an epic scale. Really, it’s an astonishing achievement. The Mosquito isn’t in the same league as the Vulcan, but it stands as an object lesson to any team aspiring to fund an aircraft so difficult but equally so highly desirable.

An Old Chestnut.

The shortage of three-bladed units has been a longstanding one. Several earlier Marks of Spit have used a later four-bladed airscrew. I seem to recall the Gauntlet Spit (A MKII..?) operated from Booker used to sport several features of later Spits, including the prop etc. This was all altered to correct it’s appearance a few years ago. When Charles Church was in full-flow, he had a run of three-bladed hubs manufactured, but they were all snapped-up in swift fashion.

Didn’t know you could buy radioactive paint?

I had a couple of pots of Gloy ‘Glow In The Dark ‘ Paint as a kid……..that must explain everything…….:p

Simples.

If an aircraft is very historic, and you want it preserved in aspic – fine, put it into a museum as a static exhibit. The whole notion of keeping an a/c airworthy AND original is a contradiction in terms. As Tony has stated, any and all parts can, and usually are replaced, just as they were when the a/c was in service.
This is why I’m always so dismissive of the spotty anoraks who criticise ‘Dataplate Specials’. Such a/c give us all we need to see, hear and smell AND allow the more originals to survive in perpetuity. It’s a totally win-win process. In airworthy machines, any replacement parts that are manufactured to drawing and spec ARE effectively ‘original’ for airworthiness purposes (Subject to the usual paper-trail.). As such rebuilds proliferate, the scope for re-manufactured items and assemblies grows too. Modern technology has transformed this process, which would often simply have been prohibitively expensive in the past. Sentimentality and airworthiness don’t really mix…:diablo:

Exactement…!

Flak-jacket:)

That’s what comes of posting at ungodly hours…! 😮

Let those demons out….

Stap me vitals, what a great thread….:) It’s got to be good if we can squeeze-in The Goons AND extra-marital sex…!
As most posters have stated – we all allow the occasional error to creep in. I know I’m always extra-careful when I’m posting in the wee small hours…! In truth, there isn’t much excuse in this media, as every P.C. has a spell-checker. If folks are using a Mac, then it’ll highlight spelling errors automatically in any page…which has saved my bacon many times…! 😮
It’s not very nice if contributors point out others errors in an unkind way, it’s unnecessary. That said, some of the errors are gross and if folks repeatedly inflict their misspellings, malapropisms and ungrammatical outpourings on a public forum, they are making themselves look pretty stupid and shouldn’t be surprised if comments are made. It’s true, good spelling and grammar aren’t an absolute measure of intelligence, – but it’s a pretty good guide….! Illiterate posters tend long on blather and personal opinion and short on accurate content. The latter being the ‘meat’ on a forum like this.
Incidentally, several posters to this, of all threads, have started sentences with ‘And’, which I always regard as an absolute ‘tabloidism’…hehehe….. :diablo: (Oh God, let there be no errors in THIS post…!) Now where’s my flak-jacket… :p