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Mosquito FB. Mk VI accidental bomb release


stevehnz

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On the 9th Oct 1943, while flying on a 464 sqn Mosqiuto FB Mk.VI, my uncle F/O BJE Hannah RNZAF & his pilot Flt Lt P.C.C Kerr died when their aircraft crashed on the outskirts of Antwerp in Belgium.

For most of my life, 50+ years at least, I have wondered if they were shot down by flak or fighter or maybe some other agency.

A couple of years ago, in the lead up to the first flight of KA114, the FB Mk 26 restored/rebuilt in New Zealand it was revealed to me in discussion on the Wings over New Zealand Forum (WoNZ) after I put a comment to this post on the forum, that Mosquito HX912 was blown up by the inadvertent release on their own bombs, this post on the forum revealing the details, not something I was prepared for in any way. AFAIK, my father had never been aware of this.

A later post had a link to the entry that covers the incident in Ian Thirsk's, De Havilland Mosquito - An Illustrated History, Volume 2, no longer on the net unfortunately, which described how confusion between the bomb release & the intercom button, apparently placed close to each other had caused this & several other similar loses.

Subsequent searches on the net have not lead me to explanations of just what was involved, I haven't been able to find any cockpit diagrams which show how the confusion could have occurred & what the recommended fix was.

I touched on this lose in Tony O'toole's wonderful Ventura thread, but didn't want to take that off course so here I am doing something I've meant to for a couple of years at least, but always veered away from, perhaps unwilling to confront this.

Steve.

FWIW, the thread on WoNZ, I think their biggest ever has some real interesting stuff in it if you're into Mosquitos, thanks to Marty (McFly) on that Forum for his info.

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Steve, however your uncle met his end he will always have my undying gratitude for his service. Yes it might be easier to accept the notion that they were shot down in some way, but in the fog of wartime ops, accidents frequently happen.

Hope you can finally get some closure on this Steve, whatever happens I will happily raise a glass to your uncle at the next opportunity.

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Hiya Steve,

What an interesting thread you`ve linked to and it must have been great to see those photo`s of your Uncle, his Pilot and their Mosquito, not to mention finding out more about the manner of their death. Cheers for your kind words about my Ventura too,.....but you are just biased for obvious reasons!

All the best

Tony

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Hiya Steve,

What an interesting thread you`ve linked to and it must have been great to see those photo`s of your Uncle, his Pilot and their Mosquito, not to mention finding out more about the manner of their death. Cheers for your kind words about my Ventura too,.....but you are just biased for obvious reasons!

All the best

Tony

PLUS ONE :poppy:

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Hmmm, a bit surprised there isn't more info forthcoming on this, so just in case my original intent has been hidden by too many words. :(

Does anyone have any info re the problem with poor control placement in the early Mosquito FB.VIs specifically the closeness of the bomb release & intercom buttons?

Steve.

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