Mosquito NFII 23 Squadron

[MiGFan79]

Hi All,

       Was looking into upcoming group builds last night and really fancy doing something in the MTO GB. Looking at the stash the obvious option was some sort of Bf109 Trop, however I was also pretty sure that the all black Mosquito NFII made an appearance in the theatre courtesy of 23 Squadron. I see Xtradecal cover the NFII on their 23 Squadron history sheet but the airframe in question is standard camo with a black lower. Does anyone know if an all-over black NFII from this squadron has ever been covered on any decal sheet, either in box or aftermarket?

 

Thanks!

[Jure Miljevic]

Hello MiGFan79

I doubt 23 Sqn Mosquitos flew in all black scheme in MTO. According to Andrew Thomas' book Mosquito aces of WW II (Osprey 2005) the unit had been taken off intruder operation in early December 1942, re-equipped with new Mosquito NF Mk.IIs with additional fuel tanks, and started its move to Malta on 21st December 1942. The first aircraft landed on Luqa on 28th December. That is a bit late for black overall camouflage, especially on new aircraft, and DG, SGM and Black scheme is more probable in my opinion.

Here is a photo of 23 Sqn Mosquito NF Mk.II DZ228, which clearly sports above mentioned camouflage. According to the same book, this aircraft went missing on 21st January 1943, less than a month after squadron's arrival on Malta. Upper surfaces seem to be in factory finish. Cheers

Jure

[gingerbob]

If you want to do an all black NF.II in the Med, didn't a couple go to Malta early as a special arrangement?

[Graham Boak]

New to me, but two Mk. IIs did go to the Med and were used as PR aircraft by the SAAF.  I'd have to dig out more for the dates, but I don't think it early enough for Night overall. At some stage they were changed to Aluminium overall, IIRC.

[gingerbob]

I think those are the ones I was thinking of.

[MigModeller]

Alan Hall did a conversion from the Airfix kit in the Conversion Topic of SAM vol 17 number 11 Jan 1996 to create a NF.II.  He used the Carpena decal sheet 72.30 to create a 157 squadron Mosquito.  Though he still had to hunt down the red serial/code letters

 

Perhaps the most helpful part of the article is the list of 5 books and 2 editions of SAM that he had referred to.

Edited December 21, 2019 by MigModeller
Update

[Graham Boak]

I did one myself with the revised Airfix kit.  There's no doubt that 23 Sq did operate Night Mosquitos, and were allowed to carry out intruder missions with the obsolete AI and its arrowheads.  However they would have changed to DG/MEG tops and Night undersides when the night fighter and intruder schemes changed.  Photos on Malta show them in this scheme.  The Dark Green had weathered towards a dark brown, so at least one illustrator presented a profile of one in Earth Earth/MSG.

 

PS.  May be confusing 23Sq ops with no radar with later ops with early AI.  Sorry.

Edited December 10, 2019 by Graham Boak

[Wulfman]

DK Decals , DKD72060 “Night Intruders (No.1) YP-B serial DD792. Also includes Bostons,Hurricanes,a Defiant and a Whirlwind.

I have a photo of YP-R a Mk ll Special (no radar, extra fuel) in overall smooth  night with red codes and serial DD712.

I’m not sure if this qualifies for the MTO.

 

Wulfman

[EwenS]

On 08/12/2019 at 08:53, Graham Boak said:

New to me, but two Mk. IIs did go to the Med and were used as PR aircraft by the SAAF.  I'd have to dig out more for the dates, but I don't think it early enough for Night overall. At some stage they were changed to Aluminium overall, IIRC.

Sharp & Bowyer in "Mosquito" devote a chapter to Mossie ops in the Med. Their first appearance was in shuttle flights from the UK to Malta with PR aircraft from Nov 1941. Then in Oct 1942 PR.I W4062 & W4063 were prepared to be based at Malta arriving Jan 1943. Unfortunately both had been w/o by March. Then there was the pair of converted Mk.II for 60 SAAF, originally intended for weathering trials in the desert, but diverted for fitment of cameras by the beginning of Feb 1943.

 

And of course 23 squadron Mk.II intruders as described by Jure above

[The wooksta V2.0]

On 08/12/2019 at 08:53, Graham Boak said:

New to me, but two Mk. IIs did go to the Med and were used as PR aircraft by the SAAF.  I'd have to dig out more for the dates, but I don't think it early enough for Night overall. At some stage they were changed to Aluminium overall, IIRC.

That would be DD743 and DD744.

They were in Aluminium at Hatfield, but were camouflaged when they got to North Africa. Dark Green over Med Sea Grey but not quite the day fighter scheme. Plenty of photos of DD744 in both schemes, but I've only seen the one photo of DD743.

Edited March 5, 2021 by The wooksta V2.0