Mosquito B XVI bomb bay

[John B (Sc)]

Hi folks. Does anyone have any clear information and/or photos of the bomb bay set up within a Mosquito B XVI please?

 

The reason I ask is that I am trying to complete my build of the new  1/72 Airfix Mosquito B XVI. A fine kit but with a few niggles, as always.  Clearly Airfix used information and presumably scans of a TT35 or similar. (I'm sure I saw something here about that a while back.) That means the bomb bay doors have minor oddities, easily dealt with. I suspect it also means the interior is 'reconstructed' to best available information.  Notably, the cross beams for support within the bomb bay fit rather poorly & vaguely, and what I take to be the bomb crutch supports (or whatever the nomenclature should be), running fore and aft, seem oddly moulded and positioned.  They have what appear to be stabilising  pads on their upper surfaces, which seems odd since these would rest against the fuel tanks in the upper bay.  Not a good structural notion. The bomb attachment itself is simplified down to a single tab - unlikely., I'd have expected any support pads to rest against the bombs to minimise sway in flight - in other words rig those supports the other way up.   A pity; this all seems to  spoil an otherwise nicely detailed area; it would be a shame to leave the doors closed, but that is the simple option! . 

 

Hunting for pictures, I see several which appear to suggest three cross beams existed, not two. Perhaps this reflects different marks or different possible load outs.  Any available expertise welcomed ! 

 

 

[Dave Swindell]

Hi John

 

Although some of the detail is either overscale or missing, given moulding limitations the Airfix kit gives a reasonable representation of a Mosquito bomb bay with a 4 x 500lb bomb load

The bomber bomb bay itself didn't change much except for small details from start to finish, here's an ex TT35 bay without any of the bomb gear in it

Note the inner face of the bomb doors should be smooth for a bomber, the notch in the door bottom right (on the airfix kit doors) shouldn't be there, neither should the blanking plates at the aft end where the sleeve target stowage was. 

The bomb carrier mounting frames are mounted in the bomb bay according to the bomb load, airfix give you the position for 2 frames for mounting 4 x 500 lb bombs, but there were other positions available for combinations of other stores, this photo shows 12 photo flash bombs in a PR Mosquito (there may be another 4 forward of these)here

 

The bomb carriers were attached to the mounting frame, Universal Bomb Carrier No 1 type III was a shortened version used on the Mosquito to enable stores up to 500lb to be carried. What you're referring to as stabilising pads are the nose and tail fusing units. 

There's a thread here with useful drawings and photo's of the bomb carriers and installation in the Mosquito started by @Crimea River

The full DH bomb laoding drawing is here 

https://www.airspacemag.com/military-aviation/secret-mosquito-180967119/

 

Mosquitos with bulged bomb bays equipped to carry 4000lb cookies had two large half hoop braces towards the front and rear of the fuel tanks extending down at an angle to the bomb bay door hinge longeron, and an adjustable bomb steady frame forward and aft of the fuel tank. There's good drawings  of these in the Valliant wings book on  the bomber Mosquitos, I can't find images on line at the moment. The bomb release mechanism and 2 winches for the 4000lb bomb fitted between the 2 fuel tanks, and the bomb carrier  mounting frames weren't fitted when a 4000lb bomb was carried.

 

If you build the Airfix bomb bay with the bombs in situe most of the over simplification won't be visible.

[John B (Sc)]

Thank you Dave. I had seen the first photo, not the second. So the number of mounting frames (not beams) did differ according to load. Excellent. It is indeed a good general representation of the interior which is provided.  I had wondered about the bay door interior contours.

 

Having now found some more photographs and drawings of Universal Bomb Carriers, my rigging the ones provided upside down (according to the instructions) makes some sense, since that shows the nose and tail fusing units   (in a general way). 

 

If Airfix do produce a version with the 4,000 lb bomb, those braces will be tricky in scale.  Actually I might build a bomb bay without the bomb, but with the braces - quite interesting. I believe I have a 4,000 lb cookie unused from a Lancaster kit, so could put it on a trolley nearby. Though possibly the bomb needs modification to fit into a Mosquito

 

I also note in the photos what looks like a door actuating jack at ~mid door point. Hadn't spotted that before

 

Much thanks.

 

John B

Edited October 27, 2021 by John B (Sc)

[Dave Swindell]

10 hours ago, John B (Sc) said:

Actually I might build a bomb bay without the bomb, but with the braces - quite interesting. I believe I have a 4,000 lb cookie unused from a Lancaster kit, so could put it on a trolley nearby. Though possibly the bomb needs modification to fit into a Mosquito

 

That's my plan as well. Whether the bomb needs altering will depend on which kit it came from, IIRC the Revel one is rather anorexic. The Airfix bomber resupply set has a reasonable one and also includes bomb trolleys and a tractor. Flightpath do better detailed ones at a price.

 

10 hours ago, John B (Sc) said:

 

I also note in the photos what looks like a door actuating jack at ~mid door point. Hadn't spotted that before

If you can see it in the photo at the top, it's not an actuating jack, they're only at the forward and rear ends and are included in the Airfix kit but are a bit on the heavy side. 

There are five hinges per door, equally spaced down it's length. The actuator jacks are attached to the forward and aft hinges which are represented on the Airfix parts, but the 3 mid hinges are missing. In the top photo above all three missing hinges are visible on the left hand door, as are the forward and mid hinges on the right hand door, the aft hinge is out of shot

 

 

 

 

 

[John B (Sc)]

Thanks Dave. A closer look at what I thought was an actuator shows it is some sort of reinforcing or bracing rod, near to one of the hinges, but not part of it. Tsk. Closer examination required.   I see those missing hinges.