The creation of the Mosquito aircraft began with de Havilland's idea of an all-wood, high-speed, twin-engine bomber without defensive weapons, whose only defense against enemy fighters would be speed. Despite the apparent absurdity of this idea, it proved to be well thought out and, most importantly, completely functional. Design of the aircraft began in 1939 and the Mosquito made its maiden flight on March 1, 1940, piloted by Geoffrey de Havilland Jr, one of the founder's three sons. Based on the bomber, which had good speed characteristics and good maneuverability, a long-range twin-engine fighter was created almost immediately.

The Mosquito FB.Mk.VI fighter-bomber was based on the Mosquito F Mk.II fighter modification. The prototype aircraft made its first flight on June 1, 1942, and the first production aircraft were built in February 1943 (serial production was delayed due to the need to develop a new reinforced wing with racks for additional fuel tanks, bombs, and rockets).

The Mosquito FB Mk.VI Series 2 was a twin-engine, high-wing aircraft with a crew of 2. The design of the aircraft used a thick three-layer skin with outer layers of plywood and inner layers of balsa with spruce inserts for strength, covered on top with canvas. This allowed the required strength to be achieved while keeping the weight of the structure low. The aircraft of the 2nd series had water-cooled Merlin 25 engines, designed for flights at low and medium altitudes, with a takeoff power of 1620 hp and a maximum power of 1500 hp at an altitude of 2896 meters.

Small arms included four 20mm Hispano-Suiza cannons under the cockpit floor and four .303 caliber Browning machine guns in the nose. With this modification, two 250- or 500-pound bombs, two 100-gallon drop tanks, or unguided rockets could be hung from racks under the wings. Two additional 250 or 500 lbs bombs could be carried in the bomb bay.

The FB Mk.VI became one of the UK's premier attack aircraft, earning the title of legend for its speed and bombing accuracy. The Mk.VI 2nd series modification became the most common — 2,192 aircraft were built.

Mosquito aircraft were used by the Royal Air Force to carry out precision bombing and were also used as target designators during night bombing. Mosquito fighter-bombers carried out night and day attacks on airfields and railways in German-occupied France, Belgium, and the Netherlands. The FB Mk.VI also contributed to the fight against the German "wonder weapons," destroying launchers and stores of V-1 aircraft and V-2 rockets. In addition, the FB Mk.VIs were used as long-range fighters to destroy enemy fighters over the sea and enemy territory.

The Mosquito was distinguished from other bombers and multi-purpose aircraft by its very high bombing accuracy. Mosquito losses were among the lowest of any aircraft in World War II, at 16 per 1,000 sorties.

FB Mk.VI aircraft were also in service with the air forces of Canada, France, Australia, Czechoslovakia, Israel, and Yugoslavia.

Used sources:

1. “Mosquito: De H's Beautiful Bomber” Air International No. 01 1983

2. “British military aircraft of the Second World War” AST Astrel 2002

3. Materials from the site airwar.ru