25th BG XVI Mosquitos. Cameras? and astrodome canopy

[gunner]

I have the HK Mossie  IX/ XVI and would like to know if they were camera equipped or were they for strike reconnaissance / weather. The modification to make the kit a PR version looks fairly easy. Also does an aftermarket astrodome for the top of the canopy exist? 

 

I would like to build a 25th Bombardment Group Mossie in PRU Blue and the red  tail. Any help would be appreciated.

[kkarlsen]

The De Havilland Mosquito - A Comprehensive Guide for The_Modeller...

 

 

Cheers: Kent

[Kagemusha]

Does the kit not include the bulged PR top canopy part, albeit unused?

 

Paragon produced a late PR canopy, long oop, but if you try the Traders Board..?

[Dave T Brown]

The 25th Bombardment Group (Reconnaissance) was constituted in the days after D-Day and activated in England in August 1944 to carry out photographic and mapping missions over mainland Europe as the Allied armies pushed east. The Group were designated a Bombardment Group but they did not drop bombs.

The 25th used P.R. XVI Mosquitos. The P.R. XVI has no capability to drop ordnance in other words is has no bomb release equipment fitted. They were usually fitted with a long range tank in the main portion of the ventral bay (bomb bay). The two forward cameras were mounted in the forward section of the ventral bay just aft of bulkhead 2 directly under the Navigators seat. the P.R. XVI had the ability to carry 3 additional cameras in the rear fuselage 2 vertical and one oblique.

There are additional camera control boxes and their associated junction boxes mounted in the nose of the aircraft ( bomb aimers position for want of a better description)

If you send me a P.M. I will let you have some information regarding the layout of the nose compartment, long range fuel tank and the various camera mountings from A.P. 2653J Vol1. That's the maintainance manual so to speak for the P.R. XVI Mosquito.

Hope this will help.

 

[Dana Bell]

Hi Mike,

 

Forty years ago I charted all of the 25th's Mosquito missions -- if you will post the serial of the aircraft that interests you, I can look up the type of mission it flew.  The unit flew weather reconnaissance, night flash-bomb photography, chaff dropping missions, Loran calibration flights, and "master bomber" missions -- each mission used slightly different equipment.

 

Cheers,

 

 

 

Dana

[gunner]

Hello Dana,

 

I have been a fan off yours for years.. I would like to use the HK IX  XVI kit as the foundation of a USAAF PR XVI. I would like to do one with the Red Tail, PRU Blue with invasion stripes on lower wings and fuselage. I’m not sure which one I want to do. I’m open for advise.

 

 

Thanks

[MikeC]

You may find these links useful

 

http://www.americanairmuseum.com/unit/235

 

http://www.americanairmuseum.com/place/401

 

 

[Dana Bell]

Hi again Mike,

 

Many thanks for the kind words!

 

I didn’t want to choose a scheme for you, so I looked around to see what decals were available.  There must be some new 1/32 scale sheets, but the only one I have is the old Ventura V3261.  Here are the three 25BG aircraft featured:

 

NS594 – U in a white ring, tail still blue, full invasion stripes.  Delivered to 25BG June 1944, used for transition training.  Began Bluestocking light weather recon missions 20 August 1944.  In August the upper invasion stripes would have been overpainted and the tail would have first been painted red. Last Bluestocking on 31 January 1944. (By that time all invasion stripes would have been gone.)  (When I made my serial-vs-mission record list forty years ago, I coded each mission type with a letter, but I’ve foolishly misplaced my master code key!  Anyhow, in January 1945 I have NS594 flying six missions that I’ve coded “G” – I’m pretty certain those were Graypea chaff-dispensing missions, which would require some mods to you kit.)

 

NS569 – N on a red tail, no invasion stripes.  Delivered to 25BG June 1944.  The kit decals show the aircraft without invasion stripes but they must represent the aircraft later in its career.  First mission was an Aphrodite motion picture documentation mission on 7 August 1944, three Bluestockings in September, another Aphrodite on 15 October, and another on 1 January 45.  In February thru 9 March 1945 there were several other missions I can’t explain without that missing code sheet, but there wouldn’t be any invasion stripes at that time, so the aircraft wouldn’t fit for your model.

 

NS753 – Y in PRU blue circle on the tail, no invasion stripes.  This aircraft wasn’t delivered until December 1944, and probably never wore invasion stripes.  It started Bluestocking light weather recon in February thru May 1945.

So none of these aircraft would have been equipped with cameras, though they all were probably delivered with standard PR.XVI camera ports.  Two of them seem to fit your markings preferences – if you can only find the sheet.  There had to be some sort of weather recon sensors on the Bluestocking aircraft, but I haven’t noticed anything out of the ordinary in any of the photos I’ve seen.

 

Somewhere around here I thought I had a 1/32 vac canopy with the astrodome, but it’s not in my big-box-o-Mosquito goodies.  It might have been from Paragon, but I really don’t remember.

 

Anyhow, I look forward to seeing your results with the Mosquito.  America’s use of the “Mozzy” was my first (and continuing) research project, and the story that pulled me out of engineering and into history writing!

 

Cheers,

 

 

Dana