Why was the de Havilland 'wooden wonder' Mosquito aircraft built of Wood, instead of Metal?

In 1940, de Havilland build what was probably their most famous aircraft - the DH98 Mosquito. It was made primarily of wood. Yet, as this video shows, de Havilland already had experience of making all-metal aircraft. So why did they revert back to a wooden design, when they already had experience building metal aircraft? There are a number of reasons why a wooden Mosquito makes sense, and these are explored in this video. At the de Havilland Museum, we have no less than three Mosquitos on display: the original Prototype of 1940, a Fighter-Bomber version, and a later mark Bomber version. If you want to visit the museum to see these, and other de Havilland aircraft, check out our website for visiting hours, and how to find us:

[deHavMuseum]

When looking at the reasons for building the Mosquito out of wood, it is worth remembering the following words from Geoffrey de Havilland himself:
“..successful aircraft design is a matter of stage-by-stage development, and the use of accumulated experience and data applied by people who have long worked together as a team, and who have pride and enthusiasm. An aircraft designer must also have much of the artist in him, backed up by a lot of creative engineering experience. A deep insight into mechanical engineering is one of the essentials.”
Ron Bishop, the chief designer of the Mosquito, epitomised this.
Despite having designed DH’s first metal airliner - the DH.95 Flamingo – Bishop had been brought up in the company’s tradition of wooden structures.

[coldlakealta]

During WW2, my Mother worked on the assembly line in the De Havilland Canada plant in Downsview, Ontario (near Toronto). She helped to build the approximately 1134 Mosquitoes which were made here in Canada and shipped across the North Atlantic to Britain. She was very proud of her service, as are we. To my mind, it is one of the most beautiful airplanes ever conceived.

[KathrynLiz]

Interesting to see that prototype... my father was a foreman at DH and was involved in its construction. Nice to know it is still existing. It's on my "bucket list to see it before I die...

[dondouglass]

My all time favourite aircraft.... Wonderful bit of lateral thinking that more than proved its worth. Huzzah!!

[mothmagic]

The Flamingo and Mosquito are prime example of what de Havilland always did so well. Building beautiful looking aircraft. I always consider the Flamingo a better looking machine than the Albatross. At the time it was built I think it was a case of if the Mosquito couldn't do it there was nothing else that could either.

[keesvandenbroek]

British Eccentric, Brutally Effective.

[nickbarber]

My grandad (joiner and cabinet-maker) and great-aunt (seamstress) worked on building Mosquitoes.
They were in East London and never mentioned Hertfordshire so I assume they worked at one of the dispersal factories?

[powerjets]

Will try to visit next year. I'm especially interested in the earliest jet engines.

[braveworld]

Yeah it was excellent both video and aircraft. I wish I could see you at the museum but being on the both opposite sides of the planet that sort of isn't possible. 👍👍

[jeremyrichards]

Perhaps you could do a study of the Hornet which followed on from the Mosquito and was every bit as good in what it did.

[Reever]

It would be very interesting to hear the positives of being made out of wood. I have heard that the wood construction could absorb battle damage better than metal. Were the cowlings made out of wood?

[jonathanosbaldiston]

Great video - Looking forward to you visiting later in 2024 for a photoshoot. Quick question - as the mosquito was wooden did it show up less on Radar?

[nickdanger]

de Havilland DH.95 Flamingo 14 built
de Havilland DH.91 Albatross 7 (including two prototypes) withdrawn from service due to deterioration of the aircraft's plywood wing structures

[WilhelmKarsten]

Simple answer, when Germany captured France, it also captured Britains main supply of Aluminum, the country has no indigenous supplies of Bauxite.

[ivanconnolly]

It has been claimed that an all metal Mosquito would have been 15% faster, the stats were arrived at through computer modelling, I cannot recall the source .

[neiloflongbeck]

You missed, perhaps, the most important reason and one that goes against your entire narrative. In 1938 the Air Ministry issued specification B.9/38 for a medium bomber made of non-strategic metals (i.e. aluminium and its alloys). De Havilland was approached to build a design to fulfil this specification but they decided not to submit a design. So, why have you repeated the misleading claim that the Air Ministry rejected the Mosquito because it was made of wood? The Air Ministry wanted a wooden aircraft, either in whole on in part. In fact so did the head of Bomber Command at the time (ACM Ludlow-Hewitt) de Havilland fist proposed the design that would become the Mosquito.

[solentbum]

A plane designed for the attrition of war, capable of being replaced during a protracted conflict. I wonder how well the very expensive and complicated warplanes of today will fare?

[cbthunderpig]

Incredible aircraft, informative video, I belief I'm correct in saying in the effort not to increase the complexity, the propellers were not counter rotating to compensate for torque, which required a bit of skill to compensate for .

[christinerobinson]

A brilliant aircraft if winkle brown like it it was a no brainier

[PeanutsDadForever]

Dare I say, this aircraft is sexy. The Maserati of the sky!🇦🇺👴🏻