Why Not One Mosquito With the 57 mm Gun Survives

Thousands of de Havilland Mosquitos were built. Of the ones carrying the 57 mm gun, not a single airframe survives today. It was a wooden aeroplane with a cannon in its nose — a big gun, the kind that belonged on the ground or on a ship, bolted into a light twin built out of plywood and glue. Fast, unarmoured, and asked to fly straight at targets that shot back. The variant existed, flew operationally, and then disappeared from the world's museums completely. For decades the easy answer has been that the thing was a curiosity — a gimmick that was built in small numbers, didn't work, and was quietly scrapped. That isn't what happened. Because other Mosquito variants survive. Rarer aircraft than this one survive. Wooden airframes that should have rotted away decades ago are sitting under museum lights right now, restored and intact. Same airframe. Same factories. Same war. One version is preserved, and the gun version is gone. In this video: what putting a 57 mm gun into a wooden aeroplane actually required of the airframe and the men flying it; why the variant was built when a weapon that size had no business in a light twin; what the job demanded of a crew with no armour between them and the target; and why… 📎 SOURCES & CREDITS (used in this video) YouTube: • 248 Squadron and Banff wing convoy attack off Norway, 1944 — pistarino1 — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiPdpfGGqa0 • Norwegian 333 Squadron Mosquitos in action — aviationvideosarchivespart3970 — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdVnkdPrlzs • RAF Mosquito anti-shipping missions, 57 mm gun and rockets — aviationvideosarchivespart3970 — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnprbCiLAL0 • Mosquito gun camera film — spottydog4477 — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmY99snA_po • No 248 Squadron Mosquito XVIII, mid 1944 — zoranpetek5273 — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6k75Md6rn4 • Mosquito manufacturing 1944, Australian newsreel — AusOBN — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhVxSjLtngg • Mosquitos in colour during WWII — aviationvideosdvd — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-UUTo3wHds • Flying the Mosquito KA114, New Zealand 2012 — ClassicAircraftPhotography — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGfQQWOsoB8 • TV959 tests and first flight, Ardmore 2016 — blokartNZ — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVVMUZYu4zU • de Havilland Museum Mosquito hangar — oatanksandaviation3466 — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guomethGGhQ • W4050 prototype, Salisbury Hall — johnwaxman — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kN3JBHXGjcY • Molins auto-cannon, museum — Parallax71 — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNqRmt43K0c • Mosquito B.35 walkaround — sdkfz000 — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbIivSZb6Yc • HJ711 Mosquito NF.II engine runs, East Kirkby — various — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nY-i5y-8M80 • PZ474 first flight, Ardmore 2019 — BradleyWentzel — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCyYFew_Hug • First run of a Merlin 25 since 1952 — ClassicAircraftPhotography — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQ_iPmYY8ms • First Mosquito formation in 37 years, KA114 and TV959 — AviationHighlights — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcDW4gBaCTY • NZ2308 first engine run — vintageaviation — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4YcO3kvt4w • Mosquito air-to-air photo mission — aeromediagroup — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xvp2AeM68iM • Take-off in KA114 — ClassicAircraftPhotography — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TY6cH1hHtyE • PZ474 first US flight — LewisAirLegends — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NaeYRWM94GU • PZ474 360 cockpit — LewisAirLegends — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRnZq9_wSMk • KA114 flying at the Military Aviation Museum — tonystolz4982 — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAhUzcdaLTs • NZ2308 inaugural flight, 18 March 2024 — LewisAirLegends — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MP-_iuXcXEo • Mosquito roll-out, de Havilland Aircraft Museum, October 2024 — deHavMuseum — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nB8rq0Oc7UQ Wikimedia Commons: • De Havilland Mosquitoat night takeoff.jpg — Jones W A (Sgt), Royal Air Force official photographer (Public domain), via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:De_Havilland_Mosquitoat_night_takeoff.jpg • Royal Air Force- 2nd Tactical Air Force, 1943-1945. CL1827.jpg — Broom R R (Plt Off), Royal Air Force official photographer (Public domain), via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Royal_Air_Force-_2nd_Tactical_Air_Force,_1943-1945._CL1827.jpg • De Havilland Mosquito Mk II of No. 157 Squadron refuelling at Hunsdon, 16 June 1943 CH10312.jpg — Drees H V (P/O), Royal Air Force official photographer (Public domain), via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:De_Havilland_Mosquito_Mk_II_of_No._157_Squadron_refuelling_at_Hunsdon,_16_June_1943_CH10312.jpg All footage, images and recordings belong to their respective owners and are used under their stated licenses or as fair-use commentary/education. Contact us for credit updates or removal.