In total 50 of the Sea Mosquito TR33s served in the Royal Navy for just under a year from August 1946 to July 1947.

The two-seat long-range strike aircraft, with all wooden construction, was developed from the earlier Mosquito VI, offering a twin-engined aircraft capable of carrier operations.

The first Sea Mosquito flew on November 10, 1945, and it was not until the fourteenth production aircraft that the full Naval requirements of folding wings and a Lockheed oleo landing leg were built in.

The Sea Mosquito TR33 could carry an 18-inch torpedo below the fuselage or two internal 500lb bombs in the rear bomb-bay, and two externally beneath the wings.

Armament featured four British Hispano 20mm guns forward, with provision for eight 60lb rocket projectiles.

The engines that drove the aircraft were two 1,640hp Rolls Royce Merlin 25. Fully fuelled with two 50 gallon tanks under the wings, the TR33 had a maximum range of 1,260 miles, and a maximum speed of 385mph at 13,500ft.

In length the TR33 was 42ft 3in, with a wingspan 54ft 2in unfolded and 27ft 3in in the compact form. The Sea Mosquito stood at 13ft 6in in height.

The original order for 97 was reduced to the 50 total that eventually appeared, with the aircraft first serving in 811 Squadron at Ford and disbanding at Brawdy in July 1947.

(Featured in Navy News July 2003)