General info for Mosquito FB Mk XVIII

• Country Britain
• Vehicle role Air Defence Fighter / Strike fighter
• Rank 4

• Battle rating in
  • arcade battles 4
  • realistic battles 3.7
  • simulator battles 3.7

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Wiki info about Mosquito FB Mk XVIII

Official War Thunder wiki

The de Havilland Mosquito was a twin-engine fighter-bomber which entered service with the RAF in 1941. Powered by two Rolls-Royce Merlin engines and constructed almost entirely of wood, the Mosquito possessed remarkable handling characteristics and performance for an aircraft of its size. Initially intended for use as a fast bomber and reconnaissance aircraft, early variants of the Mosquito carried no defensive weapons so as to save weight; the aircraft’s defense was its incredible speed and acceleration. The Mosquito FB Mk.XVIII was unlike any other variant in that it was fitted with a 57mm anti-tank cannon in the nose; sources differ in the opinion of whether this was originally intended as an anti-tank or anti-submarine platform, but it was in the anti-shipping role with RAF Coastal Command which the Mk.XVIII would find most success. The 6-pounder cannon came to be known as the Molins gun; Molins were a company who had produced machinery for the cigarette industry in the inter-war period – they were able to adapt some of their designs to provide an auto-loading mechanism for the gun within the tight confines of the Mosquito’s nose. Either two or four 0.303 machine guns augmented the Molins gun, and extra armour was added to protect the engines and aircrew. The Mk.XVIII came to be known as the ‘Tse-tse’ by its crews, named after the notorious African Tse-tse fly as described by one pilot who commented ‘the tse-tse’s bite was rather nastier than a normal Mosquito’. The standard attack profile for the Mk.XVIII involved entering a shallow dive from 2500-3000’, aiming at the target vessel’s waterline so that damage would not only be caused on impact, but also below the waterline on the far side of the vessel on exit. With the aircraft’s speed already in excess of 300 knots whilst in the dive, the shell’s velocity was one of the highest in service. The Tse-tse Mosquito entered service in 1944 and achieved notable successes as part of the Banff Strike Wing operating from the East coast of Scotland against axis shipping around the coast of Norway. Isolated examples do exist of the Molins gun being used in the air-to-air role, with predictably spectacular results. Only some 45 Mosquito FB Mk.XVIIIs were produced, some converted from the 20mm cannon armed FB.VI.