Unofficial plane list.

[mondo]

Originally Posted by David603

Therefore I wouldn't call the Mosquito a serious rival to a Fw190 as a fighter, but the ability to double as a reasonable fighter is impressive in a strike plane.

I agree and I think we need to remember the context that the Mossie was used in.

As a bomber either high or low level it was extremely fast, its cruise was faster than most other twins were capable of at combat power.

Once spotted information had to be relayed back to a fighter station, the fighter had to get of the ground and be vectored to the target. With most bombers flying at 180-200mph that was easy, with a Mosquito cruising at 320mph it could be 50 miles away from the point it was spotted and therefor getting a fighter to that plane was very hard. Especially since they would change course often to avoid being vectored into.

Even for a 190A4/A5/6 which were the fastest common Luftwaffe fighters the Mosquito would face it (by the time of the A8 it was religated to defence of the reich from high level bombers) would be extremely hard for them to make up that 50 mile gap as well as find those planes, especially of they are below or avoiding radar (the British knew of the locations of the German radar stations in Europe).

It wasn't perfect though and they did get shot down. Although there safety record is one of the best of the war.