De Havilland Mosquito B.XVI
1 Jan 1945 Special Duties Railway Tunnel

I’ve finished this Mossie in the markings of ML963, 8K-K ‘King” of 571 Squadron based at RAF Oakington, near Cambridge from April 1944 The Squadron operated the de Havilland Mosquito XVI as part of the No. 8 (Pathfinder) Group. Their main role was to carry out independent precision raids on German industrial targets using 4,000 lb "Cookie" bombs. ML963 completed 84 operations with the Squadron, 31 of them to Berlin.

One such precision bombing mission was flown by the Squadron Commander, Wing Commander R J Gosnell DSO, on a low-level sortie to skip a 4,000 lb bomb into the Bitburg Railway Tunnel, in Germany, on New Year's Day, 1945. The aircraft’s final flight was on 10/11 April 1945, when it had to be abandoned following an engine fire, not good when the majority of the aircraft was constructed of wood!