I am building a 1/24th scale DeHavilland Mosquito. I am lighting the cockpit instruments, cabin, wingtip, and formation lights.I have a question that I hope our readers can help me with. On the Mosquito there is a formation light in the tail cone. Would this be a static white light or a blinking light? I don’t know if the aircraft, during World War II, used blinking lights or random color lights. The walk-around book that I am using for reference just states that it is a white formation light. Any ideas?
I am fairly certain that would be a steady/static light and not a blinking strobe or rotating type.
Here’s the best I could find quickly, from an R/C site.
Mosquito
x1 Red permanently on wingtip navigation light bulb
x1 Green permanently on wingtip navigation light bulb
x1 White permanently on tail position light bulb
x1 Red double strobing under fuselage position light bulb
x2 White triple strobing wingtip position light bulbs
x4 bulb holders
x1 red reflective lens cover
x1 clear reflective lens cover
x4 tie wraps
x1 velcro pad
The several pictures I could find show a single light at the very tail that looks clear. (Why don’t people ever take any pictures except 3/4 front views?)
Lot’s of British bombers had so-called “resin” lights, which I think stood for “restricted intensity”, very narrow beam and blue, but Mossie was not one of them.
[dto:]
Formation lights, ie navagation lights are red-left, green-right, white-tail(rear). All are static lights as stated.
Thank’s everyone! I thought they might be static but needed to be sure for accuracy. Thanks for your help!
Ok… Y’all got your lights all screwed up folks… “Formation Lights”, “Position Lights”, “IFF Lights” and “Navigation Lights” are not the same thing, and are not to be used interchangably…
The wing-tip and tail lights are: Navigation Lights and are Port-Red, Starboard-Green, and Rear, White.
On the De Havilland Mosquito Recognition Lights (Sometimes called “Position Lights”, and “IFF Lights” are, from nose to tail, White, Amber, and Red, with round, flat lenses, and located on the lower rear fueslage center-line…
Some aircraft have as few as one Recognition light (The Spitfire had a white one located in a teardrop fairing just behind the cockpit on to of the fuselage), some are bloody Christmas Trees…
One such “tree” is the TBF/TBM which has as follows:
'Supplement to Grumman TBF/ TBM “Avenger”
- Left Wingtip Navigation Light (red) - port wing tip.
- Tail Navigation Light (white) - trailing edge of rudder, above trim tab.
- Right Wingtip Navigation Light (green) - starboard wing tip.
- Recognition light (green) - aft of bomb bay, centre fueslage line, ahead of amber.
- Recognition light (red) - aft of bomb bay, centre fueslage line, ahead of green.
- Recognition light (amber) - aft of bomb bay, centre fueslage line, immediately ahead of ventral gun position.
- Formation (or Recognition) Lights (blue) - port and starboard wings, near the tips, in line with outside edge of ailerons.
- Approach Recognition Lights (green, amber, red) - inboard leading edge of folding part of port wing.
- Section Light (blue) - along aircraft spine, before, and almost touching tail fillet.
Another was the B-25… Lights all over it…
Helo Hans,
I’m presently building an old 1959 tooling of the Revell 1/48 De Havilland Mosquito Mk.IV, doing a lot of scratch building to enhance the old dated and detail-less parts. On this Mosquito, at the wing tips, there are lights at the front leading edge and the rear trailing edge. Would I be correct in assuming that the rear trailing edge lights would be white, similar to the tail end light, so when viewed from the rear, all lights are white, or, are they red and green, also, to match the front leading edge lights?
Here’s a photo to show the two cut outs at the wing tips for navigation lights…
Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.
Cheers,
Martin [Y][:)][B][B]