Another Mosquito's first enginerun

De Havilland Mosquito T43 NZ2308 is coming nearer and nearer to its first flight. On 23 February both its Merlin engines were fired up for the first time since they were installed on the plane. The Merlins were fully overhauled by Vintage V12 and run up at their test stand first, but before now not on the airplane itself.

This example of the 'Wooden Wonder' is registered ZK-PWL as a tribute to the man who managed to preserve NZ2308, the late Glynn Powell. This New Zealander has become world famous as he thought of ways to rebuild wooden Mosquito fuselages. When Powell started its restoration activities most Moquito fuselages had rotten away, as the result of their construction (wooden parts glued together).

As the fuselage of a Mozzie was built out of two halves of wooden scales, Powell own handed constructed the molds to build the halves. In restoring/rebuilding Mosquitos, Powell closely cooperated with Avspecs in Ardmore. Together they have rebuilt three of these iconic airplanes for US based owners.

Working on the aircraft destined for the US customers prevented taking up the restoration of NZ2308, and Powell passed away before the dream of his own flying Mosquito came true.

Photo: still from footage by Avspecs on Youtube