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The Mosquito was not originally thought of as a fighter, but early in the war a desperate need for a heavily armed, fast and long ranging fighter was identified for night interceptions and convoy escort. This resulted in the F. Mark II model as early as 1941. A fighter bomber version was at first intended to ward off a threatened invasion across the English Channel. By 1945, the Mosquito had also been developed into the best intruder and night fighter of WW II.

De Havilland Canada was very soon expected to manufacture fighter bombers as well as bombers, again with minimal assistance from Hatfield. Fortunately, there was a good deal of commonality between the two basic versions. The Canadian fighter bomber prototype, KA 100, was based on the British F.B. Mark VI, and used the same Packard Merlin 31 engines, Hamilton Standard propellers, undercarriage, wings and tail as the B. VII.

The differences were in the nose and cockpit areas. The fighter bomber model had a solid nose housing four Browning 0.303 inch machine guns and an armoured bulkhead. The front half of the bomb bay was sacrificed in order to contain four British Hispano 20 mm. cannon. A flat windscreen was needed to accommodate a gunsight, and a fighter-type control stick was provided.

The sole F.B. 24 prototype of 1945 with Packard Merlin 301 two stage superchargers and a streamlined nose was actually a reworked F.B. 26 model. Therefore, the contention that DHC built 1,134 Mosquitos is not exactly correct.