1

Author Norm Malayney delights in digging up the most arcane details in the ever growing body of Mosquito lore. One of his fascinating Mosquito mystery stories concerns XB-HOB, thought to be ex-KA 999, the last B. 25 model manufactured at Downsview. Norm discovered that RCAF ace Don MacFadyen had ferried KA 999 from Jarvis to Oshawa, Ontario, on Jan. 19, 1946, for Mexican owner Luis Struck of Mexicana de Aerofoto S.A.

The aircraft was prepared for flight to Mexico at the Oshawa Airport, and it was here that the Mexican civil registration was applied. Luis Struck was soon after killed in a flying accident, and it was not known for sure if his Mosquito actually left Canada. Ing. Jose Villela Gomez wrote to Norm Malayney that one published report stated that Luis Struck died in a B-25 crash. Could this mean Mosquito B. 25? When, where and how did this happen? Struck's surviving relatives apparently remember nothing.

In the postwar period, surplus Mosquitos were used extensively in aerial survey work by small private firms. In Canada, Kenting Aviation and Spartan Aviation Services were two such companies, although most of their Mosquitos were later British-built B. 35s.

2

The last Mosquito B. 25 built.
1946
Oshawa, Ontario, Canada

3

Mosquito B. 25 A518.
1946
Downsview, Ontario, Canada

4

Mosquito T. 29 CF-GKL.
1956
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

5

Another postwar career for the Mosquito was in air racing. This was not surprizing since the Mosquito was still one of the fastest, longest ranging aircraft of the 1940s decade, and could be purchased war surplus at bargain basement prices. Don McVicar of Montreal bought two Downsview-built former RCAF B. 25 Mosquitos, ex-KB 377 and ex-KA 984, from War Assets Corp. for about $1,500 apiece, for his World Wide Aviation company. Both Mosquitos were flown from Dartmouth to Dorval Airport on July 2, 1948.

Don decided to keep ex-KB 377 himself for air racing, and the other he sold to his friend Jesse Stallings of Capitol Airways Inc., also to be used as a racer. Don's Mosquito became CF-FZG, race no. 41, repainted in cream with Stinson green trim. Stalling's Mosquito was prepared at Berry Field, Nashville, becoming N66313, race no. 81. Both aircraft were entered in the 1948 Bendix Air Race from Long Beach to Cleveland.

Flying out to California, McVicar got as far as Wichita on Sept. 3rd, where he blew an engine and was forced out. Stallings finished fifth in the Bendix on Sept. 4. McVicar later sold FZG to Donald Bussart of Illinois, and it became N37878. Bussart had Stallings prepare his Mosquito for the '49 Bendix, with race no. 81.