Review
by Justin Cogo
Introduction/About DH.98 Mosquito FB Mk VI
Incoming! The De Havilland DH.98 was a British multi-role combat aircraft that served in many variants during and after the Second World War.
A twin-engine, fast aircraft for its time period, it was also able to perform slow-flight which made it good for close-range targeting and short-field takeoffs and landings. It served roles like light bomber, fighter-bomber, night fighter, maritime strike aircraft, and photo-reconnaissance aircraft. Upwards of 7,000 of the Mosquito were built.
Just Fight DH.98 Mosquito
Just Flight has recreated the DH.98 Mosquito for FSX, FSX:SE and Prepar3D. The Mosquito is a fighter-bomber and this Just Flight version is highly detailed and comes with a few nice extra features.
Features
Exterior Models
Built over actual plans
Removable doors, covers, panels to reveal detailed interiors
Cockpit
Truly 3D virtual cockpit – including cables and piping with animations and realistic
Aircraft Systems – electrical, hydraulic and fuel systems, navigation and comm instruments
Numerous animations – windows, wipers, flares
Night lighting
Liveries
Six Liveries – Painted in Royal Airforce and Royal Canadian Air Force color schemes
Other
Layered Paint Kit
Realistic Flight Dynamics
Authentic Sound Set
Droppable Bomb Animations and Gun Effects
Custom Landing Light Effects
2D Configuration Panel
Installing/Just Flight Procedures
The installation process for the Mosquito was a breeze and had the airplane ready to go right away. I had the airplane open in Flight Simulator X quickly.
First Impressions of it inside Flight Simulator
Opening up the Mosquito I notice the outside of the plane have a WWII appearance, big body, big engines and big tires, seeming very tough.
The cockpit of the airplane has many steam gauges, making it seem like you could navigate very far if needed and do some custom flight maneuvers.
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Inside the Airplane
Peering inside of the airplane we can see the multitude of steam gauges and old-style equipment. There are many gauges, buttons, switches, lights and such that mostly work. The cockpit of the aircraft interestingly has two side-by-side chairs because of the aircrafts role that requires more than one crewmember.
There is a lot of small detail in the cockpit, down to the seatbelt detail on the seats and openable doors in the cockpit leading to the outside.
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Outside the Airplane
The airplane’s exterior has many detailed features with many modelled and textured panels included. There are modelled air intakes, engine moldings, antenna wires, landing gear detail and such.
An added exterior feature are removable doors and panels, showing the airplanes inner-workings. These panels are removed by pressing the Shift+E keys, after which the panels lie on the floor and the insides of the airplane can be viewed.
Some extra features on the outside of the model are the gun barrels and bomb bays which can be activated. Later in the review I will talk about how to activate them.
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Night View
The Mosquito has your normal set of lights for a WWII airplane. Included are navigation lights, beacon, landing lights and internal cockpit lights. As per your typical dog-fighting aircraft the cockpit has a dim red-light which brightens the cockpit at night but not too much to overwhelm the viewing experience.
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Aircraft Specifications
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Wingspan |
16.51 m (54.17ft) |
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Wing Area |
42.18 m2 (454.02 sq.ft.) |
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Length |
12.47 m (40.91 ft.) |
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Height |
4.65 m (15.25 ft.) |
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Empty Weight |
6,486 kg (14.300 lb.) |
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Maximum Weight |
10,115 kg (22,300 lb.) |
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Power Plant |
2 x Rolls-Royce Merlin 25 |
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Maximum Speed |
378 MPH |
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Service Ceiling |
33,000 ft. |
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Maximum Range |
1,855 miles |
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Tankage |
237 gals – fuselage 2 x 62 US Gallons – Wing Tanks 1 x optional drop tank of 170 gallons |
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Armament |
4 x 0.303 Browning Machine Guns 4 x Hispano 20mm Cannons 2 x 500 lb. Bombs |
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Crew |
Pilot and Bomb Aimer/Navigator |
Aircraft Performance
Flying the Mosquito was nice. During slow flight it is easy on the controls and is not difficult to fly, even as a tail-dragger. When flying at faster airspeeds, you lift the flaps and increase speeds and she flies fast.
Liveries
Included in this airplane package are six liveries of the Mosquito. They are painted in Royal Air Force, Royal Canadian Air Force,
(left, CY-H of 613 ‘City of Manchester’, right, OB_J of 45 Sqn RCAF)
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(left, HR405/NE-A of 143 Sqn, right, LR373 YH-A of 21 Sqn)
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(left, HR402/OB-C of 45 Sqn, right, SB-V of 464 Sqn)
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Extras
Droppable bomb animation and gun firing effects are included with this airplane. Gun Firing can be enabled by pressing the button “I”. A gun-flash is shown outside the aircraft at the gun barrels. Bullets do not show though.
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2D configuration panel
The 2D configuration panel opens and can be used for adjusting eye point and crew configuration.
Summary
The DH.98 proves to be a positive add-on for my military aircraft collection in flight simulator. I found the small details to be nice and it to be a simple and easy aircraft to fly. I think if you like military aircraft you’ll like this airplane. It reminds me of WWII when I step into it. I like it and thought it was a worthy aircraft for its price!
Thank You!
Thank you to Just Flight for providing a review copy of this aircraft.
-Justin Cogo