De Havilland Mosquito

Called the "Wooden Wonder", "Mossie", and a host of other nicknames, the De Havilland aircraft company's Mosquito became a legend due to it's plywood skin (Used since the designers at De Havilland believed common aircraft metals would be hard to accquire once war broke out), ability to absorb punishment and deliver explosive ordinance at low level with great accuracy, and of course it's tremendous speed provided by the famed Rolls-Royce Merlin inline engines.

Although low level bombing is what the Mosquito was designed for, it was used on several harrowing missions like the bombing of Amiens prison in France, which helped free captured resistance fighters, attacks against the Gestapo headquarters in Oslo and the Hague, Luftwaffe fighter bases, and the launch sites for the Fieseler Fi-103 missile (AKA the "V-1"). Mosquitos were even tested with the "Highball" bouncing bomb system for use against surface ships, and torpedoes. There were also reconaissance and night fighter versions built and equipped with radar and able to mark targets with colored smoke and flares for multi-engined bomber raids.

The Mosquito shown above ("NE-A" HR 405) is an FB. Mk. VI flown by Flight officers A.V. Randell and R.R. Rawlins of 143 Squadron, which was part of RAF Coastal Command's Banff Strike Wing based on the eastern coast of Scotland, and made up of British, Canadian, Norwegians, Australians, and New Zealanders. The mission of the wing was to intercept and destroy German merchant shipping in fjords along the Norwegian coastline-despite fierce anti aircraft fire from shore batteries and flak ships. These missions started in September, 1944 and continued until VE Day in May, 1945. Over 80 pilots and aircrew from the wing were killed or went missing on "ops" during the war.

HR 405 is packing a nose mounted armament of four 20mm Hispano cannon, four .303 Browning machine guns, and four 25 pound armor-piercing rockets.