If this kind of video interests you and you want a longer one - check out our full documentary on the Supermarine Spitfire! kzfaq.info/get/bejne/p9d5ft2V0a61lqM.html And yeah, I mispronounced Geoffrey. I did notice late into editing, but thought 'ah no one will mind'. Lesson learned. Also as some of you have pointed out, at 5:14, I seem to suggest that those early jets had a longer range than the Hornet. It's a script error really, because that's not what I meant - because they didn't. They did however have a longer range than the aircraft that they were specifically replacing, negating the need for a long-range fighter like the Hornet.

I used to fly with a guy called Bill “Doc” Watson in the 70s, at the time he was the last operational Spitfire pilot from the Second World War still flying commercially. He had flown the Hornet and rated it as the best plane he’d ever flown. When in the airforce he flew Meteors, Javelins and many others. When he died I did the fly past at his funeral!!! His wife Hilda made the best pies and Yorkshire puddings ever.

Flying all the way to Berlin just to interrupt a German radio broadcast with their own anti-aircraft weapons is the most British thing I can think of apart from putting a kettle in a tank.

My grandad would have been proud , he was at DeHavilland on the mossie , hornet , and vampires . Got white feathers because he did his fighting on the factory floor in a protected position . Proud of his life

It always strikes me as odd when people say the mosquito was "not well known". It was one of the best fighter bombers of the war. Fast, accurate, and deadly to those that encountered it.

Eric Brown is an absolute legend. An amazing career

The Mosquito , My favourite WW2 aircraft , so versatile & faster than a spitfire , awesome aircraft .

When 'Winkle' speaks ... the aviation world listens. GodSpeed Captain Brown ... ^v^

I remember my father talking about the Hornets when he joined the RAF in 1948. He spoke about its ability to fly fast and still be very manurable on one engine. He thought it was a fantastic aircraft.

I doubt very much that the RAF would ever have referred to the Mosquito as a "Schnellbomber".

I was walking through an old abandoned warehouse just outside Vancouver BC and I found out a few days later that De Havilland built the Mosquitos there during the war!

I'm a simple man; I see de Havilland, I thumb up.

I'm a Yank. That said, I think Captain Brown is likely the best "Prop Driver" in the world. America has no shortage of accomplished pilot's but I think that Brown's record speaks for itself.

A lovely tale to hear and a nice tribute to Captain Eric Brown. Thank you.

Beautiful aeroplane - a stripped-down version of the peerless Mosquito. Using the same Merlin engines (though even more powerful than before) and shrink-wrapping the fuselage round just a pilot and 4 x 20mm Hispano cannon. A total hot-rod - as per Eric Brown's description.

Excellent video, I was unaware of the Hornet, it’s a beauty.

Excellent vid, very well presented. John

That was fascinating. I had not heard of the Hornet now it is up there with one of my all time favourite aircraft the Mosquito.

I love the British aircraft designs! The Mosquito, Typhoon and Fury lineage, Beaufighter... so many others. The Brits were quick to pack aircraft with four 20mm canons grouped tightly. I love our borthers from across the pond.

Nicely done. Good content, and commentary was excellent. Two thumbs up mate!!!

My cousin, Roy Edwards, flew these from a carrier in the 50s. I have a photo.

DORNIER: "Let's create a fast strike-fighter with two engines in a push-pull configuration, which is so awkward that scarcely any designers will touch the concept after the war. Make it tricky to fly so that it can only be flown by highly-skilled pilots, at a time when we can't train new pilots because we've run out of fuel. Let's design it with scarcely any parts in common with types already in service. Let's give it a spindly undercart which requires a long runway, even though every long runway is full of craters. The aircraft will need years of development and improvement, even though we need it in service within a few months". DE HAVILLAND: "Let's put a single-seat cockpit on a Mosquito, make detailed improvements, build it on existing production lines with plentiful plywood, every pilot who can fly a Mosquito can transition in a few hours". And the Krauts didn't expect to lose the war.

I built a 1/72 scale model of the Hornet way back when I was a kid, I'd completely forgotten this aircraft until I saw the thumbnail. Really glad you covered this very underated fighter, and for reminding me of the happy days of childhood.

Supremely excellent video, Doug. The two wooden wonders (the Mosquito and Hornet) make us Americans full of admiration. And the magnificent Merlin! Its sound has its own music still heard in warbird air races. And the 2000 hp edition must have been a beast. Cheers from the States! 💛🙏🏼

Good luck :) And thank you. I may have heard of the Hornet before... I forgot about it.

Love your doco's and subbed, waiting paitently for the next.

Thanks, looking forward to more from this Channel

Unclear why this is in my recommended but really enjoyed the video and now subscribed. thank you

brilliant video informative but simple and easy to follow well done im a fan.

Fantastic video, haven't seen any other channel do a deep highlight on these planes

Thanks for your hard work. Great content!

Excellent work, sir!

One of my Favorite Planes! Serious Evolution of a Great Design.

Really interesting and well presented. Looking forward to more. Thanks

The Mosquito is such a sleek and beautiful aircraft...One of my personal favorites. It's a shame that the Hornet wasn't able to prove itself.

Similar fate as the Gruman F7F Tigercat.... Both were absolutely beautiful aircraft and the pinacle of development for the piston engine fighter.

What a beauty! Thanks for that!

Great video !! 👍👍👍

Extremely interesting as my father was an aero engineer and worked for deHavilland in the UK and also here in Australia. I have subscribed

Really nice video, thank you

I remember seeing pictures of the Hornet when I was a lad back in the early 50's. It was a really beautiful looking plane with amazing views all round for the pilot. There is at least one Airfix model available, 1/48 scale. Excellent video. 10/10

An amazing documentary, what a great video.

Excellent video, very well presented. I am always searching for exactly this type of content, (mainly aviation). You have solid naration abilities and good info. Subscribed.

Brilliant plane and good video, cheers

Excellent video. Narrated very well and correct facts. No rubbish or make up tales. Winkle Brown, Rip, a true British legend.

Nicely presented and an all round quality piece on the Hornet. I enjoyed it so much I'll forgive the 'less v fewer' slips in the blurb.

Excellent! Well done…

This is really my favourite Channel! Thanks for your nice Videos, it is very enlightening, Waiting for your latest update. De Havilland 'Mossie' Park

Well done. I can readily understand the Hornet's attraction to pilots. When I walked around a (then) flightworthy P-38 Lightning the impression was nearly visceral: "I. Want. To. FLY. This." And a since-departed colleague explained this appeal very well: "If you liked fast cars, you signed up to fly either the Mustang or Corsair."

Great vid, thanks :-)

Great video and good information.

really great content

I'm a PPL with roughly 200 hours P1. Although the Mosquito was generally praised for it's handling qualities the idea of flying one operationally fills me with extreme trepidation and fear.

aah, 'Winkle' Brown. surely one of the world's greatest pilots of all time. I would recommend the autobiography 'Wings On My Sleeve' to absolutely anyone, not just fascinating history but from an intelligent, modest and genuinely funny man. if he hadn't been such a diamond geezer I might be jealous!!

Great Aircraft !! Nice presentation

Wonderful video! Just subscribed!

Great video. The Tsetse was pretty amazing too. 👍🇬🇧

Best looking aircraft ever made.

Great thankyou, I didn't know about the Hornet. But there isn't much about it. Great vid

There is a DH Hornet (not sure of type) that is being re-built to airworthiness down in New Zealand.

A great book on the Mosquito is "The Wooden Wonder". Worth a read

this was one of the most beautiful airplanes ever designed and its performance was stunning

We had the Hornet in Malaya. Early 50's.

Really interesting mate, 🙏

Incredible stable of Aircraft D.H. I was stunned recently to see a picture of the Whirlwind in the Farnborough Wind tunnel in 1938!! Re: Hornet, heard about a crazy pilot who served in Burma...called Mad Max who'd fly the plane to the max! Used to ripple the Fuselage..and did some mad landings on those makeshift runways.

De Havilland proposed the Hornet to the Air Ministry in January 1943, but the Ministry did not give him the go-ahead to develop it until June 1943. That six-month delay might have made all the difference to the story of the Hornet because it was just becoming operational in August 1945, just as the war ended.

Those 3 planes mentioned at the start are my three favorite planes, and also my pick for the most important RAF aircraft.

Enjoyed the video learned somthing

Good luck! 🖖

Thanks for the Airplane Woodie!

Well you learn something new all times very good 🇬🇧🇬🇧

this aircraft type was unknown to me, thankyou for the video, i know Eric Brown and his carrier, like going to Germany to fly there jets and even the komet,

Undoubtedly the most beautiful fighter aircraft ever flown.

Fascinating!

To me it’s the ultimate, prop plane, fabulous performance and looks!....- so sad none were preserved...

A beautiful plane I hold in the same regard as the P-38 and could have achieved the same legendary status easily. It is also modelled pretty well in War Thunder. Take that thing out in a leisurely sim flight and you'll see just how much it agrees with everything you want to do. Reminds me of the P-38 but less compressibility. And it is just so friggin fast and powerful. It shares top spot in my dream plane category right alongside the P-38.

Great video and info on an aircraft I was unaware of. As for the 'Wooden Wonder' that was also used in a maritime role for U-Boat busting by Coastal Command, I actually met a guy who worked on the prototype with Geoffrey de Havilland when I was ex-RAF as a mature student, at college in the early '80s studying for an OND in Technology. He was a pensioner earning some extra funds by part-time teaching woodwork, I had a free period and his was one of several choices of non-curriculum classes offered for self interest. He told me that the work was carried out by de Havilland and a small team away from the main aircraft works, and that the boss financed it himself out of his own funds after the Air Ministry had rejected his design, but his self and his team's belief in the aircraft wouldn't diminish. He foresaw that the light aluminium, and alloys now being used would become in short supply the longer the war went on, and by utilising plywood and balsa that Britain's furniture mass producers could make up the airframe and fuselage parts. My tutor said his job was making the wooden propeller blades that were used on the first prototypes. Arguably, if the Air Ministry hadn't been so set in their use of heavy bombers and prioritised production and utilised more Mosquitoes in mass bombing runs over German cities and war industries, then a lot more aircrew would have survived. The world's first truly multi role combat aircraft, there should be a flying example in the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight (even though it wasn't available for that battle).

Thank You! I love those old WWII aircraft.

I live near CFB Downsview, formerly DeHavil land Airport, home of DeHavilland Canada. DHC made Mosquitos in WW2, and went on to design/build the DHC series of STOL aircraft like the Beaver, Otter, Caribou, etc. And not far away was Malton airport, now Pearson International, home of AVRO Canada, builder of Lancaster bombers and designer/builder of the Canuck and Arrow interceptors. Back when we had a world-class aircraft industry...

One of the few fatalities in the Mossie was Guy Gibson VC, who crashed returning from a night raid. The Mosquitoes acted as Pathfinders, identifying the target with flares and as master controller, directing the bomber stream.

Thank you.

Love the shape of the wing on both the Mosquito and Hornet

One of my fathers best English friends was John "Cat Eyes" Cunningham. They met in the 30th when my father attended the "de Havilland Aeronautical Technical School". They stayed friends for the remainder of their lives. For you youngsters, "Cat Eyes" flew the de Havilland Mosquito with "night" radar.

recently read his book, and the glowing praise for this aircraft., was amazing. Shame it came so late, I wonder what the counter torque was like? The P38 used handed engines, which rotated outwards at the top.

I was aware of the Hornet as a child and saw Mosquitoes but I really don't recall seeing a Hornet...and I lived near the DH establishments of Hatfield and Leavesden as well, throughout the fifties. Such a pity!

Love The De Havilland Planes, & All Seemed To Be Well Thought Out, As The Hurricane, & Spitfire As Well.! And All Of Its Many Tremendous Contributions To Winning WW II.! De Havilland Planes Are Simply Legendary.! !

I hope you keep on keeping the memories of these planes alive! Do you think planes will always be an efficient design for avian warfare?

Eric "Winkle" Brown. An incredible man and and an incredible pilot!!!!!

G'day Doug, Captain Eric Melrose "Winkle" Brown, CBE, DSC, AFC, Hon FRAeS, RN is, sadly, as little known as is his favourite aircraft, the subject of this excellent video. What an aviator. He has, in his log books, 480 different types of aircraft he flew. That is more different types than many senior pilots had sorties during their entire careers on one or two types. Let's, conservatively, estimate that he flew each new type only 4 times. That's 1,920 flights. I'm ex-RAAF and a military historian and I guess if one doesn't know about the DH Mosquito then you're not really into aircraft. Even so, I only became fully aware of the DH Hornet some 10 years ago when I was doing an in-depth history of De Havilland. And, yes, I quickly discovered it was a magnificent aircraft that, simply, was conceived and produced too late in aviation history to earn the praise it so richly deserved. The Hornet, like so many outstanding piston driven aircraft were 'killed off' by the introduction of the prop-jets and fan jets that took the world by storm post WW2. There are only a couple of decent documentaries about the amazing life and flying career of 'Winkle' Brown. He would be an excellent subject for one of your longer videos as you impress me as a video maker. So much so, I've subscribed (and 'rang the bell) to your channel; and this is the first of your videos I've seen. Military and commercial aviation is such a rich topic that can be connected to so many of the world's significant historical events and technological advances. It's truly fascinating. I look forward to enjoying more of your work. Cheers and all the best. BH P.S. Eric Brown's favourite Axis aircraft and well near the top of his favourite single engine aircraft list was the almost universally disliked German BV 141 Observation aircraft. Because 'Winkle' spoke and wrote about it at length, I began an intensive study of the aircraft myself. Even though there are all too few documents extant on the BV 141 yet, it is, again, a fascinating aircraft that solved one of the common shortcomings of all single engined aircraft. You should look, deeply, into this aircraft as well. It's worth the effort.

de Haviland's name wasn't Joffrey, it was Geoffrey - pronounced the same as the American spelling "Jeffrey"

I remember seeing a Sea Hornet at an air display in Scotland in the fifties. It displayed what I think was called at the time a "parent loop" the manoeuvre referred to in the movie - a loop with both engines feathered. Amazing.

Thanks for introducing us aviation buffs to the (Sea) Hornet.

The Hornet was a great-looking airplane. Makes me think of a slimmed-down Mosquito fitted with a sharply tailored suit.

Wow, what a great plane!

Royal Navy: (Can't land a jet on a carrier) Brown: Fine, I'll do it myself.

The Mosquito Museum near Hatfield has a few fragments of a Hornet, I think it also has some of the concrete moulds/plugs used to build them. An issue of FlyPast from 20 years ago describes them in detail and how most were scrapped at RAF Seletar. They were flown to the site then demilitarised by having the props (and most of the front of the engines!) ripped off by a cable towed by a truck!!

I'm in the middle of building a scale balsa wood model of the Hornet. My most challenging and detailed scale model of a great plane.

Let’s make one thing clear: the Hurricane was not outclassed in the Battle of Britain. It did its job and it did it well and since 2/3 of Fighter Command’s strength was Hurricanes, it is not only unfair to be so dismissive of it, it is unrealistic. The Hurricane doesn’t get enough credit for what it did and the Spitfire gets too much. While it was clear that the Hurricane’s days as an interceptor/fighter were numbered, there were still plenty of examples where they got the better of Bf-109s.

I came accross the DH Hornet 40 years ago as a youth. I bought the FROG model in 1/72nd scale.

Good video subbed.