On September 19, Tony Agar’s de Havilland Mosquito NF.II HJ711 performed a successful run of its port engine at the Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre.
As previously reported, the aircraft was built at Hatfield in 1943 and went on to serve with 141 and 169 Squadrons, scoring the latter’s first kill on January 30, 1944 when pilot Squadron Leader J.A.H. Cooper downed a Bf 110 over Berlin. Following the war, HJ711’s forward fuselage was transferred to RAF Air Training Command at Chingsford before the nose section resurfaced at the Reflectaire Museum in Blackpool. Agar acquired the remains in 1971 and began a long term restoration to taxiing condition using components of PF498, VA878, NT616, and RS715.
The machine spent many years at the Yorkshire Air Museum in Elvington, York before the decision was made to relocate it to Lincolnshire, which has additional facilities available to complete restoration work.
Click below to check out videos of Wednesday’s test.
(via photoakm and Neville Wheeldon Top Photo: Nilfanion via Wikimedia Commons Thanks, Pascal!)
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