WarbirdsNews likes to support worthy projects when we find them, and we’ve come across one such effort by a team of film makers who’ve spent the past five years documenting the rebirth of an original deHavilland Mosquito in a small hangar in Victoria, British Columbia. We’ve all seen the fruits borne from the love and care Victoria Air Maintenance lavished upon this aircraft; Mosquito B.35 serial VR796. However, the company was unable to share much of what they were doing with the public due to agreements with the aircraft’s owner, Bob Jens. Such secrecy is a part of the modern warbird restoration world, and as frustrating as that can sometimes be to the rest of us hungry for information, it’s completely understandable at the same time. Now that VR796 has flown, and taken part in her first appearance this summer at the Abbotsford International Air Show, more of the story of her restoration can come out.
The Mosquito played a major role in just about every combat theatre during WWII, but only a couple of dozen or so survive today in anything close to complete condition. The wooden structure doesn’t suffer neglect well. VR796 is the last substantially original Mosquito left flying in the world today, and this is likely to remain the case, sadly. Victoria Air Maintenance took on her restoration in 2009, and this is where the documentary will begin, by telling her story.
The documentary, Gaining Altitude: The Mosquito Reborn, will not only focus on VR796’s remarkable journey back to flight, but also tell the greater story of the Mosquito’s role in history, both in wartime, and in peace. Archival wartime footage will be a part of this story, as will interviews with surviving pilots. The documentary crew has finished most of the filming, but now needs funding to cover the expenses of editing and distributing the finished product. It would be a great shame if their efforts up until now were for nought, so we hope some of our readers might offer their support by taking part in their Kickstarter crowd-sourcing campaign HERE.
Pan Productions will be putting the project together; a team with nearly three decades of experience working on numerous award-winning television projects. The documentary is substantive, and not in the normal format for distribution via television broadcasters, so the team has chosen to release it exclusively via DVD sales. The Kickstarter campaign has several different funding points for willing contributors, including one which will place your name or the name of your business in the production credits. So here are the links to the details.
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