[Closed] Mosquito versus B17 - what's best?

OP, B17 vs Mosquito? Chalk and cheese.

But by comparison, the Mosquito cost about 50 pence to make, only needed two crew, and was hugely effective. No chance I'd say B17 out of those two if I had to vote! Mosquito had to be one of the (if not the) first aircraft which could be considered a tactical strike fighter.

Don't know if anyone's mentioned it yet, but C4 had a really good hour long special on the Mosquito last year.

[url= http://www.channel4.com/programmes/the-plane-that-saved-britain/4od ]linky[/url]

My grandad flew Mosquitos and was a pathfinder in 617 squadron. He still has all his log books and bits. He's still with it and every time I see him I always ask him about his missions and the stories are fascinating. He was telling me if you got caught in the German night lights you got shot to bits and the only way out was to dive blind into the light and guess when you were nearing the bottom as you couldn't see a thing then pull out and get away as fast as you could. It sounds terrifying.

Apparently the lack of flying ones is the fact that no-one is quite sure what has happened to the ply bodywork over the last 70 years, but there is guy (in america, i believe) who has just had made up the jigs/molds to make more body parts - so hopefully we should have some flying in the next few years.
This comes from a neighbor who is part of the team who have a working spitfire to play with !

Just cause the Mossie could reach a service ceiling of 37,000 ft doesn't mean to say it would have been any good at operating at that altitude. The design of an aircraft intended to cruise and spend most of its time at high altitude is very different from one that is designed for more low level flying. The B17 for sure would have been specifically designed to operate at those altitudes with a heavy bomb load, the Mossie might not have so would not be very efficient, so operating the Mossie as a high altitude bomber might not have been possible despite the headline altitude capability.

Mosquito had to be one of the (if not the) first aircraft which could be considered a tactical strike fighter.

Yes, but it was also used for a variety of other roles, up to and including strategic bombing.

ratherbeintobago -
Not sure Berlin was at the limit; the (Mosquito-equipped) Light Night Striking Force of No. 8 Group bombed Berlin with an average of 60 aircraft/night for 36 nights in a row which suggests that it was well within combat range from East Anglia.