File:De Havilland DH98 Mosquito NF.II ‘HJ711 VI-C’ (BAPC434) (51684510901).jpg

Mosquito NF.II HJ711 was originally built in 1943 and served with 141 and 169 Squadrons. While with 169 Squadron and based at RAF Little Snoring in Norfolk, she made the squadrons first kill when she shot down a Messerschmitt Bf110 over Berlin on the 30th January 1944. The pilot that night, Squadron Leader Joe Cooper, would visit the restoration project at Elvington in May 1991. By 1963, HJ711 existed only as a cockpit section with the Air Training Corps at Chingford. It was purchased by Reflectaire in 1971 and then sold to Tony Agar when Reflectaire closed in April 1972. He formed the Night Fighter Preservation team and began restoring the cockpit in his garage. The project eventually included the fuselage section of Mosquito TT.35 ‘RS715’ which was left over from the filming of the ‘633 Squadron’ movie, as well as a wing and undercarriage from Mosquito B.XVI ‘PF498’ which had been used for rescue training at the Royal Ordnance Factory in Chorley and the port wing from Mosquito T.3 ‘VA878’ which crashed on take-off from RAF St David’s in September 1956. The project moved to the Yorkshire Air Museum at Elvington in 1986 and then to East Kirby in 2017. She is now a complete and taxiable Mosquito in original NF.II condition, wearing her original 169 Squadron markings. As she is a composite airframe, she has been allocated the British Aircraft Preservation Council identity BAPC434 She is seen carrying out taxi runs as part of the 2021 ‘Lanc, Tank and Military Machines’ event. Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre East Kirkby, Lincolnshire, UK