Sunlit intruder by Simon Cattlin

The De-havilland Mosquito is another of those world-class innovations from the stable of british aircraft design.

It was initially proposed as a wooden medium bomber at a time when shortages of aluminum was a possible wartime likelihood . The Mosquito found little support from the air ministry but fought its way through official apathy to become an iconic success in the roles of photo reconnaissance, pathfinder, maritime strike, night fighter and fighter-bomber. When it entered service in 1941 it was the fastest operational aircraft in the world.

The Mosquito Mk VI was a fast and heavily armed fighter bomber variant that was operated by a range of british, commonwealth and even american units.

Sunlit intruder is a painting of NS843 N-SB of 464 squadron RAAF set in summer 1944 when it was engaged in strike operations against V1 launch sites in occupied europe.