Corgi AA32816 DH Mosquito B XX
[AA32816]

DH Mosquito B XX, No.627 Squadron RAF, Woodhall Spa, Sept. 1944 Wing Commander Guy Gibson – VC, DSO*DFC*

Scale Size About: 175mm long x 230mm Wingspan

Formed in November 1943 as part of No.8 (PFF) Group, 627 Squadron were detached to No.5 Group, Bomber Command in April 1944 where they specialized in developing highly accurate ‘divebombing’ target-marking techniques, achieving high degrees of accuracy. During 1944-45, 627 Squadron operated by day and night, and their Mosquito aircraft were painted in Day Fighter colours with ‘invasion’ markings after D-Day. Mosquito KB267 was personally selected by the legendary ‘Dam Buster’ Wing Commander Guy Gibson and flown by him on his last operation, as ‘Master Bomber’ to a raid on Rheydt, Germany on 19th September 1944. On the return flight from Rheydt, for reasons which have never been firmly established the Mosquito crashed near the Dutch town of Steenbergen. Gibson and his co-pilot Squadron Leader James Warwick died in the crash and are buried in the town’s cemetery. Although no photographs of KB267 are known to exist, fragments of fuselage discovered at the crash site indicate that it was carrying these full markings.