Once upon a time there was a designed and built sleek heavily-armed military night fighter that was made largely of wood, glued together. It carried a crew of two. Unfortunately, it was never successful as it had the annoying and dangerous proclivity to self-destruct in flight due to glue failure on three of the completed combat aircraft.

1a. Make of aircraft. 1b, Model nomenclature of aircraft. 1c, Common name of the aircraft. 1d, Year of manufacture. 1e, Designer's name?

2a. Make, 2b. model and 2c. horsepower of its engine/s?

3. Max speed of the aircraft?

4. What was there about the glue joints/laminations that caused the airframes to disintegrate in flight and halt further production? There is a true short story to be revealed.

Seems bizarre? Again, I am not making this up. Actually happened

Ah, the quizzes return!

1a. Focke-Wulf Ta 154

1b.Ta 154 A-1

1c. Moskito (copy the British they did)

1d. 1943

1e. Kurt Tank

2a. Junkers Jumo

2b. 213 (developed from 211 used in prototypes)

2c. 1726 or 2022 hp (MW50 boost)

3. 382 mph

4. When production of the aircraft rolled around, the Tego glue used previously was unavailable (British bombing) and a substitute was used. This substitute glue ate into the plywood, corroded the structure and caused delamination of the wings.

Congratulations to Sunvisor Flyer-you nailed it!

My answers predicated on the prototypes as only a "handful" made production.

1a. Focke Wulf, 2b. TA-154, 2c. MOSKITO, 1d. 1943, 1e. Kurt Tank.

2a. Junkers JUMO, 2b. 211R radial piston engines (two), 1,500 Hp each.

3. I have 404 mph max with those engines.

4. The wartime 1943 MOSKITO was inspired by the British wooden de Havilland MOSQUITO avoiding strategic materials that started life in late 1938; however, the British got to the right glue manufacturer first and "sewed up" that good wood-glue production soley for their wooden aircraft manufacturer. Germany had to look elsewhere for an aircraft grade glue, which turned out not to be, finding out the hard way.

Hermann Goering, head of Hitler's Luftwaffe had no good understanding of the Moskito program and accused designer Kurt Tank of sabotage. An unrelated crash of a MOSKITO ended the program in August 1944 after the three in-flight dis-integrations.

The Focke-Wulf TA-154 of 1943 was an attractive, streamlined big night fighter with retractable tri-gear. Mid-wing with two powerful radial engines with tri-blade props. Designed to have an SN-2 Lichtenstein radar array and two forward-firing 20mm cannons and one upward-firing 30mm cannon in the rear fuselage. Design purpose was to go after British bombers, who flew mainly at-night missions. When America entered WWII, the USAAC was assigned daylight bombings over Europe from British bases with many casualties until the North American P-51 Mustang entered the war escorting our bombers and repelling German fighters.

TA-154 MOSKITO Specs

Crew: two

Powerplant: two 1,500 hp Junkers Jumo 211R radial piston engines.

Max speed: 404 mph.

Wingspan: 52'6"

Length: 39'9"

Weight: 19,687 lbs.

Construction: Largely of wood.

Incidentally, in WWII the RAF was somewhat jealous of the American USAAC pilots based there, complaining they were over-sexed, overpaid and over there