The TA 154 "Moskito"
      Everything you wanted to know about the Ta 154 but didn't dare
 ask - by Lorenz Bermann
      The first prototype flew on July 1st, 1943, merely a year after
 Milch's personal instructions for the development of a German coun-
 terpart for the successful British "Mosquito". This record time was
 achieved not by "super" industrial powers but by the adaptation of
 an already mature project: that of the fast attack bomber TA 211, so
 code-named because of the engines it was designed to use, the Junkers
 Jumo 211-R. The name of the entire new project was changed to the
 RLM assignment number 154 (hence TA 154) as soon as it became clear
 that the engine suitable for the "Moskito" should be the more power-
 ful Jumo 213 and that Junkers could not deliver the Jumo 211-R in
 schedule time due to technical and production problems. The Jumo 213
 wasn't available until summer '44 anyhow.
     The adaptation of the as A4 sub-type night fighter, using the
 available Junkers Jumo 211-F engines, produced prototype aircraft V1
 to V4. The 154 was also allocated the name Moskito as a form of
 recognition of the RAF's De Haviland Mosquito.
     A number of further aircraft was used for evaluations, whilst
 disputes as to the role of the aircraft when in service dragged on.
 The Moskito suffered several accidents during testing and modifica-
 tions were made to overcome such failures. All the while, the HE
 219 was the preferred aircraft to go into full production and a fly-
 off was arranged between both aircraft. Since the aeroplanes were so
 different in most of their flying attitudes, the only conclusion was
 that the TA 154 was better suited for localised (low range) rather
 than extended range sorties. Only one series of a total of eight
 aircraft were produced and officially delivered to Luftwaffe.
     Six days after the first flight at Hannover-Langenhagen on 1 July
 1943, Tank himself piloted the V1 (TE+FE) aircraft. The performance
 of this first flight seemed encouraging. However, the original power-
 plant the aeroplane was intended to use, the Jumo 213, was not ready.
 In its place, the Jumo 211 F or N had to be used, and one aeroplane
 had even the Jumo 211 R. The V2 prototype was fitted with FuG 212
 Licthenstein C-1.
                   Some known codes of prototypes.
     TE+FE V1 no A.I. device, powered by Jumo 211 R. First flight
 1/7/43. Tested in Rechling in March of the same year. Crashes 31/7/43
 in landing accident.
     TE+FF V2 also powered by Jumo 211 R.
     TE+FG V3 first armed prototype, fitted with FuG 212 C-1, destroy-
 ed in air raid of 5 August 1944. Powered by Jumo 213, first flight
 25/11/43.
     TE+FK V7
     TQ+XE V15 TA 154 A0 (later converted to A4 standards), W.Nr. 120005.
     KU+SU TA 154 A4, W.Nr. 320008, later D5+HD of Stab. III./NJG 3,
 its wing tips were experimentally slanted upwards to increase its
 stability.
     In December of the same year it was established the Truppen
 Erprobungskommando 154. The first production aeroplane A1 was first
 flown on 13 June 1944. The only Moskito that was powered by Jumo
 213-A was the first pre-production TA 154 V3 (A-03/U1). It was so
 heavy with its four 20 mm MG 151, 30 mm MG 108 high-speed cannons
 and FuG 212 Lichtenstein FuG 212 Lichtenstein C-1 Matratzen antenna
 array, that its top speed was dropped by 75 Kph despite expectations.
 Between January and March 1944 four additional aeroplanes were
 produced, some featuring Hirschgeweih antennas for FuG 220 Lichten-
 stein SN-2 radar.
     Eight aircraft were assembled at Erfurt and designated TA 154
 A-0. The Moskito airframe was intended to be assembled in production
 at the Salzbergwek Wremen by Gothaer Waggonfabrik while the under-
 carriage and wings at the Posen factory in Poland and the pressurised
 cabin as well as the fuselage were to be built at Cottbus.
                Some units using the TA 154 1944-45
    Number Of aircraft, Unit, Base 1 I./NJG 3 Grove 3 III./NJG 3 Stade
 ? III./JG 2 Lechfeld
     Tank simplified production and reduced costs by building the air-
 craft entirely in non-strategic materials such as pressed and glued
 veneer sheets. This solution was adopted since the design of the air-
 craft also due to shortage of Aluminium and other light metals for
 airframe construction.
     The example perhaps came from the British Mosquito, but necessity
 forced design more than any tendency to imitate the English design.
                   Chronology of the TA 154 "Moskito"
     August 1942 RLM establishes the requirement under Milch's in-
 structions.
     March 1943 The TA 154 is compared at Rechling with the Ju 388 and
 the He 219 for Luftwaffe evaluation purposes.
     1 July 1943 First flight of TA 154 V1 with Flugkapiten Sander in
 the controls, at Hannover Langenhagen airfield.
     31 July 1943 V1 crashes due to undercarriage failure.
     September 1943 in Erfurt begins the A0 series production.
     25 November 1943 Speed test with A0/U1 aeroplane; it reaches 620
 km/h fully armed.
     25 November 1943 First flight of the first fully armed TA 154,
 the V3.
     22 December 1943 EKD 154 is established as troop testing unit of
 the "Moskito".
     18 February 1944 V4 crashes due to undercarriage failure.
     28 February 1944 V8 crashes due to undercarriage failure.
     7 April 1944 V5 crashes due to undercarriage failure.
     18 April 1944 V9 and V12 crashes due to undercarriage failure.
     28 June 1944 Cancellation of the entire production.
     Autumn 1944 Some "Mistel" combinations with Fw 190 over a TA
 154's are built in central Germany. They are intended to be used
 against American B-17 formations. None of them goes to action.
     30 April 1945 An experimental re-adapted TA 154 with mid-wing
 antennae and angled wing tips crashes at Stade. Last crashing of
 TA 154.
     The ending chapter of this aeroplane's history was written with
 bombs after the bombing raids of early summer 1944 that destroyed
 the Goldmand factory in Wuppertal. Goldmand produced the Tego-Film,
 a special adhesive used for the TA 154's wooden components; event-
 ually it was substituted with another adhesive produced by Dynamit
 AG from Leverkusen, but the new adhesive was only half as powerful
 as the Tego-Film.
     On July 1944 two Ta 154 A-1's completed using the Dynamit glue
 took off for testing. The second aeroplane crashed when its wings
 desintegrated: the glue ate into the wooden structure! Due to these
 problems with the wooden parts, and following further crashes of
 two other aeroplanes, Tank halted series production on 14 August
 1944. RLM halted the entire project in September 1944, a little
 more than six months after its air worthiness certificate. In Posen,
 eight Ta 154 A-1s were built before the end of the program.
     Transformations took place among serviceable aeroplanes so fac-
 tory numbers 320008 to 320010 were rebuilt into bad-weather fighters
 denominated Ta 154 A-2/U4, and four others into Ta 154 A4 night-
 fighters. These former aeroplanes were used by the III./NJG 3 in
 Stade as well as a fourth aeroplane with the staff of the I./NJG 3
 established in Grove. Pre-series aeroplane Ta 154 A0 (factory number
 120005) TQ+XE was later transformed into A4 type. The third Ta 154
 TE+FG was fitted with FuG 212 C-1 sub-type aerials while others -
 specially A4 variations- were fitted with FuG 202 aerials; the TE+FG
 was destroyed in an air raid on 5 August 1944. Moskitos served in
 Lechfeld only with the III. Completion/JG2. The first months of 1945
 at Lechfeld some Ta 154 were used to train jet pilots.
     A glamorous failure among the prototypes signed the test of
 angled wing tips and middle-wing aerials in a night fighter: the
 aeroplane crashed in a service flight at Stade in the very last
 weeks of the War, on 30 April 1945. Fortunately some experimental
 manned explosive carriers named Pulk-Zerstorer as well as six Mistel
 combinations built on late 1944 from available parts never saw
 active service. They were intended to be blown up with heavy ex-
 plosives in the middle of American bombing formations!
     Production was envisaged at 250 airframes per month but only a
 limited number were built which did not amount to much over 50 air-
 craft. This figures include twelve test aeroplanes, five incomplete
 fuselages and several other prototypes under construction.
     The Moskito did see limited service but doubtless the dual ef-
 fects of poor decisions and enemy action curtailed the career of
 that could have been a worthy contestant for the R.A.F.'s night
 fighters and bombers such as the more famous DH Mosquito.
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 I understand that the TA-154C had dual ejection seats. Probably
 the first aircraft to have such.  Jim
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--- DB 1.39/004487
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