The smell of 100 Octane fuel, hot dogs and bacon butties can be intoxicating, even at ten o'clock in the morning. At visitors' disposal stood Lancaster NX611 Just Jane, ready to greet her first guests of the day to the the Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Museum's East Kirkby site. Alternating hourly taxi runs with Just Jane was Tony Agar's de Havilland Mosquito NF.II HJ711. Following a recent engine change and a test the previous day, the freshly fitted Merlin 25 roared into life for only the second time since it was first manufactured by Rolls-Royce over 70 years ago. At the controls was former Battle of Britain Memorial Flight pilot Mike Chatterton, who, having taxied Just Jane for 25 years, converted to the Mosquito over a year ago. He described it as "sort of a little sports car version of a Lancaster, much more nippy, more responsive, and a lot faster". Assessing the differences between the two aircraft, he said of the Mosquito: "It has many similarities, a tailwheel configuration, Merlin engines, two instead of four, but still pneumatic brakes, and all similar controls inside as well." Contrasting how it handled to the Lancaster, he said: "The Mossie is more precise on the controls, probably because it's smaller, but it's far more precise. You can turn it quite accurately and neatly just using the brakes."
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