The People’s Mosquito Project Awarded Over £100k By The Lottery Heritage Fund

Date: 30 Sep 2026

Karen Jones

Six-figure grant for charity aiming to return famous WW2 Mosquito aircraft to the skies.

Plans to return a famous British World War II aircraft to the skies have moved a step closer thanks to a grant of over £100,000 from The National Lottery Heritage Fund.

The People’s Mosquito, a registered charity, has received £102,080 from the Heritage Fund which will be used to educate the public through its ‘Saving Skills, Stories and Living Heritage’ initiative.

Using money raised by National Lottery players, The National Lottery Heritage Fund supports projects that connect people and communities with the UK’s heritage.

Using original plans and drawings the project is rebuilding, from scratch, a De Havilland DH.98 Mosquito. Designed by Sir Geoffrey de Havilland in 1940, the twin-engined aircraft was nicknamed “The Mossie” and “The Wooden Wonder” due to its airframe being built primarily of wood.

There are currently no airworthy Mosquitos based in the UK and The People’s Mosquito is aiming to raise around £10 million to redress this, with an ambition to see the aircraft in flight by 2030. The restoration, testing and final airworthiness acceptance of the aircraft is being overseen by aircraft restoration specialist Retrotec Ltd., based in Hastings.

John Lilley, chairman of The People’s Mosquito, said: “With The National Lottery Heritage Fund and thanks to National Lottery players, this regional six-figure funding will now support a variety of educational outreach, storytelling and heritage craftsmanship around our project.

“Along with supporting our ultimate aim of returning this iconic aircraft back where it belongs and in the skies above the UK, it will also allow us to save rare manufacturing skills, preserve the living history of aircrews and ground personnel and provide community education.”

The Mosquito was not only the world’s fastest production aircraft for three years during a period of unprecedented technical advancement, but also the first true multi-role combat aircraft – the predecessor to today’s Eurofighter Typhoon and F-35 Lightning II.

Mosquitos flew in several special operations in World War II, famously knocking out Berlin’s main broadcasting station in January 1943, taking a keynote speech from Luftwaffe Commander-in-Chief Hermann Goring off air, on what was the tenth anniversary of the Nazis coming to power in Germany.

The following year Mosquitos also took part in Operation Jericho, a bombing raid on Amiens Prison in occupied northern France, and in 1944 and 1945, in audacious raids on the Gestapo headquarters in the Danish cities of Aarhus and Copenhagen.

For further information on The People’s Mosquito or to donate please visit https://www.peoplesmosquito.org.uk/

Key Takeaways

The People’s Mosquito Project received over £102,000 from The National Lottery Heritage Fund.
The funding will support educational outreach through the ‘Saving Skills, Stories and Living Heritage’ initiative.
The project aims to rebuild a De Havilland DH.98 Mosquito, with plans to see it in the skies by 2030.
There are no airworthy Mosquitos in the UK currently, and the project seeks to raise £10 million for restoration.
The Mosquito was a pioneering multi-role combat aircraft, playing significant roles in WWII operations.

Karen Jones is the founder of Citywealth and a wealth management commentator with more than 20 years’ experience across global private wealth, family offices and succession. Before founding Citywealth in 2005, she held publishing roles at The Times and The Sunday Times, London; Legal Business magazine and worked on the Asia Pacific Legal 500.

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