The People’s Mosquito
Having worked on the restoration of the Imperial War Museum’s Mosquito TT.35 TA719 at Duxford, former warbird owner and lifelong enthusiast John Lilley shared his heartfelt desire to see a De Havilland Mosquito gracing UK skies once again. The response from members of the public was instant and overwhelming. “Let’s make this happen!” was the call: The People’s Mosquito was born.
Primarily established with the aim of returning a UK-built Mosquito to British skies, the charity exists to celebrate the aircraft and honour those who designed, built, flew and maintained the Mosquito throughout its operational life. With that in mind, The People’s Mosquito enshrines three values:
Today, it is a registered charity in England and Wales (No. 1165903), a member of the Chartered Institute of Fundraising and a full member of Aviation Heritage UK.
To Fly ~ To Educate ~ To Remember
Public support is growing; corporate support is growing; media interest is growing; our Members’ Club is growing; and the charity has seen exponential growth in fundraising and commercial activities. There has never been a better time to get involved with what is arguably the most exciting aviation restoration project in the world today.
The People’s Mosquito Board
John Lilley,
Chairman
As a life-long avgeek and long-standing member of the ‘warbird’ community, John has been a volunteer restorer for the IWM for 11 years, working on aircraft restorations and static maintenance. He is also a former warbird owner himself, having previously part-owned an Fw190-A4. John is a Global Account Director for Compass Group. He is a specialist in getting things done.
Alan Pickford,
Chief Financial Officer
Alan recently retired after 45 years of working with ExxonMobil. For most of that time, he was involved in developing Cost & Schedule estimates for capital projects at their refineries in Europe and America. His love of the Mosquito stems from growing up in Exeter, where the last Mosquitoes operating in the UK were based, and the fact that his uncle flew 48 missions to Germany as a Mosquito navigator during W2.
Martin Waller
Chief Retail Officer
Martin has nearly 20 years experience in Sales, Project Management and Design, with a honours degree in Mechanical Engineering.
Currently Lead Product Manager for Kinder-Janes, part of the Atlas Copco group, near St. Albans, his interest in De Havilland and the Mosquito is literally in his blood, with both his Mother and Grandfather having worked at the Hatfield plant. Martin is also Managing Director of Wooden Wonder Trading Ltd, the retail arm of the charity.
Mark Hitchcock,
Chief Executive Officer
Mark has worked for over 30 years in manufacturing management, leading production teams and implementing lean manufacturing practices, latterly for the Swiss electricity metering company, Landis + Gyr. During that time, he assisted in the setting up of joint venture factories in Brazil and Iran. His passion for the Mosquito was fed by an Uncle who served as RAF Ground Crew at the end of WW2.
Steve Manning,
Chief Commercial Officer
Steve is Technical Director for a software development company with 30+ years in retail & business software development. In his spare time, when not working on Mosquito business, he’s a Civilian Instructor with the Royal Air Force Air Cadets and his squadron was recently awarded the prestigious Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service.
Ian Homer,
Chief Marketing Officer
With over 35 years of marketing and promotions experience, Ian was central to developing fundraising campaigns for the Vulcan to the Sky Trust between 2008 and 2018, setting up their commercial merchandise agreements, an online webstore and the ‘Vulcan Village’ at major Air Shows, whilst developing social media feeds and apps. He has co-authored several reference books on Vulcan XH558.
Dawn Butterworth
Chief Volunteer Officer
Dawn is leading on developing our team of brilliant volunteers. She has experience in this area from her day job with the RSPB, working with volunteers for over 15 years, and being one herself for over 20.
Dawn has been with TPM since 2016, supporting in various roles since then including airshows, finance and admin before joining the team of Directors. She is keen to help shape the future of the charity and ensure our success.
A Royal Visit
In November 2023, TPM was honoured by a visit from The Princess Royal to see the project at the Retrotec factory.
The visit was later shown on BBC Breakfast.
Princess Anne’s visit was inspired by a piece on BBC Breakfast in Feb 2023 in which Mosquito veteran Flt Lt George Dunn was featured at the Retrotec factory.