Douglas A-20 Havoc / Boston

Douglas A-20 Havoc / Boston History

The Douglas A-20 Havoc served with the Allied forces throughout much of World War II, fighting for British, American and Soviet forces. This type is widely used and proven to be the victor of war, capable of taking huge punishments, but living up to its name due to its speed and firepower.

Their crews have put the aircraft through its paces with a production run of over 7,000 and several major production variants. Built as a light bomber, but deployed more or less as a heavy fighter, the Havoc proved to be a successful addition to the Douglas Company line and the entire Allied war effort, eventually being replaced in the attack by the more powerful Douglas A-26 Raider/ light bomb Rolle and Northrop P-61 Black Widow in the role of night fighter.

Development

The A-20 series was originally a Douglas 7B design, an attempt at a light bomber, originally designed as early as 1936. The United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) showed sufficient interest in ordering a contract to build a working prototype after a design review in 1938. The first airworthy model flew for the first time on October 26, 1938, showing the great potential of this design.

The plane's twin engines are fast and very responsive to controls, with few negatives from the overall design. Regardless, the future of the Model 7B looks promising.

Despite the deterioration in Europe (and the world), the United States is still in an isolationist mentality, so the Model 7B is not sought after by the USAAC and has been put on hold for the time being. Despite this setback, the French and Belgian governmentsyou can imagine some desperationcalled up and ordered hundreds of Model 7Bs for immediate production in February 1940. These received the official designation DB-7, and the design involved two different production models, becoming DB-7A and DB-7B. The first 100 DB-7s were built, and an order of 270 was expanded to strengthen the fleet. Despite the initiative there were only 115 DB-7s; they were eventually delivered to the French army under German rule before France collapsed.

About 95 French-operated DB-7s fled to North Africa, while the remaining US-owned models - and related contracts - were transferred to British ownership, taking over "Boston" type operations. The British Boston Collection includes three different brands, Boston Mk. I (DB-7), Boston Mk.

II (DB-7A) and Boston Mk. III (DB-7B).

The A-20J model is the USAAC-required "leadership" variant with a glass nose assembly. These aircraft were critical to improving the bombing accuracy of the fixed-nose A-20G model, as they had specialized bomber and Norden bomber sights, and often "steered" other "blind" bombers to the target by direct targeting to obtain The proper drop time arrived and always dropped its bomb load, suggesting that the other A-20s in the flight crew did the same.

Aside from the nose design, the A-20J is basically the same aircraft. As expected, the 4 x 12.7mm machine guns on the A-20J model were removed to make room for the bombardier and his gear. However, the 2 x 12.7mm lower case machine gun remained the standard weapon of the type and was sometimes eliminated on the battlefield for weight savings reasons.

The total production of the A-20J was 450, built at the same time as the A-20G for simplicity. The A-20J was eventually replaced by the A-26C Intruder aircraft, which had its own glass nose.

The A-20K model was similar in design and scope to the A-20J model, although based on the A-20H and fitted with a different engine (Wright R-2600-29 Cyclone Radials rated at 1,700 hp), it served as the lead ship.

The P-70 became the dedicated (albeit a transitional system before the arrival of the Northrop P-61 Black Widow) night fighter variant of the A-20 series. The P-70A features AI radar in a solid nose and 2 x Wright R-2600-11 1,600hp radial engines. Thirty-nine P-70A-1s were delivered in 1943 to help counter Japanese night raids in the Pacific. The P-70A-1's armament consists of an underbody bag with a 4 x 20mm cannon and two inverted machine guns. The former was later changed to a 6 x 12.7mm machine gun in the nose.

The P-70A-2 came in 65 modifications of the A-20G model, but was largely similar to the P-20A-1 without the rear defense machine gun. The P-70B-2 followed, a night fighter training platform that appeared in 105 modified A-20G and A-20J variants with American-made SCR-720/-729 series radar systems.

The CA-20 is another notable variant, the A-20 being converted to a general transport role as the newer ??A-26 invaders gradually diminish the role of the A-20. These planes served amazingly well into the 1960s.

Like the British before them, the Americans conducted a series of experiments with the A-20 airframe. Jet-Assisted Takeoff (JATO) was a popular experimental method for most airframes during the war, and the A-20 was no exception. A GALCIT JATO unit was installed at the rear of each nacelle and tested in April 1942.

A reconnaissance attempt produced an A-20 with a rear-mounted K-24 camera system. An A-20 with its nose armament removed and replaced with 4 x gun blister packs attached to the sides of the fuselage. Another, more interesting experiment involved an A-20 whose main landing gear was modified into tractor-style crawler tracks to operate on mud, snow, and any surface unusable by conventional aircraft.

Needless to say, these aircraft were little more than experiments, and most went the way of the dodo, although there were still a few aircraft that were used for viable research-oriented purposes.

Design

The basic design of the A-20 consisted of a deep cylindrical fuselage with mid-mounted cantilevered monoplane wings, each containing a triple-propeller star mounted in an elongated engine nacelle below the wing shaped engine. The rear wing is conventional, with a vertical stabilizer and cantilevered horizontal plane. The landing gear consisted of a tricycle arrangement with two main wheels embedded in each engine nacelle and a single-wheel nose landing gear embedded under the cockpit floor. The engine nacelles on both wings reach a point behind the trailing edge of the wing, giving the A-20 its distinctive top-down profile. A rear gun/observation position was established on top of the bottom of the tail, while the ventral gun "tunnel" position could also be used.

The cockpit provides good all-round visibility and helps the A-20 feel like a fighter rather than a bomber. Overall, the aircraft proved to be structurally sound and fit for the job assigned to it, a testament to the success of Douglas. Like many large aircraft in World War II, the Havoc's airframe was known for its ability to withstand extensive damage while keeping the crew alive. In addition, the airframe has proven to be quite adaptable for a variety of users, with a variety of weapons and internal systems.

This type of power is provided by a range of Wright radial series engines in different power specifications.

Armed

Equipment changes during the production life of an aircraft, especially if it is based on an operator. The standard price includes 4 x 12.7mm machine gun batteries housed in the sturdy nose to provide the aircraft's offensive forward strike, as well as a rear location to mount a flexible machine gun (or a pair of such weapons).

Additionally, this strike could be augmented by the use of internal bombs - with bomb loads up to 4,000 pounds - some of which could be used as additional fuel. It is not uncommon for frontal armament to be added in the form of a 6 x 12.7mm machine gun to really exploit the forward strike potential. Additional armament includes a pair of defensive 12.7mm machine guns in the rear cockpit and a 12.7mm machine gun in a ventral position, accessible through a tunnel.

Blister pouches are not uncommon, as are low-shell 12.7mm machine guns. The 4 x 20mm guns were tested in the large nose assembly, as was the 1 x 37mm gun assembly.

Cockpit

Like any aircraft, the cockpit of the A-20 Series is the heart of the aircraft. It must be remembered that the A-20 was actually designed as a light bomber, although it was piloted by only one person in the single-seat cockpit, and was designed in every way as a heavy fighter.

The cockpit is designed to be at the front with a glass canopy for excellent front, top and side (including rear) visibility. Framed canopy doors open on hinges attached to the starboard side of the frame for easy access to the seat.

Steering the aircraft is via a conventional steering wheel mounted on a flexible column. The pistol button has been relocated to the top right of the steering wheel for easier access.

Throttle, mixture and propeller controls are centralized on the left side of the seat, as are the various electrical switches. Motherboards are known for their well-placed dials and displays. Tank controls, bomb selection, radio and cockpit heating were placed to the right of the pilot's seat. Overall, the cockpit is unanimously approved by American and British pilots.

If the pilots had any complaints, it was the use of frames for the cockpit windows, which reduced visibility somewhat, especially in bad weather.

Operational Services

The A-20 served in the Pacific and European theaters. The 3rd, 312th, and 417th Bomb Groups represented Havoc deployments in the Pacific, while the 47th, 409th, 410th, and 416th Bomber Groups had limited early use of the type in Europe. The latter operations were carried out by the 9th Air Force and 9th Bomber Command.

On July 4, 1942, 12 A-20 Havoc (6 American pilots, 6 British pilots) carried out a low-sky bombing raid on four airfields in the Netherlands, the first such attack by the United States on the European theater of operations. These American-flying Havoc were part of the 15th Bomb Squadron.

The A-20 converted as a makeshift night fighter became the P-70. The P-70 Havoc was deployed in large numbers to the 18th Fighter Group and supported ground forces over Guadalcanal, Bougainville, and the Solomon Islands. The P-70 was eventually replaced by the newer and more powerful Northrop P-61 Black Widow, which entered service in 1944.

Offering improved overall performance, impressive artillery/machine gun fire and high-altitude performance, Black Widows are purpose-built platforms designed for night operations.

The Soviet Army was the other real primary operator of the aircraft, which propelled the platform as a ground-attack fighter, turning its powerful nose-mounted weapons against unsuspecting ground enemies. Among other operations, A-20s are deployed in the Middle East and North Africa.

Production of each A-20 system ceased in September 1944, after which approximately 7,385 to 7,478 were produced.

Conclusion

The A-20 proved to be a very valuable small aircraft. The system's ability to adapt to various weapon configurations allows the type to penetrate deeper into warfare than otherwise. Havoc provides its operators with a powerful and powerful attack platform capable of performing a variety of specialized roles as needed, from ground attack to light bombardment and punitive attack.

In any form, the A-20 Havoc proved that the twin-engine "Tweener" design still had a place in a war filled with streamlined fighter jets and heavy bombers.

Douglas A-20 Havoc / Boston Spec

Basic

Production

Roles

Dimensions

Weight

Performance

Performance

Armor

Changes