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(N)A-20 HAVOC IN ACTION

A-20 Havoc In Action (softcover)

Item: SSP10238
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SS10238
A-20 HAVOC IN ACTION
(Softcover)

By David Doyle.
The Douglas A-20 Havoc was a light bomber, attack, and intruder
aircraft of World War II. Used by the American Army Air Forces,
nearly one-third of the aircraft served with the Soviet military,

while many other A-20s fought with the RAF. Taking its first
operational shape on the eve of the outbreak of the war in
Europe, the 7B prototype actually crashed with a French observer
aboard, kicking off a scandal in still-isolationist America where

military aircraft were not to be exported. U.S. President
Franklin Roosevelt pressed for a change in that restrictive rule
and the French, impressed by the plane’s rugged dependability and

maneuverability, proceeded to place orders for 100 of the
aircraft, albeit with modifications that resulted in the DB-7
version. Even before shipments began in November 1939, Paris had
increased its order by another 170 aircraft. Many of those,
however, found their way into the British RAF, which flew them
under the nickname “Boston,” after the fall of France in June
1940. The U.S. Army Air Corps issued its first contracts for the
aircraft they called the A-20 and A-20A, in May 1939, these were
only delivered during the months from late 1940 through much of
1941. A dozen A-20As had recently arrived in Pearl Harbor when
the Japanese surprise attack destroyed two of them on the ground.

Modifications of the design continued and it was after the U.S.
entry into the war when the A-20C version, produced by Douglas
and Boeing, first were accepted. Of the first 515 A-20Cs, 108
were retained by the U.S. Army Air Forces, while 407 were shipped

off to the Soviet Union. Numerous versions of the aircraft
followed. About half of the A-20G were sent to the Soviet Union,
as were many of the A-20H. In fact the Soviet air forces had more

A-20s than the USAAF.

Illustrated with 192 vintage photographs and detailed line
drawings. 80 pages.
ISBN = 978-0-89747-798-7.