cool Havoc stuff

[RipChord929]

Is that a drop tank, or a radome???

Just never seen it before...

RC

[Iron_Cross]

It was a night-fighter, it's a radome, as most ferry tanks in bombers were entirely in the bomb-bay, (nothing sticking out, and not able to drop).

[cobia38]

It was a night-fighter, it's a radome, as most ferry tanks in bombers were entirely in the bomb-bay, (nothing sticking out, and not able to drop).

wrong its a 375 gln droptank

 here is link to site http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=3006

  the lendlease A-20g,s to soviets had 20mm package from factory
 

[Scherf]

IIRC the RAF used them with a ventral pack of 4 x 20mm as intruders/nightfighters.

Hmmm, the Havoc was certainly used as an Intruder - 23 Sqn, 418 Sqn and 605 Sqn had them so far as I know, however I believe they didn't have the cannon. Any number of contacts slipping away damaged after the mgs tickled them.

[RipChord929]

Oh wow, sorry I asked...
Didn't mean to cause controversy...

Who cares, Night or day, Brit, Yankee, or Ruskie,
20mm or 50cal.... A20 was a badazz airplane in my book...

RC

[Furball]

Hmmm, the Havoc was certainly used as an Intruder - 23 Sqn, 418 Sqn and 605 Sqn had them so far as I know, however I believe they didn't have the cannon. Any number of contacts slipping away damaged after the mgs tickled them.

Yup - I have read a book where it mentions them, Terror in the Starboard Seat perhaps?

http://www.rcaf.com/aircraft/bombers/boston/index.php

418 Sqn operated the type from March 1942 until July 1943, when they were replaced by Mosquito aircraft. Later models had their standard armament supplemented with a tray mounted in the belly containing four 20 mm cannon. Bostons were also used to lay smoke screens for the raid at Dieppe in August of 1942.

http://www.csd.uwo.ca/Elevon/baugher_us/a20-05.html

However, many Boston Mk. III aircraft were modified to Turbinlite or intruder configurations. The Boston Mk. III (Intruder) aircraft retained their transparent noses but were painted matte black, equipped with flame-damping exhausts, and fitted with a belly gun pack housing four 20-mm Hispano cannon which supplemented the standard Boston Mk. III armament. These operated from mid-1942 onwards with Nos. 418 (RCAF) and 605 Squadrons. Serials of the DB-7Bs converted to Intruder configuration include W8256, W8262, W8264, W8266, W8268, W8278, W8281, W8283, W8284, W8290, W8292, Z2155, and Z2165. Boston Mk. III aircraft fitted with Turbinlites included W8257, W8265, W8275, W8276, and W8300.

I believe this shows a profile with the ventral pack: -



And i am sure i have seen a night time photo of a Boston test firing its guns, which includes the ventral pack (it is pretty spectacular).

[Furball]

Yup - I have read a book where it mentions them, Terror in the Starboard Seat perhaps?

Here it is! Really good read.

http://www.rcaf.com/archives/archives_general/418intruder/index.php

The following is a transcript of a talk given by W/C Russell Bannock DSO, DFC and Bar (RCAF Ret'd) at the Annual CAHS Banquet held 30 May 1981 at the Skyline Hotel near the Toronto International Airport. W/C Bannock, President of Bannock Aerospace Limited, was introduced by F/L Henry 'Hank' Lonaux, who is the 'Hank' occasionally mentioned in the text. We are indebted to CAHS Toronto Chapter member Nick Doran, for this transcript of W/C Bannock's presentation which was prepared from a tape made by Les Wilkinson.

The Bostons were initially armed with four .303 machine guns tucked underneath the nose of the aircraft, and it could also carry up to 2,000 lbs of bombs in various combinations: four 500 pounders, or eight 250 pounders, or a number of cluster bombs. Later, the four .303 machine guns, were replaced by four cannons. It seems, (I wasn't in the Squadron at the time) that there are some of the fellows here, like Mickey Cochrane, who joined the Squadron in those early days, who will tell you that the pilots seemed to have a tough time mastering the Boston at night. Unfortunately, the casualty rate was extremely high during those training days at Debden, and later on, when the Squadron moved to its next base. In addition to starting out in the Intruder role of trying to find enemy air craft at night, the Squadron was told to concentrate on attacking locomotive, and other rail transport. As well as that, the Squadron participated in leaflet dropping raids where propaganda leaflets were dropped all over Germany. I learned, from Mickey Cochrane, that the Squadron even participated in some of those first "Thousand Bomber Raids" that took place in 1942, and were designed to startle Hitler and his Nazis who had claimed that Germany was impenetrable.

[Krusty]

Those are early Boston IIIs, not A-20G Havocs. See the nose and the cheek 30cals and the rear gun position?

Reading an article not too long ago, the US removed the cannons because of reliability issues and constant jamming.

Whether the Soviets put their own cannons in, this would be a field mod. I'm also curious (not having seen so far) how many cannon armed models they used, compared to MG-ships.


P.S. Soviets modded everything. They put 2x 20mm SHVAK and 2x 12.7mm into hurricane Mk.1s and Mk.IIs, rather than use default setups.

[humble]

The top picture is of a P-70, the night fighter variant of the A-20.  IIRC, all of the P-70s saw service in the PTO only and were not Land Lease planes.  However, that doesn't mean the Soviets didn't field modify some of their Land Lease A-20s with cannons but that picture is definitely of a P-70 Night Fighter.

The P-70 was also the only A-20 variant in the USAAF inventory to have the 20mm cannon weapon package.


ack-ack

The initial production run of the A20G was a 4x20mm and was deployed that way. That is well documented down to the serial numbers and production run. Most of those were sent to the Soviets since the USAAF decided to go with the 6 x .50cal load out...

[humble]

Those are early Boston IIIs, not A-20G Havocs. See the nose and the cheek 30cals and the rear gun position?

Reading an article not too long ago, the US removed the cannons because of reliability issues and constant jamming.

Whether the Soviets put their own cannons in, this would be a field mod. I'm also curious (not having seen so far) how many cannon armed models they used, compared to MG-ships.


P.S. Soviets modded everything. They put 2x 20mm SHVAK and 2x 12.7mm into hurricane Mk.1s and Mk.IIs, rather than use default setups.

The soviets got the US 20mm x 4 production run...seperate from whatever mods they made to other planes

[Ack-Ack]

Reading an article not too long ago, the US removed the cannons because of reliability issues and constant jamming.

The USAAF never removed the 20mm cannons in the P-70 (night fighter variant of the A-20), they retained them for the entire lifetime of their service.


ack-ack

[2bighorn]

   first is 4x20mm version with droptank mounted in bombay.
 

Where do you see 20mm? Those look like 50 cals

[2bighorn]

Same aircraft - A-20G-35-DO (S/N 43-9919) 4x.50 cals in the nose

[MiloMorai]

worth reading
http://home.att.net/~jbaugher4/a20.html

[MiloMorai]

Some high quality scale drawings





notice the large belly fuel tank