B-32 Dominator
The first assignment of the B-32 began when General George Kenney the commander of Allied air forces in the South West Pacific Area, and commander of the U.S. Fifth Air Force, traveled to Washington D.C. to request B-29s. Since priority had been given to strategic bombing by the B-29, Kenney’s request was denied, after which he requested the B-32.
Following a demonstration, the Army General Staff agreed that Kenney could conduct a combat evaluation, and a test schedule of eleven missions was set up, followed by a plan to convert two of the 312th Bomb Group's four A-20 Havoc squadrons to B-32s. Project crews took three B-32s to Clark Field, Luzon, Philippine Islands in mid-May 1945, for a series of test flights completed on 17 June. The test crews were impressed with its unique reversible-pitch inboard propellers and the Davis wing which gave it excellent landing performance. However, they found a number of faults: the cockpit had an extremely high noise level, a poor instrument layout, the bombardier's vision was impaired, it was overweight and the nacelle design resulted in frequent engine fires.
The three test B-32s were assigned to the 312th BG's 386th Bomb Squadron. On 29 May 1945, the first of four combat missions by the B-32 was flown against a supply depot at Antatet in the Philippines, followed by two B-32's dropping sixteen 2,000 pound (907 kg) bombs on a sugar mill at Taito, Formosa on the 15 June. On 22 June, a B-32 bombed an alcohol plant at Heito, Formosa, with 500 pound bombs (227 kg) but a second B-32 missed flak positions with its 260-pound (118 kg) fragmentation bombs. The last mission was flown on 25 June against bridges near Kiirun in Taiwan.
The testing missions were mostly successful, and, in July, the 386th Bomb Squadron completed its transition to the B-32, flying six more combat missions before the war ended. On the 13 August, the 386th BS moved from Luzon to Yontan Airfield on Okinawa and flew mostly photographic reconnaissance missions, and was attacked on 17 August by flak and fighters despite the Japanese surrender, claiming one kill and two probable kills.
On 18 August, a formation of 14 A6M Zeros and three N1K2-J Shiden-Kai fighters (as is often the case, Shiden-Kai is described as Ki-44 Tojo, but it may be misunderstanding of the crews[5][6]) attacked four of the B-32s conducting aerial photography of the Japanese Islands. The B-32 Dominator Hobo Queen II (s/n 42-108532) suffered extensive damage during the attack. Three photographers aboard (SSgt. Anthony)J. Marchione, SSgt. Joseph M. Lacharite, and Sgt. John T. Houston) were at the camera hatch at the rear of the aircraft when the plane was riddled with gunfire. Despite his own wounds, Lacharite administered first aid to the badly wounded Marchione, who was wounded again and died on the aircraft. This was the last confirmed aerial engagement of World War II, and Sgt. Marchione was the last confirmed Allied combat casualty of the war. Hobo Queen II claimed two Zeros destroyed in the action as well as a probable Shiden-Kai.
The last B-32 combat photo reconnaissance mission was completed on 28 August, during which two B-32s were destroyed in separate accidents, with 15 of the 26 crewmen killed. On 30 August, the 386th Bomb Squadron stood down from operations. Production of the B-32 was cancelled on 8 September 1945, and ceased by 12 October.
General characteristics
Crew: 10
Length: 83 ft 1 in (25.3 m)
Wingspan: 135 ft 0 in (41.2 m)
Height: 33 ft 0 in (10.1 m)
Wing area: 1,442 ft² (132.1 m²)
Empty weight: 60,000 lb (27,000 kg)
Loaded weight: 100,000 lb (45,000 kg)
Max takeoff weight: 111,500 lb (50,580 kg)
Performance
Maximum speed: 357 mph (310 knots, 575 km/h)
Cruise speed: 290 mph (252 knots, 467 km/h)
Range: 2,600 nm (3,000 mi, 4,815 km)
Service ceiling 35,000 ft (11,000 m)
Rate of climb: 658 ft/min (3.4 m/s)
Wing loading: 70.3 lb/ft² (341 kg/m²)
Armament
Guns: 10× .50 in (12.7 mm) machine guns
Bombs: 20,000 lb (9,100 kg)
All from Wikipedia, it saw action, was in squadron strength, whats to say more. I already searched it.
P.S. I didn't know it came in so late in the war...
