Soviet Douglas A-20 Havoc

The Douglas A-20 Havoc (company designation DB-7) was an American attack, light bomber, intruder and night fighter aircraft of World War II. It served with several Allied air forces, principally the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF), 

the Soviet Air Forces (VVS), Soviet Naval Aviation (AVMF) and the Royal Air Force (RAF) of the United Kingdom. Soviet units received more than one in three (2,908 aircraft) of the DB-7s ultimately built. It was also used by the air forces of Australia, South Africa, France, and the Netherlands during the war, and by Brazil afterwards.

Douglas A-20 Havoc

In British Commonwealth air forces, bomber/attack variants of the DB-7 were usually known by the service name Boston, while night fighter and intruder variants were usually known as Havoc. An exception to this was the Royal Australian Air Force, which referred to all variants of the DB-7 by the name Boston. 
The USAAF referred to night fighter variants as P-70.
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Douglas A-20 Havoc oli Lainaus-Vuokraus sopimuksella neuvostoliittoon toimitettu
amerikkalainen lentokone, jota Neuvostoliitto käytti huomattavia määriä.

(tehtaan nimitys DB-7, RAF:issa Boston tai Havok, yöhävittäjänä USAF:ssa P-70) oli Douglasin vuosina 1939–1944 valmistama kaksimoottorinen lentokone, jota käytettiin sekä kevyenä pommikoneena että yöhävittäjänä.

Konetyyppi oli etenkin USAAFin, RAFin ja Neuvostoliiton ilmavoimien käytössä. Koneita myytiin myös muun muassa Ranskaan, Hollantiin ja Australiaan. Konetta rakennettiin yli 7 400 kappaletta, näistä 380 lisenssillä Boeingin tehtailla.

Vaikka Havoc ei ollut nopeimpia (huippunopeus 546 km/h), eikä sen toimintamatka ollut pisimpiä (kantama 1 754 km eli 1 090 mailia normaalilla pommikuormalla), se oli paljon käytetty hyvän ketteryytensä johdosta. 

Ketteryys oli edullinen ominaisuus, mikä korostui erityisesti maataistelutoiminnassa. Konetta voitaneen luonnehtia omalla kehitys- ja käyttökaudellaan keskiraskaana, sillä sen maksimi pommilasti oli 1 814 kg eli 4 000 paunaa (lbs.). 

Douglas A-20 Havoc:n ampuma-aseistus oli järeätä luokkaa, sillä siinä oli 6 kpl eteenpäin ampuvia 12,7 mm konekiväärejä kiinteästi koneen keulaan asennettuina, sekä lisäksi puolustusta varten 3 kpl erillisissä ampumoissa. 

Ylätorniin oli sijoitettu 2 kpl 12,7 mm kk:ja sekä ala-ampumoon yksi konekivääri samaa kaliiperia.
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Through Lend-Lease, Soviet forces received more than two-thirds of version A-20B planes manufactured and a significant portion of versions G and H. The A-20 was the most numerous foreign aircraft in the Soviet bomber inventory. The Soviet Air Force had more A-20s than the USAAF.

They were delivered via the ALSIB (Alaska-Siberia) air ferry route. The aircraft had its baptism of fire at the end of June 1942. The Soviets were dissatisfied with the four .30-calibre Browning machine guns — themselves only capable of firing at a top rate of 600 rounds per minute apiece — and replaced them with the faster-firing, 7.62mm calibre ShKAS, capable of up to an 1800 rounds per minute firing rate apiece. During the summer of 1942, the Bostons flew ultra low-level raids against German convoys heavily protected by flak. Attacks were made from altitudes right down to 33 ft (10 metres) and the air regiments suffered heavy losses. 

By mid-1943 Soviet pilots were well familiar with the A-20B and A-20C. The general opinion was that the aircraft was overpowered and therefore fast and agile. It could make steep turns with an angle of up to 65°, while the tricycle landing gear facilitated take-off and landings. The type could be flown even by crews with minimal training. The engines were reliable but sensitive to low temperatures, so the Soviet engineers developed special covers for keeping propeller hubs from freezing up.

Some of these aircraft were armed with fixed-forward cannons and found some success in the ground attack role.

By the end of the war, 3,414 A-20s had been delivered to the USSR, 2,771 of which were used by the Soviet Air Force.

The A-20B received the first really large order from the Army Air Corps: 999 aircraft. These resembled the DB-7A rather than the DB-7B, with light armor and stepped rather than slanted glazing in their noses. In practice, 665 of these were exported to the Soviet Union, so only about one-third of them few served with the USAAF.

DB-7C
This was a Dutch Indies Air Force version intended for service in the Dutch East Indies, but the Japanese conquest of the East Indies was complete before they were delivered. The rest of this order were sent to the Soviet Union which received 3,125 of the Douglas DB-7 series.


The German invasion of the Soviet Union, 151 DB-73s were provided to the USSR.