A-20 Havoc

1. Lead

The Douglas A-20 Havoc was the American light bomber of the Second World War, and one of the most widely used aircraft of the conflict. Designed by Douglas as a private venture in the late 1930s, it was ordered first by France and Britain, then by the United States and the Soviet Union, and it served in every theatre of the war — in North Africa and the Mediterranean, in the Pacific, on the Eastern Front and over Normandy.

Nearly 7,500 were built, and the aircraft was known by several names: the British called it the Boston, the Americans called the night-fighter version the P-70, and the Russians, who received almost 3,000 of them under Lend-Lease, simply called it the A-20.

It was fast, tough and versatile: it could bomb from medium altitude, strafe at low level with a battery of forward-firing machine guns, fight at night, and carry out reconnaissance, and it did all of these jobs well.

The A-20’s success came from a simple idea: build a light bomber that was as fast as a fighter. Its two Wright radial engines gave it a top speed of about 510 km/h, which was faster than many of the fighters it met in 1941 and 1942, and its pilots learned that they could outrun trouble as often as they had to fight it.

The aircraft was also one of the first American bombers to be built in large numbers for export, and its story is the story of the Allied war effort itself: French orders that were taken over by Britain after the fall of France, American production that supplied the Soviet Union, and an aircraft that was adapted, version by version, to the needs of the air forces that flew it.

The A-20 never became as famous as the B-17 or the Lancaster, but the airmen who flew it — in the deserts of North Africa, in the jungles of New Guinea and on the steppes of Russia — regarded it as one of the best aircraft of the war.

2. Key Facts

Type	Twin-engine light bomber / attack aircraft
Origin	United States
Designer	Ed Heinemann and Jack Northrop (Douglas)
Manufacturer	Douglas Aircraft Company
First flight	26 October 1938 (as the DB-7)
In service	1941–1949 (with some operators later)
Produced	1939–1944; 7,478 built
Crew	2–3 (pilot, gunner, and bombardier or navigator)
Length	14.6 m (A-20G)
Wingspan	18.7 m
Height	4.8 m
Empty weight	About 7,250 kg
Maximum take-off weight	About 12,340 kg
Engine	Two Wright R-2600 Twin Cyclone radials, about 1,600 hp each
Top speed	About 510 km/h
Range	About 1,690 km
Service ceiling	About 7,225 m
Armament	Up to six .50 in machine guns forward (A-20G); two .50 in guns in dorsal and ventral positions; up to 1,800 kg of bombs
Other names	Douglas DB-7, Boston (RAF), P-70 (night fighter)

3. Background and Development

A private venture that found buyers

The A-20 began as a private venture. In the late 1930s, Douglas Aircraft, under the designers Ed Heinemann and Jack Northrop, developed a light attack bomber called the DB-7, hoping to sell it to the United States Army Air Corps and to foreign buyers.

The first prototype, the Model 7B, flew on 26 October 1938, and it was a modern aircraft for its time: an all-metal, twin-engine monoplane with a tricycle undercarriage — unusual for a bomber of the period — and a top speed that was close to that of a fighter.

The Army Air Corps was not initially interested, but France was: in 1939 the French government ordered more than 100 DB-7s, and Britain followed with orders of its own. When France fell in June 1940, the French orders were taken over by Britain, which named the aircraft the Boston, and the DB-7 became one of the first American aircraft to serve with the RAF in large numbers.

The American order and Lend-Lease

The United States entered the war in December 1941, and the Army Air Forces adopted the DB-7 as the A-20 Havoc. The first American version, the A-20A, was followed by the A-20B, the A-20C and the A-20G, the last of which became the most numerous and the most famous version, with a solid nose containing six .50 in machine guns for low-level strafing.

At the same time, the Soviet Union, under the Lend-Lease programme, began to receive A-20s in large numbers: almost 3,000 were delivered, making the Soviet Union the largest foreign operator of the type. The Russians used the A-20 as a bomber, a torpedo bomber and a reconnaissance aircraft, and they valued it highly — Soviet pilots regarded it as one of the best Lend-Lease aircraft they received, and it served with the Soviet air force until after the war.

The A-20 was, in this way, an aircraft of the whole alliance: designed in America, first flown in French and British service, and used in its largest numbers by the Soviet Union.

The night fighter: the P-70

The A-20 was also adapted as a night fighter, under the designation P-70. The United States had no purpose-built night fighter in 1941, and the A-20, with room for radar and for a second crew member, was the only American aircraft that could be adapted quickly.

The P-70 carried radar in its nose and four 20 mm cannon, and it served with American night-fighter squadrons in the Pacific and in the Mediterranean. It was not a great success — it was slower than the Beaufighter, its radar was less reliable, and it was soon replaced by the Northrop P-61 Black Widow — but it gave the Americans a night fighter when they had none, and it showed the same adaptability that made the A-20 useful in so many other roles.

4. Design

Airframe and engines

The A-20 was a clean, modern design. Its all-metal airframe was built around a shoulder-mounted wing, and its tricycle undercarriage — with a nose wheel, rather than the tail wheel that most bombers of the period used — made it easier to handle on the ground and gave the pilot a good view forward.

The aircraft was powered by two Wright R-2600 Twin Cyclone radial engines, each of about 1,600 horsepower, which gave it a top speed of about 510 km/h and a range of about 1,690 km. The engines were reliable and well proven, and they gave the A-20 a performance that was remarkable for a bomber: it was faster than the early Messerschmitt Bf 109s and Hawker Hurricanes it sometimes met, and its pilots often relied on speed, rather than on their defensive guns, to escape from enemy fighters.

Crew, noses and armament

The A-20 was built in two main forms, distinguished by their noses. The bomber versions had a glazed nose, with a bombardier sitting in front of the pilot and aiming the bombs through a bombsight; the attack versions, above all the A-20G, had a solid nose, with six .50 in machine guns firing forward, and no bombardier — the pilot aimed the guns and dropped the bombs himself.

The crew was two or three men: the pilot, a gunner who operated the dorsal and ventral guns, and, in the bomber versions, the bombardier. The defensive armament was light by the standards of a heavy bomber — two .50 in guns in the dorsal turret and the ventral position — but the A-20’s defence was its speed, and its crews learned to fly fast and low, where enemy fighters found it hard to attack them.

The bomb load, up to 1,800 kg, was carried in an internal bomb bay, and the aircraft could also carry a torpedo in the Soviet service, where it was used as a torpedo bomber against German shipping in the Baltic and the Black Sea.

Strengths and limits

The A-20’s strengths were its speed, its toughness and its versatility. It could do almost any job that a light bomber was asked to do, and it could do it from rough forward airfields, in bad weather and with little maintenance.

Its weaknesses were its small bomb load, compared with a medium bomber such as the B-25, and its light defensive armament, which made it vulnerable when it was caught by fighters at altitude. It was also a demanding aircraft to fly on one engine, and its high landing speed made it unforgiving for inexperienced pilots.

But the air forces that flew it forgave these faults: the A-20 was available in large numbers, it was easy to maintain, and it could be adapted to almost any role, from bombing to strafing to night fighting to reconnaissance.

5. Variants

Variant	Years	Key features	Production
DB-7 / Boston I–II	1939–1941	French and British orders; glazed nose; early Wright engines	About 1,000
A-20A	1941	First US version; glazed nose	About 150
A-20B	1941–1942	US version; many supplied to the Soviet Union	About 300
A-20C / Boston III	1941–1942	British and Soviet version; improved engines	About 950
A-20G	1943–1944	Solid nose with six .50 in guns; most numerous version	About 2,850
A-20H	1944	Improved G with more powerful engines	About 500
A-20J / K	1944	Glazed-nose version for formation leading	About 450
P-70	1942–1943	Night fighter; radar and four 20 mm cannon	About 60

The A-20G was the version that defined the aircraft. Its solid nose, with six .50 in machine guns, turned the light bomber into a strafer, and it was the version that the Americans used in the Pacific, where low-level attacks on Japanese airfields, shipping and ground forces were the daily work of the light bomber squadrons.

The glazed-nose versions — the A-20J and A-20K — were built for a different purpose: they led formations of solid-nose aircraft, with a bombardier in the glazed nose aiming the bombs for the whole formation. The P-70, the night fighter, was built in small numbers and was soon replaced, but it deserves to be remembered as the first American night fighter to see combat.

The Boston versions, which the RAF flew in North Africa and the Mediterranean, were the same aircraft under a different name, and the Soviet A-20s, which were delivered in both glazed and solid-nose forms, were used in every role the aircraft could fill.

The Soviet A-20

The Soviet Union’s A-20s deserve a section of their own, because they were used in ways that the Americans never imagined. Soviet crews flew the A-20 as a torpedo bomber, attacking German shipping in the Baltic and the Black Sea, and as a reconnaissance aircraft, flying long missions over German-held territory.

They also used it as a bomber in support of the Red Army’s offensives, and they valued its speed and its reliability: in Soviet service, the A-20 was one of the most popular Lend-Lease aircraft, and it remained in service until the late 1940s.

The Soviet experience shows how adaptable the design was: an aircraft that was designed as a light bomber for the French air force became, in Soviet hands, a torpedo bomber, a reconnaissance aircraft and a front-line bomber, and it did all of these jobs well.

Production in numbers

The A-20 was built in large numbers, and its production figures show how important it was to the Allied war effort. Douglas built 7,478 A-20s between 1939 and 1944, at its plants in California, and the aircraft was built in more versions than almost any other American bomber of the war.

The most numerous version was the A-20G, with about 2,850 built, and the Soviet Union received almost 3,000 aircraft under Lend-Lease, making it the largest foreign operator of the type. The A-20’s production was a success because the aircraft was simple to build and easy to maintain, and because Douglas had designed it for production from the start.

The last A-20s were built in 1944, when the Douglas A-26 Invader, which replaced it, was entering service, and the A-20’s production line was closed.

6. Operational History

North Africa and the Mediterranean, 1941–1943

The A-20’s first combat was with the RAF, as the Boston, in North Africa. The first Boston squadrons arrived in 1941, and they flew daylight bombing missions against German and Italian forces in Libya and Egypt, attacking airfields, supply columns and ports.

The Boston’s speed was its protection: it was faster than the Italian fighters it met, and it could outrun the German Bf 109s at low level, where the Boston’s pilots preferred to fly. In 1942, the American A-20s arrived in North Africa, and they flew alongside the Bostons in support of the Allied advance from El Alamein to Tunis.

The A-20’s work in North Africa was unglamorous but essential: it attacked the Axis supply lines, it bombed the ports through which Rommel’s supplies arrived, and it supported the ground forces in the final battles of the campaign. By the time the campaign ended in May 1943, the A-20 had proved itself as a light bomber, and it was in service with the air forces of three nations in the theatre.

The Pacific, 1942–1945

New Guinea and the strafer

The A-20’s most famous service was in the Pacific, with the Fifth Air Force in New Guinea. There, the A-20G, with its six forward-firing machine guns, became a strafer: it attacked Japanese airfields at low level, destroying aircraft on the ground, and it attacked Japanese shipping in the narrow waters around New Guinea, where its guns and its bombs could sink small vessels and damage larger ones.

The most famous action was the Battle of the Bismarck Sea, in March 1943, when American and Australian aircraft, including A-20s, destroyed a Japanese convoy carrying reinforcements to New Guinea, sinking eight transports and four destroyers. The A-20’s role in the battle was to strafe the ships and suppress their anti-aircraft fire, and it did so at mast height, in the face of heavy fire.

The Pacific war was the A-20’s war at its best: fast, low and violent, and the aircraft’s crews became famous for their courage and their skill.

Island hopping to the Philippines

As the Allies advanced across the Pacific, the A-20 advanced with them, from New Guinea to the Philippines and finally to Okinawa. The light bomber squadrons flew in support of the ground forces, attacking Japanese strongpoints, supply dumps and airfields, and they flew at night as well as by day, when the Japanese air force had been destroyed and the A-20 could operate with little opposition.

The A-20’s last combat was in the Philippines and over Japan itself, where it flew missions in the final weeks of the war. By the time Japan surrendered in August 1945, the A-20 had flown more combat sorties in the Pacific than any other American light bomber, and its crews had earned a reputation for toughness and for precision.

The Eastern Front and Normandy, 1943–1945

On the Eastern Front, the Soviet A-20s flew in support of the Red Army’s offensives, from Kursk in 1943 to Berlin in 1945. They bombed German positions, attacked German shipping in the Baltic and the Black Sea, and flew reconnaissance missions deep behind German lines. The Soviet crews valued the A-20’s speed and its reliability, and they flew it in all weathers and at all hours.

Over Normandy, in June 1944, the RAF’s Bostons and the American A-20s flew in support of the invasion, attacking German positions behind the beaches and bombing the bridges and railways that the Germans used to bring up reinforcements. The A-20’s war ended in 1945, on three fronts at once, and it had served on all of them with distinction.

7. Performance and Specifications

Specification	A-20G
Engine	Two Wright R-2600-23, about 1,600 hp each
Top speed	About 510 km/h
Cruising speed	About 390 km/h
Range	About 1,690 km
Service ceiling	About 7,225 m
Bomb load	Up to 1,800 kg
Forward guns	Six .50 in machine guns
Defensive guns	Two .50 in machine guns (dorsal and ventral)
Crew	2–3
Number built	7,478 (all versions)

Speed and the strafer

The A-20’s performance was built around speed. Its top speed of about 510 km/h was remarkable for a bomber, and it was the reason the aircraft could survive in daylight without a fighter escort: it could outrun the fighters that tried to intercept it, and it could attack at low level and be gone before the defences could react.

The A-20G’s six forward-firing machine guns made it a strafer, and the combination of speed and firepower was devastating against airfields, shipping and ground targets. The aircraft’s range, about 1,690 km, was enough for the missions it was asked to fly, from North Africa to the Pacific, and its ceiling, about 7,225 m, was high enough for medium-altitude bombing when the mission required it.

The A-20 was not a high-altitude bomber, and it was not meant to be: it was a low-level attack aircraft that happened to be able to bomb from medium altitude as well.

Against its contemporaries

Compared with the British Bristol Blenheim, the light bomber it replaced in RAF service, the A-20 was faster, tougher and more heavily armed, and it could carry a larger bomb load. Compared with the American B-25 Mitchell, the medium bomber that served alongside it, the A-20 was smaller, faster and more agile, but it carried fewer bombs and had a shorter range.

Compared with the German Junkers Ju 88, the Luftwaffe’s versatile bomber, the A-20 was a similar aircraft in a similar role, and the two were evenly matched: the Ju 88 was faster at altitude and could carry more bombs, while the A-20 was tougher at low level and had a heavier forward armament.

The A-20’s place was as a light bomber and a strafer, and in that role it had few equals.

8. Operators

The United States and Britain

The A-20 was used above all by the United States and Britain. The United States Army Air Forces operated it in North Africa, the Mediterranean and the Pacific, and the RAF operated it as the Boston in North Africa, the Mediterranean and over Normandy.

The British Bostons were among the first American aircraft to serve with the RAF in large numbers, and they were flown by British, Commonwealth and Free French crews. The American A-20s were flown by squadrons that became famous in the Pacific, above all the squadrons of the Fifth Air Force in New Guinea, whose low-level attacks on Japanese airfields and shipping became legendary.

The two air forces used the aircraft differently — the British as a daylight bomber, the Americans as a strafer — and both uses were successful.

The Soviet Union and others

The Soviet Union was the largest foreign operator of the A-20, receiving almost 3,000 aircraft under Lend-Lease and using them as bombers, torpedo bombers and reconnaissance aircraft on the Eastern Front. The Soviet A-20s served until the late 1940s, and they were among the most valued Lend-Lease aircraft in Soviet service. Other operators included Australia, which flew the Boston in the Pacific, Brazil, which used the A-20 after the war, and France, which had ordered the aircraft first and received a small number before the fall of France. The A-20’s operators show the breadth of the Allied war effort: an American aircraft, flown by the British, the Russians, the Australians and the French, in every theatre of the war.

9. Legacy and Influence

The fast light bomber

The A-20’s legacy is the fast light bomber. It showed that a bomber did not have to be slow and vulnerable, and that speed itself could be a defence. That idea influenced the design of later attack aircraft, from the Douglas A-26 Invader, which replaced the A-20 in American service, to the jet attack aircraft of the post-war years.

The A-20 also showed the value of the strafer: the low-level attack, with forward-firing guns, became a standard tactic in the Pacific, and it was used by the Americans and the Australians throughout the war. The aircraft’s service in the Soviet Union, where it was used as a torpedo bomber and a reconnaissance aircraft, showed how adaptable a good design could be, and it remains one of the most successful examples of Lend-Lease.

Remembered by its crews

The A-20 is remembered above all by the crews who flew it. In the Pacific, the Fifth Air Force’s A-20 squadrons became famous for their low-level attacks, and their pilots and gunners are remembered in the histories of the air war in New Guinea and the Philippines. In the Soviet Union, the A-20 is remembered as one of the best aircraft the Allies supplied, and Soviet veterans spoke highly of its speed and its reliability. The aircraft never became as famous as the heavy bombers, but its crews knew what it could do, and their regard for it is the best measure of its quality.

10. Surviving Examples

Where to see one today

Several A-20s survive in museums, and the best known is an A-20G at the National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton, Ohio, where it is displayed as an example of the light bomber that served in the Pacific.

A Douglas Boston III is held by the Royal Air Force Museum in Hendon, London, and other A-20s survive in Russia, where Soviet aircraft are preserved in museums, and in Australia, where a small number of Bostons are held in museums and in private hands.

The surviving aircraft are few, compared with the 7,478 that were built, but they are enough to show visitors the aircraft’s clean lines, its glazed or solid nose, and the forward-firing guns that made the A-20G famous.

Wrecks and recovery

Many A-20s were lost in the Pacific, and their wrecks are still being found in the jungles of New Guinea and on the islands of the South-West Pacific. Some of these wrecks have been recovered and are being restored, and others remain where they fell, as war graves and as reminders of the air war in the Pacific. The recovery of A-20 wrecks has helped historians understand the aircraft’s service in the Pacific, and it has provided parts for the restoration of the surviving aircraft. For most visitors, the easiest way to see an A-20 is at Dayton or at Hendon, where the surviving aircraft stand as reminders of the fast light bomber that served on every front.

Frequently Asked Questions

What was the A-20 Havoc?
The Douglas A-20 Havoc was an American twin-engine light bomber of the Second World War, used as a bomber, a strafer and a night fighter. 7,478 were built.

Why was it called the Boston?
The British named the aircraft the Boston when they took over the French orders for the DB-7 after the fall of France in 1940. The name was used for all RAF versions of the aircraft.

What was the P-70?
The P-70 was the night-fighter version of the A-20, fitted with radar and four 20 mm cannon. It was the first American night fighter to see combat, but it was soon replaced by the P-61 Black Widow.

How many A-20s went to the Soviet Union?
Almost 3,000 A-20s were delivered to the Soviet Union under Lend-Lease, making it the largest foreign operator of the type.

What was the A-20’s role at the Battle of the Bismarck Sea?
In March 1943, A-20s strafed Japanese ships and suppressed their anti-aircraft fire while other aircraft attacked with bombs, helping to destroy a Japanese convoy carrying reinforcements to New Guinea.

Where can I see an A-20 today?
An A-20G is at the National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton, Ohio, and a Boston III is at the Royal Air Force Museum in Hendon, London.

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Sources

1. Wikipedia, “Douglas A-20 Havoc” — first flight, production of 7,478, specifications, variants and operational history.
2. William Wolf, Douglas A-20 Havoc (Crowood Press, 2006) — development, variants and service.
3. Joe Baugher, “Douglas A-20 Havoc” (online aircraft history) — production figures and Lend-Lease deliveries.
4. Lex McAulay, Battle of the Bismarck Sea (St. Martin’s Press, 1991) — the A-20’s role in March 1943.
5. Von Hardesty, Red Phoenix (Smithsonian Institution Press, 1982) — Lend-Lease aircraft in Soviet service.
6. The National Museum of the United States Air Force, Dayton, “Douglas A-20G Havoc” — the surviving aircraft.