Douglas Havoc and Boston by Scott A. Thompson $49.95

The Douglas DB-7 was an advanced attack bomber developed in the late 1930s at a time when the potential of high speed and low-altitude attack aviation was just gaining favor in the leading air forces of the world. Though developed for the U.S. Army Air Corps, the sleek DB-7 was first built for the French government, which turned to the Douglas Aircraft Company in California in an effort to shore up its obsolete air force in the face of immanent war. Too late to have an effect during the German invasion of France in June 1940, the remaining production of French DB-7s went instead to the Royal Air Force, soon nursing its own wounds after the Battle of Britain. The DB-7 flew as the Boston for the RAF, with Britain purchasing hundreds more directly from Douglas.

The Army Air Corps placed a production contract in 1939, ordering the plane as the A-20 Havoc. When the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor came in December 1941, the A-20 was among the most capable aircraft in the U.S. inventory. It went on to serve as a vital mid-altitude bomber with the Ninth Air Force in Europe, and as a devastating low-altitude strafer with the Fifth Air Force in the South Pacific. With over 7,400 DB-7s and A-20s built by Douglas and Boeing, it was also one of the anchor points of the U.S. Lend Lease program, with nearly 3,000 A-20s being exported to the Soviet Union alone. Yet despite its distinctive and wide service, the A-20 has long been overshadowed by contemporaries such as the B-25 Mitchell and B-26 Marauder. Douglas also rolled its impressive A-26 Invader off the drawing board as the replacement for the A-20 before the war ended, quickly consigning the A-20 Havoc to the scrapyard and the back pages of aviation history.

In an effort to correct that oversight, this volume presents the history of the airplane from the mid-1930s efforts of Jack Northrop and Ed Heinemann that produced the Northrop Model 7B, through the redesign that created the Douglas DB-7, and on to the wartime mass production of the A-20. Included are accounts of its combat assignments with the United States and its foreign users, among them the Soviet Union and Great Britain. A technical description is included, as are detailed appendices and hundreds of photographs, many of which have never been published before.

Table of Contents:

Chapter 1: Background and Design
Chapter 2: Production
Chapter 3: Description in Detail
Chapter 4: Foreign Use and Lend Lease
Chapter 5: Service with the U.S. Army Air Forces
Chapter 6: Post War Service, Disposal, Civil Use, and Survivors

Appendix 1: A-20 Series Specifications
Appendix 2: Engines Used on the DB-7/A-20 Series
Appendix 3: Production List

Glossary
Selected Bibliography
Index

Book Specifications:

Hard-bound, 176 pages, 200 black and white illustrations, 8 pages of color illustrations