Douglas proposed some modifications thought to improve the performance of the B-18. Initially, the XB-22 (the original project to re-engine the B-18 with Wright R-2600-1Twin Cyclone radial engines) was considered a redesign. The complete B-18 redesign was considered to have enough promise by the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) to modify the original contract, and manufacture the last remaining 38 B-18s as the B-23 standard. The design incorporated a larger wingspan, with a wing design similar to that of the Douglas DC-3, a fully retractable undercarriage and improved defensive armament. In fact, the B-23 was the first American bomber equipped with a glazed tail gun position. It was equipped with three 0.3in machine guns set in various defensive positions plus a single 0.5in machine gun placed in the tail which was operated from the prone position by a gunner using a telescopic sight. It had a payload of 2.000 lb (910 kg), just like the Bolo, but it had a range of 1.400 milles (2.300 km) and was also faster.
The prototype flew for the first time on 27th July 1939 and a total of just 38 machines were manufactured at Douglas' factory in Santa Monica, California, when production ceased in September 1940.
Even if it was faster, better armed and had a longer range than the Bolo, the B-23 couldn't be compared to other medium bombers of the time like the North American B-25 Mitchell and Martin B-26 Marauder. That's why the B-23 was never used in combat overseas, even if, for a brief period of time, they were employed as patrol aircraft operating in the west coast of the United States. The B-23s were relegated to training duties, although some were converted to transports and redesignated to UC-67.
The B-23 was also used as a testbed for different engines and it was used for supercharger development by General Electric at Schnectady, in New York.
After World War 2 all of them were sold to private owners and used as either passenger airplanes or executive transports, with pertinent internal modifications having been carried out and, therefore, many of them have survived. Thanks to the wartime experience with the type, General Electric bought and used five of them, and Howard Hughes had a converted one as his personal transport.
Some converted aircraft were sold to foreign countries like Ecuador, where its national airline, Ecuatoriana de Aviación, bought a single UC-67 in the late 1950s which was even used as that country's presidential transport. Another machine is known to have been sold to the Greek airline Scholai Delta and used at Hellenikon airport in Athens, as an instructional stationary airplane during the 1970s until it was completely broken off in the 1980s.
Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_B-23_Dragon
2. https://www.valka.cz/Douglas-B-23-Dragon-t31133
3. https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecuatoriana_de_Aviación (translated)
4. https://www.airhistory.net/photo/8266/N86E
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