Douglas B-23 Dragon

 

The Douglas B-23 Dragon is an American two-engined bomber developed by Douglas Aircraft Company as a successor of the B-18 Bolo.

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

Douglas B-18, part three

 

The Douglas B-18 was an American designed and manufactured medium bomber which was employed by the United Army Air Corps (USAAC) and the United States Army Air Force (USAAF) during the late 1930s and early 1940s.

When Japan attacked Pearl Harbor and waged war on the USA, a new theatre of war was opened in the Pacific Ocean, with most of the B-18 bombers based overseas in the Philippines and Hawaii. Most of those based in Hawaii were destroyed on the ground during the initial Japanese attack, just like the ones based in the Philippines, and the few ones that remained, played no significant role during subsequent operations. 

The B-18 based in continental USA and the Caribbean, were deployed in a defensive role, in order to prevent any possible attack in the American mainland. However, those attacks never took place and the Boeing B-17 replaced the B-18 in the frontline service in 1942. After this, 122 B-18As were modified for anti-submarine warfare operations. The bomb aimer position was replaced by a search radar fitted inside a large radome and magnetic anomaly detector (MAD) equipment was sometimes fit in a tail boom. Those aircrafts, known as the B-18B, were deployed and used in the Caribbean on anti-submarine patrols. On 2nd October 1942, a single B-18A, piloted by Cpt. Howard Burhanna Jr. , belonging to the 99th Bomb Squadron, dropped depth charges and sank the German submarine U-512 north of Cayenne, off the shores of the French Guiana. 

In the anti-submarine role, they were replaced, in 1943 by the Consolidated B-24 Liberator, which offered much better payload and had greater range, thanks to which, the mid-Atlantic gap was finally closed.

Surviving B-18s of the USAAF were eventually used as trainers and transports within continental United States. A total of two B-18A were reformed as unarmed cargo transports and received the denomination of C-58. An improved version, named XB-22, powered by the Wright R-2600-3 radial engines was proposed, back in 1938, but it was never built as Douglas focused on the B-23 Dragon light bomber.

After the war, the remaining bombers were sold as surplus on the commercial market and some of them were used as cargo or crop-sprayers by commercial operators.

Sources:

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_B-18_Bolo

2. https://www.valka.cz/Douglas-B-18-t72780

3. http://www.aviation-history.com/douglas/b18.html

Douglas B-18 Bolo, part two

 

The Douglas B-18 Bolo was an American medium bomber designed and manufactured by Douglas in the mid-1930s.

After having been granted a production contract, an initial batch of 133 B-18 (including DB-1 -the internal name given by Douglas to the aircraft) powered by the Wright R-1820 radial engines. The last B-18 of the run, named as DB-2 by the company, had a power operated nose turret, however that design didn't come to be the standard one. Further contracts were placed in 1937 for 177 aircraft and in 1938 for 40 aircraft, though the aircraft ordered in this last batch belonged to the B-18A, which was powered by the more powerful Wright 1820-53 radial engines and featured a completely redesigned nose placing the bombardier further forward, over the nose-gunner station. 

Deliveries to the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) began in the first half of 1937, with the first exemplars being handed over for testing to the Materiel Division, the Technical Training Command and the Aberdeen Proving Ground for technical testing, so the first deliveries to operational groups didn't take place until late 1937, being the 7th Bombardment Group the first one to receive the type at Hamilton Field, California.

The standard B-18, fully armed, had a maximum speed of 217 mph (349 km/h), a cruising speed of 167 mph (269 km/h) and a combat range of 850 milles (1368 km). In 1940 most of the USAAC's bomber squadrons were equipped with either the B-18 or the B-18A. 

The Bolo was however, flawed, and it was becoming apparent to almost everyone. Range, speed, bomb load and specially defensive armour and armament were really outdated and the USAAC considered the aircraft as obsolete and unsuited for the long-range bombing for it was originally acquired. In fact, sending the crews in such under-armed aircraft, against more armed targets, would've been suicidal. 

Although its obsolescence, the B-18/B-18A was the most numerous American bomber type deployed outside the continental United States when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. It was hoped, however, that the type could serve as an interim bomber until more suitable aircraft, such as the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, the Consolidated B-24 Liberator or even the Douglas A-20 Havoc were available in quantity.

Sources:

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_B-18_Bolo

2. https://www.valka.cz/Douglas-B-18-t72780

3. http://www.aviation-history.com/douglas/b18.html

Douglas B-18 Bolo, part one

 

The Douglas B-18 Bolo was an American medium bomber which served with the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) during the late 1930s and early 1940s. 

In 1934 the USAAC requested a bomber with double payload and range than the Martin B-10 which, was just entering service as USAAC's standard bomber. The next year an evaluation was carried out at Wright Field, Ohio, where Douglas showed their DB-1 design and competed with the Boeing Model 299 (which would eventually be improved into the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress) and the Martin 146. 

Boeing's candidate was clearly superior, however, as pilots forgot to unlock controls when taking off causing the prototype to crash, it was removed from consideration and its high price per unit ($58.500 vs $99.620 of the Model 299 - $1.105.142 and $1.881.953 adjusted for inflation in the past year) also played a big factor in making the DB-1 as the chosen bomber. Therefore the DB-1 was ordered into mass production in January 1936 as the B-18.

The DB-1 design was basically the same as the DC-2 with many modifications. The wingspan was 4.5ft - 1.4m larger, the fuselage was deeper to better fit bombs and the six-men crew, the wings were fixed in the middle of the cross section instead of the bottom because of the deeper fuselage. It was equipped with three turrets, placed in the nose, ventral and dorsal positions, with this last one being retractable. Each turret was equipped with one Browning 0.3in machine gun. It could also carry a normal payload of 2.000 lb (910 kg) of bombs, however, it could be overloaded up to 4.400 lb (2.000 kg) at maximum. 

Sources:

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_B-18_Bolo

2. https://www.valka.cz/Douglas-B-18-t72780

3. http://www.aviation-history.com/douglas/b18.html

Douglas B-18 Bolo, Brazilian users

 

The Douglas B-18 Bolo was an American medium bomber which served with the United States Army Air Force, the Royal Canadian Air Force and Força Aerea Brasileira (Brazilian Air Force). It was built by the Douglas Aircraft Company, based on their DC-2 transport and was initially developed to replace the obsolete Martin B-10.

In April 1942, the Força Aerea Brasileira (FAB) received two B-18, followed by a third one. Those two first ones were assigned to the Grupo de Avioes Bimotores (Two-engined aircraft group) and one was used as a trainer. A fourth aircraft, a B-18A, was sent to Brazil in 1945 but it crashed on 18th February,  on Guatemala when it was on route leaving the machine completely beyond repair.

That group served on the anti-submarine warfare role, where they saw some action, like for instance on 8th May 1943, a B-18 piloted by 1st Lt. Zamir de Barros Pinto and by Lt. Geraldo Labarthe Lebre attacked the U-154 off the coast of Maceió, capital city of the state of Alagoas. The U-154 was bound to attack the Brazilian freighter Motocarline, but depth charges dropped from the B-18 damaged the submarine and forced it to retreat.

The FAB was the last user of the B-18 as, on 18th October 1946 they were written off and scrapped. 

Sources:

1. https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_B-18_Bolo (translated)

2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_B-18_Bolo

3. http://www.armasnacionais.com/2015/09/o-primeiro-grande-aviao-da-fab.html

Douglas Digby, the Canadian B-18

 

The Douglas Digby Mk.I was the Canadian denomination given to the American Douglas B-18A Bolo bomber. 

A total of twenty Digbys served with the Royal Canadian Air Force's (RCAF) Eastern Air Command ,(tasked with the vigilance of Canada's Eastern shores) where they provided an excellent role in the anti-submarine service. 

Every Digby served with the No.10 (Bomber) Squadron RCAF, unofficially known as the "North Atlantic Squadron". This squadron was formed on 5th September 1939 and was based on the Eastern Coast of Canada and Newfoundland. It was initially equipped with obsolete Westland Wapiti bombers but soon, in early 1940, they received the Digby which, by June 1940 had completely replaced the Wapiti. At least one B-18 (not B-18A or Digby), registered as PB-R, was also bought and assigned to this squadron but it crashed due to poor weather near Gander, in Newfoundland.

The Digbys served with the No.10 Squadron from June 1940 until May 1943 when the squadron was retrained to be re-equipped with the much better and able Consolidated Liberator which also had much better range.

The Digby's first completed mission was a harbour entrance patrol over Bedford Basin, in Nova Scotia, on 3rd July 1940 and their first submarine victory took place on 30th October 1942 when a Digby, registered as "747", based in Gander, sank the German submarine U-520 east of Newfoundland.

In total, the Digbys carried out 11 attacks on submarines. Eventually the Canadian Digbys were either scrapped, converted into the Douglas C-58 transport conversion or used as trainers.

Sources:

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_B-18_Bolo

2. http://www.shearwateraviationmuseum.ns.ca/aircraft/digby.htm

3. http://www.ganderairporthistoricalsociety.org/_html_war/Digby742.htm

4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._10_Squadron_RCAF

Morane-Saulnier Ms.410

 

The Morane-Saulnier Ms.410 was an improved version of the famous Ms.406 fighter. The project was started in 1939 when the Ms.406 was starting group service and, at the same time, a program was initiated to improve the design as the Ms.406 was intended to be replaced by the Dewoitine D.520.

The result of this was the Ms.410 which consisted on the adoption of an stronger wing, simpler fixed radiator in lieu of the earlier retractable one, four belt-fed 7.5mm MAC 1934 machine guns in the wings, as opposed of the previous pair of drum-fed weapons and the fitting of exhaust ejector which gave additional thrust, thanks to which the top speed was boosted to 509 km/h (316 mph) which meant 16 km/h (10 mph) faster than the Ms.406.

As it was better armed, the Ms.410 was the next logical step for the Ms.406, as ,instead of having to be replaced, many Ms.406s could be converted into Ms.410 standards. In fact, a total of 621 Ms.406 were to be converted to the Ms.410 but, by the time of the French armistice on 25th June 1940, only ten had been completed (five, according to some other sources), with many others reamining incomplete. 

The programme was resumed under the Vichy regiment and, eventually, 75 machines were completed but many of the converted machines, received only new wings. Some of them received the new fixed radiator, while other didn't. 

Eleven Ms.410 were sold to the Finnish Air Force where they served with Lentolaivue 28 and 14 (Squadrons 28 and 14) through the Continuation War from 1942 until 1944. As the MAC 1934 wasn't reliable enough in the freezing Finnish cold weather, they were replaced with captured 12.7mm Berezin and Colt machine guns. Apparently, some of them were also sold to the Independent State of Croatia, but we only found a single text reference, so we decided not to draw a hypothetical version. 

Sources:

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morane-Saulnier_M.S.406#M.S.410

2. https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morane-Saulnier_MS.406#MS.410 (translated)

3. https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morane-Saulnier_M.S.406 (translated)

4. https://www.militaryfactory.com/aircraft/detail.asp?aircraft_id=2060

5. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters