db7

Douglas : DB-7 : Boston

from SDASM Archives

• 1 older comment, and then…
• TVL1970 said:

  Rare photo of a twin-tailed Douglas DB-7 initially modified and tested by Douglas in twin-tail configuration for France prior to World War II. The French believed that multi-engined aicraft should have twin tails. However, Douglas found the twin-tail offered no appreciable benefits over the single rudder design, and the DB-7/A-20 design remained a single rudder aircraft. Depending on the timing of the photo, the roundels may be painted over because France had capitulated to Germany by the time this photo was taken. Still, the tail flash on the rudders betrays its original French purchaser. DB-7s ordered by the French, but not delivered to France before their surrender, were eventually delivered to Great Britain.

• Logan Hartke said:

  TVL1970 Sorry, those may have been repainted, but I doubt it. That's RAF camo with RAF markings and an RAF serial number. There's not a French drop of paint on the plane that I can see. That's an RAF-sized roundel circle and an RAF fin flash. French stripes were painted on the rudder, as opposed to RAF stripes painted on the vertical stabilizer.

• TVL1970 said:

  Logan Hartke
  Interesting, however, although the tail flash is on the vertical stab, it appears the tail flash has the color red closest to the rudder hinge (as opposed to the RAF standard navy blue - and navy blue tends to appear darker than red in black & white photograph.) Perhaps a screw-up by whoever prepped the aircraft for the RAF?
  See: airplanesandrockets.com/airplanes/douglas-a-20-boston-hav...
  See also:
  
  
  Agreed about the seeming large size of the painted-over/masked roundel being more appropriate to the RAF, however due to the low resolution of the photo, I am unable to discern the camouflage pattern (two-tone/three-tone?) and serial number - possibly derived from its construction number - "U-131" or "LH31"(?).
  
  I would love to know more about the history and fate of this particular aircraft.

• Logan Hartke said:

  TVL1970
  Possibly, but I doubt it. I think it's just the film or lighting. See these scans from Squadron/Signal's "A-20 Havoc in Action", pages 7 & 8.
  
  
  
  I apologize for the poor quality of the scan, but you can still see the darker red in the fin flash on all three pictures of factory fresh DB 7As. It's even darker in actual book if you have it. Maybe it was orthochromatic film instead of panchromatic? You can also see the same painted over RAF roundel and exact same camouflage patterns.

• TVL1970 said:

  Logan Hartke Those photos are quite helpful. Thank you. This all now begs the next question - what ever happened to c/n 131? Did it ever make it to an RAF unit, even just a test and evaluation unit? What was its ultimate fate?