French DB-7s in Battle of France

Discussion in '1940' started by Dave55, Jul 14, 2011.

  1. Dave55

    Dave55 Atlanta, USA

    Does anyone have any pictures of French DB-7s during battle of France? That would be interesting.

    Thanks,

    Dave
     
  2. wowtank

    wowtank Very Senior Member

    Have now real idea but did they not just go to North Africa and England. This is of my top of my head. I would like to see or know if they were in France.
     
  3. wowtank

    wowtank Very Senior Member

  4. Orwell1984

    Orwell1984 Senior Member

    The following publications have some pictures of the Douglas Db-7 in French service
    Profile Publications 202 Douglas A-20 (7A to Boston III) by Harry Gann which is available through some download sites.
    In addition the book A-20 Boston at war by William N Hess also has a couple of pictures of French Bostons.
    I've recently ordered Crowood Aviation's Douglas Havoc and Boston: The Db-7/A-20 series by Scott Thompson so I'll see what coverage there is of French aircraft there.
     
  5. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

    I'm away from my books at the mo but ATB's The Battle of France should have some pictures in it.

    Any specific reason Dave?
     
  6. Orwell1984

    Orwell1984 Senior Member

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    A couple of shots prior to delivery!
     
  7. Dave55

    Dave55 Atlanta, USA

    Not really, Drew. I'm reading Eisenhower's 'Crusade in Europe' (wonderful book) and he mentioned America's first bombing mission against Germany was six Bostons on July 6, 1942. They were included with a larger RAF formation and hit airfields in Holland.

    It surprised me to hear him use the Boston name because I had thought that Americans usually called them Havocs. I've always kind of identified the earlier models with the the open dorsal gun position instead of a turret as French for some reason.

    Ha, I just remembered that Ike was known for using British terms like lorry and petrol and it irritated Patton to no end.

    Dave
     
  8. Dave55

    Dave55 Atlanta, USA

    Twin tails?

    That's a new one on me. Thanks. Great shots

    Dave
     
  9. Orwell1984

    Orwell1984 Senior Member

    Twin tails?

    That's a new one on me. Thanks. Great shots

    Dave

    It was a new one for me too. All the other shots I have of French Db-7's were single tail (Like the one you can see hidden behind in the 2nd image). According to the website where I found the image, this is a " 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 aircraft 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."
     
  10. CL1

    CL1 116th LAA and 92nd (Loyals) LAA,Royal Artillery

    info from Profile Publications
     

    Attached Files:

  11. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

    16 different DB-7's mentioned in ATB's Battle of France but no pic's.
     
  12. Dave55

    Dave55 Atlanta, USA

    info from Profile Publications

    Nice attachments, CL1 I had missed your post until Drew's bumped it to the top again

    Dave
     
  13. Harry Ree

    Harry Ree Very Senior Member

    The Douglas DB-7light bomber aircraft name as Havoc was first used by the RAF for the nightfighter and intruder version of the Boston. The Boston aircraft name was retained for the Boston bomber versions by the RAF.

    Later the USAAF used the name Havoc for its A-20 light bomber which had variations designated as the P 70 Nighthawk and F-3 Havoc.

    RAF variations were the coded Ranger,Moonlighter (three seater night intruder fighter bomber), coded Pandora (LAM, small aerial mine delivery by trailing a 2000 foot mined cable across bomber formations ) and the Turbinlite (equipped with an intensive search light in the nose to give illumination of enemy bombers. The first three variant names were short lived and the Turbinlite was first coded as the Helmore after the GEC Helmore searchlight.

    It is recorded that the 100 aircraft ordered prewar by the French were diverted to the RAF on the fall of France and deliveries commenced in late summer of 1940 and were designated as the Boston Mark 1 ( not Mark 11 typo.) In December 1940,the DB-7 was selected for a nocturnal role which required conversion and the aircraft emerged as the Havoc Mark 1.Operations in the night intrusion role from its base at Ford commenced with No 23 Squadron in the New Year of 1941.
     
    Last edited: Mar 25, 2021
    Dave55 likes this.

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