Douglas A20 Havoc

[Sundog]

BTW, those images are from The Douglas A-20 Havoc The Ultimate Look: From Drawing Board to Peerless Allied Light Bomber. By William Wolf via Schiffer Military History.

Edit: I just placed the reference here for anyone really interested in the A-20. This book is amazingly comprehensive. However, if you need any other material, just let me know. It's probably in this book.

 

[Milton Shupe]

Here are the images. The last one of the panel, I'm not sure if that panel was in the Bombardier's station or the cockpit. I have another panel that is labeled as the cockpit bomb panel so this m,ay be an adjunct to it, but I scanned it JIC.

That looks great SD. Will check this out very closely.

 

[huub vink]

Great find Sundog I really didn't expect that such detailed images would be available.

 

[nigel richards]

Now that's what I call the great spirit of teamwork. Well researched, Sundog!

 

[Milton Shupe]

Now that's what I call the great spirit of teamwork. Well researched, Sundog!

Sundog has always been an amazing help for our projects. I am most appreciative.

 

[Milton Shupe]

Hi,
The 1945 film 'The Way To The Stars' features lots of Bostons and some very fine English accents by the look of the cast! There may be interesting and/or helpful shots of the bombardier's place. I haven't seen it, but it is available on youtube.

Andy.

Also known as 'Johnny in the Clouds'. Not me, the film.

Andy,

I found the movie but I cannot get it to play past the opening credits. When the actual show should start, all I get is a black screen as the timeline bar progresses. Will try on another computer. Strange.

 

[lemonadedrinker]

Sorry about that Milton, I thought it was going to play on YouTube, but my computer went gaga and I'm not sure it's come back yet. Strange world we live on, then M$ wiped all my history, bookmarks, Classic Shell startup, deleted Malwarebytes and the Anti Exploit I'd paid for(!) reinstalled Norton security and other rubbish stuff like MSN and generally acted the giddy goat. Which I'm not pleased about !
Andy

 

[Milton Shupe]

Sorry about that Milton, I thought it was going to play on YouTube, but my computer went gaga and I'm not sure it's come back yet. Strange world we live on, then M$ wiped all my history, bookmarks, Classic Shell startup, deleted Malwarebytes and the Anti Exploit I'd paid for(!) reinstalled Norton security and other rubbish stuff like MSN and generally acted the giddy goat. Which I'm not pleased about !
Andy

Wow! Sorry to hear about those issues Andy; hope you get it sorted soon.

I finally got the A-20A/C nose sorted after all this time; a real challenge it was. There was a similar challenge with the rear upper gunner's canopy area, just not as many cuts and angles. Making progress though but much to do. Unfortunately the variant is requiring a texture remap for the fuselage but the rest will be the same as the G model unless I decide to change the cowl flaps.

 

[AussieMan]

​Watching this project with baited breath. appears to a lot of scope for some Aussie paints when it is released.

 

[Milton Shupe]

​Watching this project with baited breath. appears to a lot of scope for some Aussie paints when it is released.

Thank you Sir. It's fun working on this, albeit has its challenges.

Pretty much now wrapping up the exterior A-20C model save the gun pods and ports, then on to mapping the fuselage.
Then I will bring in the VC from the G model.

 

[huub vink]

Thanks Milton, any update on this project always makes me very happy

I have been looking from additional pictures for the interior of the bombardier section, but as already mentioned earlier; these pictures aren't really a common thing .
Although pictures from the exterior show some variations in the equipment in this section.

Cheers,
Huub

 

[lemonadedrinker]

Hi,
I seem to have found a site to watch the film

https://archive.org/details/TheWayToTheStars

but whether it works on your side of the sea is another matter.!

On Google it is listed as The Way to the Stars :Anatole de Grunwald .There is one shown on YouTube but I think it's dead.

Andy.

 

[Milton Shupe]

Hi,
I seem to have found a site to watch the film

https://archive.org/details/TheWayToTheStars

but whether it works on your side of the sea is another matter.!

On Google it is listed as The Way to the Stars :Anatole de Grunwald .There is one shown on YouTube but I think it's dead.

Andy.

Thank you Andy. I checked out the movie. It had one scene involving A-20B based P-70's with exhaust fire suppressors. There were no interior shots unfortunately.
I also noticed they took off without flaps. I suppose for the movie scene they were not bomb-laden and were not full of fuel.

 

[Milton Shupe]

Thanks Milton, any update on this project always makes me very happy

I have been looking from additional pictures for the interior of the bombardier section, but as already mentioned earlier; these pictures aren't really a common thing .
Although pictures from the exterior show some variations in the equipment in this section.

Cheers,
Huub

Thank you Huub. Yes, I too noticed differences; some had no bomb sight, some did. Some were gunned differently. And, not sure what changes were made between the Bostons and Havocs through the series, but pretty sure the Bostons used different bomb sight equipment. I'll need to go back and do some reading on those differences but will use the pics posted above for a general layout of the area.

 

[lemonadedrinker]

Hi,
I just watched it and was going to post up that, unless you really like elderly British stiff upper lip war films, with only a passing mention of the thing that was most important to this thread, then it was probably not of much value !

Sorry about that!
Andy.

....any value...!

 

[huub vink]

Well there is some interesting reading about differnt bomb sights here: http://www.twinbeech.com/norden_bombsight.htm

Obviously the British used very different bomb sights.

Cheers,
Huub

 

[Milton Shupe]

Well there is some interesting reading about differnt bomb sights here: http://www.twinbeech.com/norden_bombsight.htm

Obviously the British used very different bomb sights.

Cheers,
Huub

Huub,

Yes, well familiar with Taigh's website. He was instrumental in providing pics and data for the AT-11 project including the Martin turret and the Norden bombsight.

I did a very basic sight for the AT-11 as poly limits were a concern.

 

[Sundog]

I'll check my A-20 book to see what is written about bombardiers station equipment and if they list the differences between the models. Those preview pics look amazing.

 

[Milton Shupe]

I'll check my A-20 book to see what is written about bombardiers station equipment and if they list the differences between the models. Those preview pics look amazing.

Thanks SD. I will likely use the one I built for the AT-11 with some mods.

Just finished modeling gun pods and ports. Wow! Anything to do with guns requires patience and perseverance.

 

[Blackbird686]

This project is coming along very nicely, Milton. I have enjoyed reading and watching about it since you started working on the Havoc. It gives me much more to appreciate what you and your team, as well as other dev's go through when producing a model of this kind of quality. I think of it this way.... If I could watch a team build an XP-74 Superbolt, or an Avia 57 in real life, then having the "boss" hand me the keys and say "Here, take her up and wring her out", something that is never taken lightly by a bloke like me.

Keep em' Flying!

BB686