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Douglas A-20 Boston / Havoc

The A-20 was designed to meet an Army Air Corps attack specification in 1938 but was in use by the French and British before delivery to US squadrons. Begun as a company- funded venture, the Havoc eventually became the most-produced Army Air Forces attack aircraft. It was also the one of the first US combat aircraft to have a nosewheel. On July 4, 1942, the first Army Air Forces bomber mission over Western Europe was flown by US crews of the 15th Bomb Squadron operating British Bostons IIIs (the Royal Air Force's name for most of their Havocs) against airfields in the Netherlands. The A-20 was used in every theater of the war and was also flown by Australia, Brazil, South Africa, and the Netherlands. The Soviets actually received more A-20s than the US did, but little is known about the type's operational career there. Some of the Dutch aircraft were captured by the Japanese and appropriated into service. The export version of the A-20C was the first aircraft to be ordered under a lend-lease contract. The P-70 was a modified A-20 fitted with an airborne intercept radar and four 20-mm cannon in a belly package as an interim night fighter until the P-61 was available. The F-3A was the photoreconnaissance version.

Jirka Wagner