Douglas B-23 Dragon
The B-23 is a twin-engine bomber developed as a successor to the
Douglas B-18. First flown in July 1939, the B-23 incorporated
many features of the Douglas DC-3 commercial transport. Although it was much faster than
the B-18 and was the first operational Army bomber equipped with a tail gun, the Dragon
was soon outclassed by more modern bombers such as the
North
American B-25 and the
Martin B-26. As a result, only
38 B-23s were built.
The B-23s were never used in combat during WW II. Instead they served in secondary roles
as reconnaissance, training, transport, and test-bed aircraft. Some of the Dragons used in
transport service were redesignated UC-67s.
After the war, all B-23s/UC-67s were declared surplus and many were sold to private
operators for use as cargo and executive transports. Several of these aircraft were still
flying in the early 1980s.
General
characteristics |
| Primary function |
Medium bomber |
| Power plant |
Two Wright R-2600-3 engines |
| Thrust |
1,600 HP |
1,193 kW |
| Wingspan |
92 ft |
28 m |
| Length |
58 ft 6 in |
17.9 m |
| Height |
18 ft 6 in |
5.6 m |
| Weight max. |
32,400 lb |
14,700 kg |
| Speed |
max. |
282 mph |
454 km/h |
| Speed |
cruising |
210 mph |
338 km/h |
| Range |
1,400 miles |
2,253 km |
| Ceiling |
31,600 ft |
9,632 m |
| Armament |
3x 7.62mm M-2 machine guns, 1x 12.7mm M-2 machine
gun, 4,000 lb bombs internally |
| Crew |
Six |
| Cost |
$133,000 |
| First flight |
July 1939 |
| Number built |
38 |
Jirka Wagner
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