Douglas DB-7/A-20 in Dutch service

Apologies for digging up this old topic. I believe this article is a good read and valuable adition to our knowledge of the subject. It is written by renowned specialist P. C. Boer.

http://www.cortsfoundation.org/index.php/2011-12-24-11-04-24/88-douglas-db-7b-bostons-of-the-dutch-naval-air-service

Cheers,
Edwin

This is great stuff Syd, well done.

The Port (left) skin.

1/ as recovered from PNG note Dutch triangle much harder to see, able to see remains of red disc. also gunners window hole.

2/cardboard cutout of position of Dutch triangle , if you look hard just able to make out were it was.

3/Factory RAF markings

4/Late RAAF markings Blue/White and remains of Sqn code (DU-J on port side)

Dutch Markings on Australian DB-7B

I have very generously been loaned the original aft fuselage side skins of A28-8 DU-J “Jessica” by WOFF Dennis Doggett of the RAAF Amberley Museum to show the various marking applied to the 22 DB-7B’s in Australian service (and Dutch).
The Stbd (right) skin first .

4/as recovered from PNG note battle damage from 12 Sep 1943 mission (bullet exit holes thru skin) , the aircraft at this stage had RAAF blue/white roundels and Sqn code in white DU-J, also note that the middle section of skin has no trace of the original outer yellow ring of the roundel as the yellow was dropped before the Bostons went into combat this middle skin was to repair previous battle damage to the a/c.
the dark area top left is the skin under the fillet fwd of the vert fin.

1/cardboard cutout to mark position of Dutch Orange triange applied over original RAF 4 colour roundel in USA prior to shippment to (NEI) Australia

2/cardboard cutouts to show original RAF style markings , these were also applied over the Dutch triangle before intro into RAAF service , though the yellow and red were short lived (only made patial yellow ring for referance

3/ Later RAAF markings and Sqn code (part of “J” still visible of J-DU on Stbd side),( should be a “J”, I used the U I made from the port side.

sizes of roundel as taken off skins.
Red 7″
White 19 3/4″
Blue 33 1/2 “
Yellow 46″
Orange triangle 28″ each side
White lettering 3 1/2 ” thick x 22″ highx 18″ wide

Couple more picks of the DB-7B’s

1/ A28-9 DU-K with Pegusus/Kon Marine painted out and replaced with the Disney Lion , now with 69 missions on way to 186

2/ Boston fresh from paintsop at Richmond close inspection shows full roundel on side yellow/blue/white/red over Dutch triangle and red/white blue finflash photo between April and Aug 1942

3/Markings Sept 1942 to early 1943 red removed from roundal and finflash ,A/C code letter but no Sqn codes yet

4/Markings mid 1943 onward reduced size blue/white roundels and finflash and Sqn code added “DU” 22 sqn.

If Jessica had been BO it would have been doubly historic. In 1938 XB-15/B-17 were inferior to Douglas B-18/19/23/Martin 146; Model 316/Y1B-20 was unaffordable; 39 B-17B lost money. Airlines saw Models 247D/307 Stratoliner/(B-15-derived) 314 Clipper as dear and poorly-supported. 1938 UK/Belgium/France Purchasing Missions visited Boeing but moved on, wallet intact. Douglas Santa Monica won French DB-7 orders beyond their capacity and in late-1938 put 240 into BO: that was the financial basis for expansion of Boeing Field Plant 2, for B-17 en masse, and thus for the entity we know today. If Douglas had put that work elsewhere, Boeing/Seattle might not have survived 1939.

Couple of photos of the early DB-7B’s

Photo 1, DB-7B Boston 22 sqn Charters Towers aug 1942 before modification to ground straffer with 4 x.50 , note .303 added to bomb aimers position on ball mount

Photo2 , DB-7B Boston A28-9 DU-K ,22 sqn New Guinea Late 1942 early 1943 “PEGUSUS” still with Dutch “Kon Marine” and 44 mission markings, this aircraft eventualy did 186 missions , a Disney lion over painted the the Pegusus/Kon Marine markings and the a/c was called “She’s Apples”

You will also see just fwd of the Pegusus horse the join line were the nose attaches on and how the blister for the second nose gun goes from the nose back onto the main fuselage this is why the second pair of nose guns was not installed on the DB-7C as it prevented the easy swap of the solid cannon nose to the bomb aimers nose.

Photo3 another photo from Charters towers easier to see the nose .303 and the ball mounts added to nose by RAAF

Though A-20G Hell N Pelican technicaly belongs to the PNG aviation museum I believe it will never get to PNG as the deal is it goes when the building to house it is build but the money the Australian govt gave the PNG govt to build it keeps dissapearing and the amount to do the building has been donated several times ( couln’t be graft and corruption in a third world country could it!!), so the A-20 will stay quit safely in Australia under cover.

Great input Syd, you really are the “A28” expert.
I was up in the hangar about 6 weeks ago and saw DD and Hell’n. Let’s just hope it never goes to a home without a roof!

Markings and Armament

The 22 DB-7B’s arrived in Australia with RAF markings and standard RAF paint scheme ( overpainted with Dutch Orange triangles) these were overpainter with full RAF marking again (which the RAAF also used at the time) these were quickly changed to the markings the RAAF adopted in 1942 with no red in the markings.
The old rear fuselage skins from A28-8 show RAF roundel (yellow, blue, white, red), over painted with Dutch Orange triangle (painted in US before arrival in Australia) , overpainted with RAF style marking again (Yellow, Blue, white, red) applied in Australia , the yellow was then painted out before sqn moved to Charters Towers Aug 1942, then the red dot removed just after sqn moved to New Guinea.
Armament on arrival was 4x fwd firing .303’s in nose , 2 x upper rear .303’s and 1 x lower rear .303, the RAAF also added 3 ball mounts in the bomb aimers position to put a .303 in the very nose or cheek position of the nose , these were removed when the 4x .50 machine gunns got added to fire thru the bomb aimers glass position.

The Dutch Triangle marking was short lived in Australia as after the NEI fell the Dutch adopted the tricolour red/white/blue flag marking and Dutch B-25’s in Canberra in mid 1942 show the tricolour marking.

The DB-7’s the Dutch actualy used.

32 DB-7B’s were diverted from new production aircraft destined for the RAF (these were from the initial French order of 480 a/c taken over by the RAF, 240 build by Boeing and 240 by Douglas of which A28-8 (AL907) was a/c 240 of the Douglas production batch.) these a/c were shipped to Java, 6 made it to Java , 4 taken back by AAF and 22 were sent or diverted to Australia, of the ones that made it to Java one was captured intact and flown by the Japanese (photos of this aircraft have been in several books with trace of the Dutch triangle visable under the japanese red disc) and one still crated was shipped to Japan(AL 904 recovered after war in Japan).
The 22 that made it to Australia were taken on by the RAAF as the Dutch (now in Exile) didn’t want the DB-7 as the range was too short to strike targets in the now captured NEI and held out to get B-25’s, but in the short term 10 DB-7B’s of the 22 and 5 x A-20A’s from US stock were given to the Dutch to form 18 (NEI) Sqn RAAF these a/c were only operated by 18 sqn for a couple of months until B-25’s could be found to equip the sqn then the DB-7’s were returned to 22sqn RAAF and the 5 x A-20A’s returned to the 3rd attack group ( 4 of these 5 A-20A’s eventualy went to the RAAF in 1943 as attrition aircraft as the US got A-20G’s to replace them)
The previous post by contrailjj is correct exept for the builders
Douglas Production
Douglas Douglas
production # Build # RAF # RAAF # Dutch #
3819 220 AL887 A28-3
3822 223 AL890 A28-1
3623 224 AL891 A28-9 D-66
3824 225 AL892 A28-14
3825 226 AL893 A28-4
3826 227 AL894 A28-21
3827 228 AL895 A28-5 D-70
3829 230 AL897 A28-6
3830 231 AL898 A28-22
3831 232 AL899 A28-7
3839 240 AL907 A28-8

Boeing Production
Boeing
production# RAF# RAAF#
2728 AL347 A28-2
2739 AL358 A28-10
2742 AL361 A28-15
2743 AL362 A28-16
2744 AL363 A28-17
2745 AL364 A28-11
2746 AL365 A28-12
2747 AL366 A28-18
2748 AL367 A28-13
2749 AL368 A28-19
2750 AL369 A28-20

of these 22 a/c A28-4,5,8,9,11,12,15,16,18,and 22 were short time with 18 sqn (NEI)

Having only found this site the other day was very interested in the Boston thread it took 2 pages to get most of the info out but it’s just about all correct, I’ve been interested in Bostons for about 20 years and most of the info in this thread I have had for over 10 years ,if i’d known about this forum would have posted it much earlier, i helped in the restoration of A28-8 “J” Jessica when I was in the Airforce so have a bit of first hand Boston time. and the Hangar next to the hangar with the rescue Helicopter I work on contains the restored A-20G “Hell N Pelican” and I get to climb all over it on a regular basis.

The info Dutch A-20’s

The Dutch ordered 48 DB-7C’s (Douglas production numbers 6265-6313) to equip Naval air arm squadrons in the NEI in 1941 these 48 aircraft NEVER got accepted by the Dutch or made it to the Pacific,order taken over by the US and all went to Russia. These aircraft were to have interchangable noses , a solid nose with 4 x 20mm Cannons or the standard glass nose with bomb aimer/navigator, they were only ever build with the glass nose and because the noses were to be interchangable only had the 2 (.303) gun glass nose not the 4 (.303) gun nose like fitted to the DB-7B’s (as shows in the photos of DB-7C’s in US with out the gun blisters fitted)