Postwar Soviet Douglas A-20 Boston question and profile

Fascinating….thank you very much!

– – – Updated – – –

nt

Noticed this in the DC-5 chapter of Rene Francillon’s ‘Douglas Propliners….Skyleaders’

Around 1938 the Douglas El Segundo division under Ed Heinemann evolved what was built as the DC-5 from a projected mailplane version of the DB-7 Havoc/Boston called the DC-7 via a slightly larger high wing passenger plane. the Model 10

Thanks very much!

Thank you very much sir! THis is very useful information on an exceedingly obscure topic.

According to the article:

In 1944 there came the idea to use the A-20 as a high-speed liaison aircraft to deliver couriers and carry important documents to the front. They were to replace the worn-out PS-40 and PS-41 aircraft, variants of the SB-2 bomber. On 11th January 1945 an order was issued to transfer twelve A-20Gs from the 559th Squadron of the Air Force of Moscow military district in Kostroma to 3rd Aviations Communications Division of the GVF, based in Myachkovo in late January. By late February nine had been transferred and by mid-March all twelve.

In February the division suggested a project to convert the A-20Gs into liaison aircraft, which was approved by the Scientific-Research Institute of Civil Air Fleet (NII GVF). The aircraft which were stripped of all armament were capable of lifting 1,100 kg of cargo – 200 kg in the fuselage nose, 500 kg and two passengers in the former bomb bay, whilst the rear cabin accommodated the radio operator, another two passengers, and 200 kg of cargo. An extra fuel tank in the bomb bay gave the aircraft a range of up to 1,800 km.

As early as February the first four Bostons underwent such conversion, and on 1st March they were declared operational. In March another six aircraft were modified. The freighters had traditional civilian registrations of the GVV line service which started with the the Russian Cyrillic letter ‘L’.

The Air Force transferred another batch of the bomber aircraft from the 5th Bomber Crops of the 4th Air Army. On 26th May the unit handed over seven A-20Gs, whilst on 28th May it sent another three. According to the order, one regiment was to be equipped with the Bostons. However, due to low efficiency of the A-20Gs in their capacity as freighters, further deliveries of the aircraft were ordered to be suspended.

This was related to the work of the Scientific-Research Institute of Civil Air Fleet, the specialists which accessed the potential post-war civil service of various combat aircraft in early May 1944. They came to the conclusion that the A-20 was of no practical use for civil aviation. The usable space of the aircraft’s various cabins was a mere seven cubic metres with a payload of 1,400 kg even if the aircraft’s armament was completely removed, the interior bulkheads, and the fuselage fuel tank removed, the bomb bay covered, the radio equipment moved to the nose. Cargo hatches could only be arranged in place of the dorsal turret with a second utilising the ventral gun mount hatch, resulting a most inconvenient process of loading and unloading and large sized cargo would not get through these hatches at all. The aircraft only had limited use in the mail delivery role.

By late may 1944 the division had twenty A-20Gs, five of which were deployed at forward airfield in Lodz, supporting the headquarters of the First and Second Byelorussian Fronts. When combat operations in the west drew to an end, part of this fleet was preserved. As of 20th September 1944, eighteen A-20Gs and A-20Ks out of an original twenty-nine were operational. Then they were gradually retired. On 1st January 1946 there were twenty-seven aircraft but by December of the same year, none of the Bostons were left.

All these aircraft were subsequently allocated to the air fleets of five civilian authorities. The Ministry for Fish industry operated a single A-20G-1. It belonged to the Archangel-based ‘Sevryba’ (Northern Fish) trust and flew to survey the schools of fish. The aircraft had the registration X-578.

The Ministry of Aviation Industry had a Boston converted to a passenger aircraft, and was based in the Flight Test Institute (LII). Another Boston operated in the Ministry of Light Industry’s fleet and was used to drop dummies for testing parachutes.

The Chief Directorate of Hydrometeorlogical Service employed the A-20 to survey weather and ice. Following the delivery of the first batch of the aircraft from civilian aviation, its fleet as built up by the Bostons, handed over by the Air Force. As of 1st January 1947 the meteorologists operated fifteen Bostons, whilst as of 1st October they had twenty-three aircraft in service. However, later on the aviation section of this authority was liquidated, and most of the aircraft were written-off.

Soviet cartographers employed the unarmed American bombers on a much greater scale. The Chief Directorate of Geodesy Cartography started to use the type in 1946. Under the decree of the USSR Council of Ministers, issued on 13th April 1946, the Air Force was to transfer forty A-20s to the Directorate. By the end of year the cartographers had received twenty aircraft and their photo equipment. The Bostons were assigned to various units. These A-20s had registration numbers starting with the Cyrillic Russian letter ‘F’.

The Novosibirsk-based unit received several aeroplanes with the task to convert them into aerial photography versions in their own workshops, and test the equipment in service. However they faced a number of challenges. The Bostons had been delivered without any tools or spare parts, or extra engines. Pilots of the unit turned out to have been former fighter pilots, without any experience of twin-engined aircraft. Nevertheless the aircraft were successfully mastered.
By 1st January 1947 the Directorate’s fleet totalled some thirty-six A-20Gs, whist by 1st October it had reached the stipulated number of forty. The all-time highest number of Bostons operated by this particular authority, was seventy-six, in January 1949 Later on the quantity gradually decreased. As of 1st January 1950 there were still sixty-three aircraft left, but it is unknown when the last of the Bostons were written-off.

Still can’t find the url but it was apparently CCCP-L1008 which markings were worn by a pre-war Aeroflot civilian DC-3

This Russian Catalina amphibian attended a Paris Orly air show in 1946 according to ‘Aeroplane Spotter’ of Sep21 that year

and the Russian football team flew to Croydon in November 1945 in a lend-lease C-47 43-49894
http://www.britishpathe.com/video/football-the-russians-are-here/query/russian+football+team+croydon

None of which helps the original poster , so apologies.

Or an Li2 which had been re-engined? However, looking at the cut-away tailcone and the long air intake, I’d say it was a C-47B with a new door.

Or an Li2 which had been re-engined? However, looking at the cut-away tailcone and the long air intake, I’d say it was a C-47B with a new door.

This Aeroflot DC-3 popped up on the Google LIFE photo archive a few years ago….can’t find the url now but saved the pic….taken by Mark Kauffman in Finland ca. 1948 (I think)….it’s either a pre-war civilian DC-3, RH door, Twin Wasp engines and presumably supplied through the Fokker sales agency or a Lend-Lease C-47 with a RH passenger door added?

Given the A-20s size, I’d guess it was some sort of VIP aircraft…(they did have VIPS in the “classless” state, didn’t they? 🙂 🙂 )

The entire post-war Soviet of U.S.- UK lend lease types is an interesting one.

I’ve recently read in a French book where US-built C-47s were preferred over the locally made units and were in service with the military until the 60s, and a recent article in The Aeroplane said some B-25s were used well into the 50s.

I’d hope that with the change in regimes (if not attitude) that more details of western types would be forthcoming.

There is a photograph of it in an article ‘Bostons in the Soviet Union Part 3’ by Vladimir Kotelnikov published in Model Aircraft Monthly Dec 2008. Described as A-20G modified at TsAGI into high-speed passenger aircraft for the LII Flight Research Institute, Zhukovskiy, 1947. Will have to read the article again to find out more and too busy at the moment to do that. Maybe this evening. BTW the profile is from that article.

Given the A-20s size, I’d guess it was some sort of VIP aircraft…(they did have VIPS in the “classless” state, didn’t they? 🙂 🙂 )

The entire post-war Soviet of U.S.- UK lend lease types is an interesting one.

I’ve recently read in a French book where US-built C-47s were preferred over the locally made units and were in service with the military until the 60s, and a recent article in The Aeroplane said some B-25s were used well into the 50s.

I’d hope that with the change in regimes (if not attitude) that more details of western types would be forthcoming.