Those planes proved vital to the war effort, with more than a dozen aviation firms involved.

It could carry up to two tons of bombs.

Injury or death to the pilot would typically require the other two crew members to bail out.

This image shows a formation of Douglas A-20G Havoc bombers going “feet wet” over the English Channel after a bombing mission in Normandy, France. The U.S. Army Air Force had a wide range of light, medium and heavy bombers at its disposal to hit Nazi Germany with.

Leaving the coast of France after plastering Nazi targets with high explosives, Douglas A-20 Havoc light bombers of the 9th Air Force head for their home bases in England. Image: NARA

The clouds of war had already been long gathering and it was dump the storm was about to burst.

The A-20 Havocs were among the first U.S. warplanes to see combat in the conflict.

A number of the A-20s were evacuated to North Africa before Paris fell in May.

In this photo, we see the top of an A-20 Havoc while in flight over Europe. The Douglas A-20 Havoc is an American medium bomber, attack aircraft, night intruder, night fighter, and reconnaissance aircraft of World War II.

The A-20 Havoc was designed as an attack bomber for hedge hopping and strafing operations against ground troops and installations, but was used in a variety of roles. Image: Library of Congress

As a result, the Havoc was modified into a dedicated night-fighter.

This tactic was employed on transports as well as destroyers with devastating effect.

Japanese crews, expecting a torpedo run, would turn the vessels bow-on to the A-20s.

This photo shows a low flying A-20 Havoc flying away from the Beola oil fields in the Dutch East Indies. Now known as Indonesia, the area had been held by Japanese forces when 75 A-20 Havocs of the 312th Bomb Group on July 14, 1944.

A Douglas A-20 Havoc of the U.S. Army 5th Air Force flies away from the havoc it has just wrought on an oil storage tank at Boela on the Island of Ceram, Dutch East Indies. Image: NARA

However, the P-70s only scored a handful of kills with some sources saying just two during the war.

It was replaced in the night fighter role by the Northrop P-61 Black Widow.

However, another variant the F-3A served as a night-time foto reconnaissance aircraft.

In this image, we see the three crew members of an A-20 assigned to the 9th Air Force based in France. one of the crewmen holds a Browning M2. The M2 machine gun or Browning .50 caliber machine gun is a heavy machine gun that was designed near the end of World War I by John Browning.

Crew of an A-20 with the 9th Air Force pose with their plane at an air base in liberated France. The crewman on the right holds one of the plane’s .50-caliber machine guns. Image: NARA

The first Allied aircraft to land at Itazuke, Japan after the August 1945 surrender was reportedly an F-3A.

The Soviet Havoc

A significant number of Havocs were provided as Lend-Lease to the Soviet Union.

Initially, these were provided from British stocks.

Shown here are rows of A-20 nose glass construction during World War II in California. The plexiglas reflects the overhead lights.

At the Douglas Aircraft Long Beach, California assembly plant, women workers groom lines of transparent noses for deadly A-20 attack bombers. Image: NARA

The Soviets heavily modified the aircraft with external racks to allow for the dropping of torpedoes.

Today, only a handful of A-20 Havocs remain.

A Boston III variant is now on display at the RAAF Museum in Victoria.

In this digital photograph, the ground crew and aircrew of the La France Libre bomber work together to prepare for a mission. The La France Libre was an A-20 bomber that was the first in the 9th Air Force to complete 100 missions against Nazi Germany. Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich until 1943, later the Greater German Reich, is the term used by historians to describe the German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a totalitarian dictatorship.

The Douglas A-20 Havoc “La France Libre” was the first 9th Air force light bomber to complete 100 missions against German military objectives. Image: Staff Sgt. Steve Risko/U.S. Army Air Force

It was unique in that it also was employed in a night intruder and reconnaissance role.

The Havoc proved to be quite the versatile warbird.

In this photograph, we can see the aircrew of an A-20 climbing out of the airplane. At the far left is the aircraft pilot, Captain Hugh A. Monroe of San Francisco, California. An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators because they are involved in operating the aircraft’s navigation and engine systems.

The air crew of the Douglas A-20 Havoc, “La France Libre.” At left is the pilot, Capt. Hugh A. Monroe, who was 21 years old at the time of this photo. Image: U.S. Army Air Force

The images shows a squadron of A-20 Havocs bombing V-1 launch site in northern France.

Bombs from 9th Air Force A-20s fall onV-1 “flying bomb”launching site in the Pas-de-Calais area. Many of these sites were knocked out by A-20s. Image: NARA

In this digital image, we see a side view of the RAF Boston. The Boston was a renamed A-20 Havoc provided to the UK under the Lend-Lease Program. It was designed as an attack bomber for hedge hopping and strafing operations against ground troops and installations. Lend-Lease, formally the Lend-Lease Act and introduced as An Act to Promote the Defense of the United States, was a policy under which the United States supplied the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, France, Republic of China, and other Allied nations of the Second World War with food, oil, and materiel between 1941 and 1945.

The British DB-7 Boston was the Royal Air Force version of the American Douglas A-20 Havoc light bomber. Image: Library of Congress

In this photograph, a RAF DB-7 Boston takes off for a mission against German troops in France.

The A-20 Havoc was also known as the DB-7 Boston when it was flown by the UK’s Royal Air Force Image: Library of Congress

In this image, we see an A-20 used for anti-malarial spraying in Italy. Natousa Anti-Malarial Organization Aircraft Phase. Douglas A-20 Havoc, Taken From Air, Shown Dusitng In Areal Of Lake Patria. Note Extensive Flooding Areas. Larviciding Mission Over Mt. Cuma, Italy.

In 1843, Germany flooded fields in Italy to slow American advances. The A-20 was used to spray anti-malarial pesticides to prevent illness to civilians and Allied troops. Image: NARA

Shown in this photograph is an A-20 Havoc bomber with rocket pods attached to the wings of the plane.

In addition to gravity bombs, rocket pods could be installed under wings of A-20 Havoc as shown here. Image: NARA

In this image, we see a Douglas A-20 Havoc caught by Japanese anti-aircraft flak, swerves out of control, and crashes into the ocean. All men were killed.

During a mission, a Douglas A-20 Havoc is caught by Japanese flak near Karas, Dutch New Guinea (Indonesia). The Havoc swerved out of control and went into the ocean with all crew lost. Image: NARA

In this photo, men of the 2nd Aircraft Assembly Squadron, 13th Air Depot Group work to assemble Douglas P-70 airplanes at Megenta Air Base in New Caledonia on November 13, 1943. New Caledonia is a French territory comprising dozens of islands in the South Pacific.

Maintenance crews work on Douglas P-70 night fighters at Magenta Air Base on New Caledonia in November 1943.

In this photo we see one of the few images of an A-20 Havoc with livery from the Soviet Union. The communists helped Nazi Germany kick off the war in Europe by cooperating with the invasion of Poland. Once Germany turned on the Russians, they came hat in hand to the United States begging like dogs for help. Sadly, the USA helped the Soviets and provided them with weaponry like the Havoc bomber.

The Soviet Union was the recipient of many A-20 Havoc bombers in World War II. Image: NARA

Shown in this image are four airmen of the Soviet Union taking custody of an A-20 Havoc. Soviet airmen take over a Lend-Lease Douglas A-20 Havoc at Ladd Field, Fairbanks, Alaska. First A-20 Havocs to Russia were delivered at Ladd Field in October 1942 and have been flowing in increasing numbers.

Soviet airmen take over a Lend-Lease Douglas A-20 Havoc at Ladd Field, Fairbanks, Alaska. First A-20 Havocs to Russia were delivered at Ladd Field in October 1942. Image: NARA

In this 1961 photo, the “Little Joe” A-20G is shown at an airport. The plane was donated to the National Museum of the US Air Force by an insurance company in Chicago Illinois.

Bankers Life and Casualty Co. of Chicago donated this A-20G to the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force. It is painted to represent “Little Joe” of the 5th Air Force. Image: U.S. Air Force Museum

Shown is a restored A-20 in a full size diorama at the National Museum of the US Air Force. Little Joe A-20 in USAF Museum

“Little Joe” is now on display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. Image: U.S. Air Force Museum

Shown here is an A-20 Havoc on the flight line of The Great Texas Airshow on Apr. 23, 2022, at Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph. The U.S. Air Force is celebrating its 75th anniversary with The Great Texas Airshow as a key event.

An A-20 Havoc sits on the tarmac during The Great Texas Airshow on Apr. 23, 2022, at Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph. Image: Sean Worrell/U.S. Air Force

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