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Douglas Boston/Havoc Photo Archive Number 28 ISBN: 9781908757418 Wingleader Publications The A-20 Havoc, better known to those with an interest in the Royal Air Force as the Boston, was a light bomber developed by the Douglas Aircraft Company of Long Beach, California to a US Air Force specification issued in 1937. The aircraft’s initial customer was the French Air Force, who had been impressed by its performance whilst visiting the USA as part of a pre-war purchasing commission. The order was not able to be delivered to the French however, as by that time they were overrun and the armistice had been signed in 1940, but the contract was taken up by the RAF instead, who needed every aircraft they could lay their hands on. In RAF service it was known by the name Boston, and by the service code DB-7, with no fewer than 24 British and Commonwealth squadrons operating the Boston, either as a light bomber or night fighter such as the Havoc I Turbinlite, which was fitted with a powerful searchlight in the nose instead of the nose glazing or solid machine-gun equipped nose. The A-20 was also widely used by the USAAF after being met with initial indifference, and by the end of the war, almost 7,500 of the type had rolled off the production lines of various companies, including Boeing. By the time the A-20G began production in 1943 the glazed nose could be replaced by a solid alternative that carried a gun-pack, initially with four 20mm cannons plus two .50cal machine guns set slightly back under the nose, although they reverted to six .50cals later, due to the comparative inaccuracy of the cannons. The rest of the armament was standardised with .50cal guns in the newly powered top turrets and the ventral installation, the former requiring the widening of the fuselage to accommodate its bulk. The engines were upgraded to more powerful variants of Wright R-2600 Twin Cyclone engines, and this became the most numerous variant, serving in US, British and Soviet Air Forces amongst other operators, replaced by the H and J variants with more powerful engines amongst other improvements. This twenty-eighth volume in the series covers the Boston and Havoc in the European theatre, starting with the early airframes that were subtly but importantly different from the later variants, although the jumble of variations between the Havoc and Boston and their sub-variants present a minefield to the uninitiated, a situation that the author Andy Thomas has tried to rectify with the assistance of technical details from Mark Harbour, ably abetted by Juanita Franzi who has drawn the colour profiles in extreme detail, complete with realistic lighting and weathering to bring more realism to the artwork. As is often the case, many of the photos are staged, but there are also many candid and personal archive shots, particularly those with crews standing proudly in front of their aircraft. A few of the photos are in colour, and offer a welcome insight into the colours that were used to camouflage the aircraft in service. There are photos of airframes that have been prepped for various missions, including Overlord, with stripes and other markings, the former exemplifying the argument that the invasion stripes weren’t always painted with utmost care. You then face the problem of convincing your viewers that it’s not just you demonstrating your shaking hands or lack of skill with masking, as scale has the effect of reducing the variance of the lines. A visually impressive book with plenty of reading material into the bargain that will have you coming back to it again and again. According to the introductory text on the inner cover, there is likely to be a second volume devoted to the aircraft’s service in Africa and Italy, as there was insufficient room in this busy volume that extends to 72 genuine pages, plus more data on the inner covers and several photos on both outer covers. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

A Google search on "Helmore Turbinlite" has thrown up this picture of a Turbinlite Havoc. https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=helmore+turbinlite&tbm=isch&source=hp&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjGs4ThtcDgAhVsVBUIHeLeA1wQsAR6BAgEEAE&biw=1536&bih=747#imgrc=uiXMuMRBynh5pM: You will note that the aircraft is in the later Medium Sea Grey/Dark Green camouflage rather than the more normal black. There are also 3 men in the foreground parading with a flag. I think that I have seen a captioned version of the photo before and that the gentlemen are Polish. Can anyone identify where and roughly when the photo was taken? I am wondering if it is one of the Turbinlites used by the FAA (eg 771, 772 Sqs) as fast targets for units working up to serve in the British Pacific Fleet. Any details on the aircraft itself would be wonderful but probably too much to hope for.