RAAF 22 Sqn A-20C Boston Schemes/Markings

[Sydhuey]

 

As a follow up to the A-20G's and Beaufighters in RAAF service I did , here is the A-20C's.

By the end of Sept 1943 22 Sqn was in dire straits, they were down to about 6 operational DB-7B's and despite several more in Australia trying to be brought up to operational std the Sqn was almost non operational , in early Sept 43 steps were already in motion to get 22 Sqn more A-20 Boston's , 9 x A-20C's left over from the P-70 conversion program were made available and began arriving at 3AD Amberley from mid Sept to late Oct 43, these were quickly reconverted back to the Bomber/Strafer role and had long range tanks , bomb racks and ADF fitted, these aircraft were unique in that they had an armament of 5 x .50's fitted to the nose , unlike the DB-7B's and A-20A's which had their .50's clusted in a group of 4 firing thru what had been the bomb aimers panel , the A-20C's had 3 x .50's mounted across the nose above the bomb aimers glass panel, they also had the cheek .30's replaced with a .50 and the blister with the second .30 removed giving them 5 x .50's in the nose, also with the bomb aimers glass being retained a strike camera was mounted in the nose to record strafing attacks, these aircraft were turned around as fast as possible by 3AD Amberley and only had their US markings and serials crudely painted over and RAAF markings and serials applied, many publications in the past have stated these aircraft were painted all over Foliage Green, probably because they look very dark in B&W photo's , but as was pointed out to me by Peter Malone, the paint was too rough to be a new coat of Foliage Green and the aircraft were needed desperately by 22 Sqn, records show these aircraft were at 3AD for only 2-3 weeks each before dispatch to 22 Sqn only enough time to fit them out , and get them serviceable , not time for a repaint.

A28-23 to A28-30  (23 DU-O, 24 DU-P, 25 DU-N, 26 DU-Q?, 27 DU-R?, 28 DU-U, 29 DU-V? and 30 DU-W) were all delivered to 22 Sqn thru Oct 43 in std US Olive Drab over Neutral Grey, RAAF markings were std 36" 5/3 ratio roundels in all 6 positions with the RAAF roundels covering the centre of the US stars and bars - (to give positions on wings and fuselage) Std RAAF fin flash and Mid Grey serials under the tail. these aircraft were the first to have ADF fitted to them with 22 Sqn as the role of 22 Sqn as the A-20C's was coming on strength was long range airfield suppression missions and barge strikes on New Britain from Goodenough Island  in preparation for the landings on Cape Gloucester . The A-20C was faster and had longer range than the DB-7B's and took the majority of the missions thru late 43 into the first half of 1944 .

There are two variations to the Std OD/NG scheme worn by the A-20C's at 22 Sqn and that was A28-25 DU-N which was badly damaged in a bombing mission in early Nov 43 when a bomb prematurely exploded under the aircraft doing serious shrapnel damage to the aircraft , it was returned to 26 MRU who rebuild it over 6 weeks and also repainted it in the same scheme as the DB-7B's Dark Green/Dark Earth over Sky (lower surface could have been Neutral Grey, Sky Blue or Sky no-one knows), she then returned to service with 22 and served till scrapped in early 45,

The other oddity was A28-31, this A-20 never served with 22 Sqn but was retained at 3AD Amberley as a test and training aircraft, this A-20 was the only A-20C Boston in RAAF service to actually be painted in the correct attack aircraft scheme of all over Foliage Green, she also had the later 32" 5/2 ration roundels , fin flash and grey serials, it was also the only A-20 in RAAF service to be fitted with tropical intake filters and despite having the 5 x .50 nose fit of the other A-20C's retained a full glass nose, she was scrapped in Tocumwall at 7 CRD in mid 1945.

 

DU-O, DU-U and DU-W Sqn codes were not used on the later A-20G's as these A-20C's were still in use with the A-20G's.

 

3 x nose .50's on unidentified A-20C

 

Loading nose guns , note strike camera behind bomb aimers glass

 

unidentified A-20C, note upper single .50 , DB-7B's and A-20A's ran twin .30/.303

 

A-20C undergoing maintenance, nose and cheek .50's and strike camera visible, this is the same aircraft in the top photo with the nose guns , but I have not been able to identify it.

 

Either A28-23 DU-O or A28-24 DU-P, unable to confirm which, note how far the .50's stick out of cheek position compared to .30/.303, and how rough the paint is, lines on all the panel joint lines is staining/fading from tape to seal joints during sea voyage from US, also note outline of removed cheek blister.

 

A28-28 DU-U, note how rough the overpaint of the US markings are , also this was the only A-20C with an ADF loop not a faired ADF like all the others.

 

A28-30 DU-W

 

A28-31, note nice even all over Foliage Green Scheme, later style markings and tropical intakes and glass nose, photo 3AD late 1944

 

and at Tocumwall in 1945 awaiting scrapping.

Edited December 31, 2019 by Sydhuey
still trying to add photo's !

[Sydhuey]

Ok give me a day or two as I do my annual work out how to add bloody photo's ! this is the only site I will post photo's from an external site if I can't add them from my computer I usually don't bother. bear with me , I have about 12 to post.

 

OK how to delete doubles ?

Edited September 12, 2019 by Sydhuey

[Chuck1945]

Very interesting.

[Troy Smith]

3 hours ago, Sydhuey said:

OK how to delete doubles ?

you need to go 'edit'  button on you post, when you click that your post re-opens and the just delete the duplicates, and then save.

HTH