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Douglas A-20 Havoc Flight Characteristics 1944 USAAF Pilot Training Film


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Monostripezebra
Posted (edited)

It´s gonna be an interesting plane to fly with such limitations..

 

"never try a power on stall"

"If you find yourself in a spin at 5000ft or less, the only thing to do is.. jump. (..) remember you sit well forward of the engines that means before you jump, you have to feather both props"

"stay away from steep banks" "Banked turns over 75° give you loads in the wings she never was designed to take"

"this ship was never designed to withstand pullouts from deep dives"

 

some color footage:

 

Edited by Monostripezebra
Posted

Yes unlike most people here they had to play with the toys given to them. It was my second favourite in IL 2 1946. Very well modelled . And I looking forward to fly it in this game

Monostripezebra
Posted

Sounds like my kind of aircraft considering I can't maneuver to save my virtual life, so ideally I need something where I shouldn't even try.

 

They had the reputation of beeing quite nimble, but in the horizontal plane and without excessive bank. It´s a very high performance plane for it´s time, and that high speed, range and payload came at a price. But it also had a reputation for beeing able to take a fair bit of punishment and not stop flying. Still, with 190 in the air, you better have some escorts...

ShamrockOneFive
Posted

They had the reputation of beeing quite nimble, but in the horizontal plane and without excessive bank. It´s a very high performance plane for it´s time, and that high speed, range and payload came at a price. But it also had a reputation for beeing able to take a fair bit of punishment and not stop flying. Still, with 190 in the air, you better have some escorts...

 

I'm also curious to see how our A-20B fares... the A-20C added extra armor if I remember right. The structure should be similarly strong but extra armor does tend to make things like the pilots and fuel tanks less vulnerable.

=WH=PangolinWranglin
Posted (edited)
I'm also curious to see how our A-20B fares... the A-20C added extra armor if I remember right.

I thought Han said we were getting the G... I'll go look for that and edit if I find it.  

Edit: Found it!

 

 

4 guns - it's A-20G, not B.
  Edited by =DF=spaceman1999
6./ZG26_Klaus_Mann
Posted

 

I thought Han said we were getting the G... I'll go look for that and edit if I find it.  

Edit: Found it!

 

 

 

 

A-20B https://il2sturmovik.com/about/

Posted

 

I thought Han said we were getting the G... I'll go look for that and edit if I find it.

Edit: Found it!

I think somebody asked about guns in the nose. Hans answer to this question was as you had above. However now you know the question his answer might explain the confusion.

ShamrockOneFive
Posted (edited)

 

I thought Han said we were getting the G... I'll go look for that and edit if I find it.  

Edit: Found it!

 

Though Han's answer was a bit odd out of context... someone was asking about the solid nosed 6 gun G version and that is not what we're getting.

 

It's definitely an A-20B: https://il2sturmovik.com/about/

 

a20b.png

 

Also about the armor... it was from Wikipedia:

A-20B The A-20B received the first really large order from the Army Air Corps: 999 aircraft. These resembled the DB-7A rather than the DB-7B, with light armor and stepped rather than slanted glazing in their noses. In practice, 665 of these were exported to the Soviet Union, so only about one third of them served with the USAAF.

 

The A-20B makes the most sense... this is the common type in VVS service for 1943 over Kuban.

 

I have to say that I'm pretty excited. Of all of the light bomber types in IL-2 1946, I flew the A-20C and G the most. Mostly the A-20G because of the forward firepower but I flew the A-20C a fair bit as well. It was perhaps a little overdone in IL-2 1946 but its speed and reasonable defensive firepower made it quite the attacker. If you could get into position, you can usually blow past the defending fighters unless they have really good positioning. Just agile enough to evade some of the attacks as well. You really poured on the coals and made it through the defenses, delivered the bombs (sometimes at treetop height) and got the heck out of there.

Edited by ShamrockOneFive
Posted

I do not mind a G but B suit me fine , I like level bombing 

  • 6 months later...
IRRE_Golgoth21
Posted

eager to read the norden user manual...

Posted

Sounds like my kind of aircraft considering I can't maneuver to save my virtual life, so ideally I need something where I shouldn't even try.

The Russians did barrel rolls in them all the time.

Posted (edited)

The Russians considered the "over-powered" whatever that means in the context of combat.

In any case they had power to spare and were quite maneuverable for a twin engined bomber.

Edited by Gambit21
FuriousMeow
Posted

eager to read the norden user manual...

 

Doubtful it will be modeled. These will be VVS A20Bs, the Norden was not exported.

  • 1CGS
Posted

Doubtful it will be modeled. These will be VVS A20Bs, the Norden was not exported.

Yep, it will probably be a Sperry bombsight.

IRRE_Golgoth21
Posted

Is the Sperry, an automatic one ? As the German was. Unable to find any information about that feature.

  • 1CGS
Posted

Is the Sperry, an automatic one ? As the German was. Unable to find any information about that feature.

Yes, it was automatic. There are some good videos about the Sperry S-1 on YouTube: https://youtu.be/CRlsF1U5vUw

  • Upvote 1
3rd-BG_Concho
Posted

That was a good video.  Explained a lot.

Posted

was not the Bostons equipped with Norden sight? I never really thought about this,I just assumed they where

216th_Lucas_From_Hell
Posted

The Norden was considered secret by the USAAF, and they had a general policy of not sending some advanced equipment to the Soviet Union to prevent its capture by Germany, I think

 

The first Nordens to reach the Soviet Union arrived in 1945 with the newest batch of B-25s. An anecdote goes that before that the US Navy delivered some Catalinas with radars, unaware of the USAAF's guidelines.

 

Would any of the initiated be able to tell us if the Sperry is comparable in accuracy and operation?

IRRE_Golgoth21
Posted

Very interesting...

Posted

The is the one bird I'm waiting for eagerly. Shame we're not getting the G version but they flew the B during that timeline so I'll fly the B as well. Looks like they can carry 1800kg (4000lbs) or bombs...not bad. 8 x 500lbs is pretty good (or some variation thereof). 

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