The Douglas A-20 Havoc: From Drawing Board to Peerless Allied Light Bomber (Ultimate Look, 6)

I’m going to commit that annoying faux-pas of giving a book a (deserved) five-star rating, and then making a few less than complimentary remarks about it in the text of my review. I’m awarding all five stars to Dr. William Wolf’s massive tome on the Douglas A-20 Havoc for the simple reason that I can’t imagine that the author could have done anything at all to make this a more complete or more professionally written dissection of the airplane’s design and history. Here and there a typo or mistaken caption may be found, but at 520 pages and weighing in at 6.1 lbs, a few minor screw-ups have to be expected and tolerated. Disregarding trivialities, Wolf has likely produced the most thorough technical breakdown of every square inch of the A-20, in all of its various versions and uses by all of the countries that flew the bomber in World War II, that any human being could reasonably generate. It’s the whole enchilada; a component-by-component breakdown of the entire craft from nose cone to tail cone so up-close, in-depth, and personal that you’ll feel obligated to buy the airplane breakfast the next morning.That being said, I’m not sure that there’s an audience out there to whom I would actually recommend this book.If there were as many books written about the A-20 Havoc as there are written about more popular planes like the B-17, I would almost certainly encourage a casual fan of warbirds, a fan such as myself, to save the money and buy a cheaper one. An Amazon search does produce a very small handful of thinner and presumably easier-to-digest publications on this aircraft, so maybe in hindsight I should have taken my own advice and played in my weight class. When it comes to warbirds, my chief focus tends to be on heavy bombers, but I was interested in diversifying. I was curious about the A-20 specifically; mentions of which kept popping up in my other reading, but a type that I knew next to nothing about. I don’t own and have never read any other book by this author. I originally balked at the price tag, but the fact that it was a Schiffer publication ultimately convinced me to fork over the cash. I knew before I bought it that it would be this thick, and I suspected from the reviews that it was extremely detailed. Given how much the purchase set me back, I committed myself to a cover to cover read, over the course of a couple months and mostly in small doses, just to be able to say that I had honestly perused every page of what I’d paid for.I just finished it last night. I am neither a pilot nor an aviation engineer, and to be honest, it was a ponderous, ponderous read. This is essentially the encyclopedia of the A-20, and it reads pretty much like any other encyclopedia does. I didn’t feel that the author was regularly writing over a layman’s head, necessarily, but the density of tenacious technical detail given as Wolf takes the entire plane apart bolt by bolt and describes it to his audience is enough to make any casual reader fall into techno-speak induced catalepsy multiple times throughout the read. If you decide to plunk down the change for this book, understand that you’re getting several hundred pages of the following type of prose: “The solenoid valves in these circuits were of the continuous current type, remaining open only while current flowed in the control circuit. The primer circuit and oil dilution circuits were controlled by momentary contact switches on the pilot’s lower electrical panel and were supplied through 15 amp circuit breakers.” (pg 357)“The valve relieved the excess pressures in the system caused by expansion of the fluid at high temperatures, or by excessive operation of the hand pump with the bypass valve in the SYSTEM position.” (pg 366)“A BC-347 interphone amplifier and a dynamotor were installed on the upper shelf in A-20G-1-DOs to 15-DO, and installed on the radio deck beginning with A-20G-20-DO.” (pg. 429)“Commencing with A-20G-25-DOs, the circuit was changed to incorporate an AN-3018 switch and a fixed resistor for dimming British-type wing tip and tail formation lights, and the wing tip lights were changed from Type A-8 to Type A-9. On A-20G-45-DOs, A-20J-20-DOs, and A-20Hs and K-1-DOs to 10-DOs, the two lights on the vertical stabilizer were removed and a tail cone light was substituted.” (pg 360)The entire book doesn’t read like that, but long stretches of it do, especially in the 205-page portion of the book that Wolf calls “Part 5: Description.” It’s not incomprehensible, it’s just laborious to slug through, or at least I found it to be so. If that level of technical detail is precisely what you’re looking for in a book about a warplane, then feel no trepidation about buying this one; Wolf will lavish you with all you want and then some. If the above samples run a little too thick for your tastes, then this may not be the A-20 book for you, even though your alternatives are few.I already said that, despite the fact that it’s a five-star product, I don’t know what kind of audience I could possibly recommend the entire package to. However, I can easily recommend portions of this book (“portions” being the operative word) to the following types of readers:- Anyone interested in the history of the Douglas Company. Wolf’s first 51 pages focus on founder Donald Douglas, his company’s early years, their chief products leading up to WWII, and especially warplane models from the interwar period, both Douglas’s and related models from competitors.- Anyone interested in the history of American Lend-Lease as it related to the air war, and/or the logistics of transporting Lend-Lease aircraft to the front. Only the minority of all A-20s built was used by the American AAF; most were Lend-Leased to France, Britain, or Russia. Wolf’s section on Lend-Lease runs about 30 pages, and goes into great detail on the various routes and schemes attempted to transport planes that weren’t capable of making the direct trans-continental flight.- Anyone interested in English or American aircraft markings during WWII. Wolf has a 22-page section on markings specific to the A-20 in its various configurations. A lot of what he says about this plane can translate over to the general paint scheme of other bombers operating at the same time. Wolf follows the first section with an additional 6 color pages diagramming the various markings, and a one-page (black & white) sampling of nose art.- Anyone interested in the process of warplane assembly during the war years. Wolf’s section focusing on manufacture of these planes is only 12 pages long, but it’s just as crammed with detail as the rest of the book, and doesn’t disappoint. We even get a few amusing pictures (which I’ve personally never seen anywhere else) of factory complex roof camouflage, where a fake suburb was built on the tops of the factory buildings at Douglas in an attempt to make it blend in with its surroundings when viewed from overhead, hoping to confound putative attacks by enemy bombers aiming visually.- Anyone acutely interested in the intricacies of aircraft systems design from the time period. As previously mentioned, Wolf gives you 205 pages worth of elaborate system-by-system analysis of absolutely every line, circuit, tank, hook, gun, and component that was ever installed in the plane by any of its users across its entire production run. In case you were losing sleep because you didn’t know right where the relief tubes hung in the Douglas A-20, Wolf’s got you covered.However, I would definitely not recommend this book, even in part, to readers looking for aerial warfare stories or pilot remembrances about flying and fighting in this airplane. There are a few combat yarns sprinkled here and there in the chapters where Wolf lists and details the many users of the A-20 throughout the various fronts of the war, and every so often we get a quote or a general sentiment about the plane’s handling characteristics in the air, but Wolf has given us a textbook, not a storybook. That part of the A-20’s history, the part that might be most relatable to a warbird lover not specifically fixated on measurements and specs, is almost entirely absent.In summary, I can’t say that I enjoyed the read. I don’t know if I would have bought it all over again, given the chance. But please don’t construe such hesitation as any outright failing of the book itself. I don’t know enough to fact-check the technical data, and I’m pretty sure I’d never want to devote that much time to the job even if I did, but from a laymen’s perspective, Wolf has compiled a flawless volume covering everything but everything that there ever is, was, or will be to know about the Douglas A-20 Havoc. This is a five-star book, and if you’re in love with this airplane badly enough that too much information could never be enough, then you won’t miss the money. If that isn’t you, and it isn’t me, then either buy it as a section-by-section reference for your warbird library if you’ve got the funds, or save your cash and pray for a thinner treatment of the subject to manifest.

The Douglas A -20 Havoc is a massive book on this aircraft. Everything you would want to know is in this massive book. I did not know a lot about this aircraft but after reading you will have more then enough information need. Book has a massive amount of pictures and colored line drawing. Little know portion of the book for me is each chapter describes the foreign user of this platform. After reading I would come to the conclusion that the majority of users was foreign operators during WW2. This platform seems to be at its end towards the end of WW2 and is replaced by A-26. I also found interesting the history of the Douglas aircraft company in the first few chapters. Great read

Item as described. Arrived safely and in timely manner.

One stop book. Aside from the purchase of personal memoirs or unit histories, this volume on the A-20 should be sufficient for most aviation enthusiasts. Like his other efforts, this work by Mr.Wolf had a few pleasant surprises. The biographies of the principals in part one was for its size very good.

Tremendously researched and documented. Wolf knows his stuff!! Great collection of photos from government and private sources. I really liked the details on units flying the A-20 and their markings. Not sure I'd pay $80 but it's bound to be a rare find.

Superb coverage of an important weapon system that is all too often forgotten.

Best reference of the type. Great detail and history.

Typical William Wolf quality research and presentation

Autor tem uma vasta biblioteca sobre a aviação durante a Segunda Guerra e foi bem utilizada para a confecção deste livro. Engloba do surgimento da empresa Douglas, ao projeto do DB-7/A-20, sua estrutura, motores, acessórios, carburadores, hélices, armamentos, etc....Descreve o seu uso pelos soviéticos e até seu uso pelo Brasil. Vale a pena para quem gosta do assunto

Un pavé très complet sur le plan technique, iconographique et opérationnel avec de nombreuses photographies couleurs d'appareils conservés. Il manque quand même des plans trois vues au 1/72 ème, les schémas de camouflage sont succincts et j'aurais aimé trouver un schéma détaillé des nombreux marquages techniques appliqués en usine.

Been looking forward to this book due family history and the fact that little has appeared in print about the A-20/Boston and what has is usually pretty indifferent; but now its finally here have some reservation. Must admit have not read it cover to cover as yet, its huge, but have dipped into parts I have specific knowledge of or interest in.Book is divided into 9 parts so will give you a short precise of what you get.......Part 1 covers the history of the Douglas Company, Donald Douglas and designer Ed Heinemann and then the development of Big Bombers in the US. Not quite sure about the latter as the A-20 obviously was not one of these. This covers no less than 50 pages or nearly 10% of the book. even including a colour picture of the DC-8! It seems that there was little budget control for this book, everything went in regardless of space and cost. Not knocking whats been written but just querying its relevance. As a purchaser of a specialist and basically technical book would you want all this, I certainly didn't.Part 2 covers the development of the light bombers contemporary with the A-20 and maybe this is where the book should have started ?Part 3 is about French, Australian and British use, Includes, particularly the British night fighter part, quite a bit bout the people who flew these things which is good and something which the rest of the book noticeably lacks. Here though I noticed errors; the Boston IV on page 111 is a III; the alleged 107 Squadron aircraft looks like the first DB-7A already shown in similar photos earlier and the 226 Squadron claim also appears to be one of the stateside publicity shots. Several other photo captions have been transposed.Part 3 Variants........again moves off subject a touch........yes the A-20 was sent in huge numbers to Russia but does this justify a big section about "generalised" Lend lease. This moves on into Ferry Routes, virtually all of them, and the author even admits that not all of them had anything to do with the A-20. Interesting stuff but should this all be in this volume?The section ends with US use and units. I defer to more qualified readers to comment on accuracy here but would say that apart from the names of a few commanding officers this section says nothing about the crews who flew these aircraft which is unusual in a 2015 published work. And believe it or not all sewn up in 16 pages which really puts whats gone before into perspective.......Part 4 Production....scrapbook of factory photos both inside and out.Part 5 Description. What I thought this book would mostly be about and its good. 207 pages of description of virtually every part, some in minute detail, using technical manual extracts and drawings, period photos and some new photos of museum aircraft. This is based on the A-20G but with some reference to other models added when necessary.Hoped there would be reference to the Smoke Curtain Installation (SCI) used by the Bostons on D Day (my Father flew with 88 that day) but is not mentioned, and the other bug bear of modellers of this aeroplane, the exhaust system and its numerous variations, is sadly rather lacking.That said the rest is VERY good.Part 6 Colour Drawings of representative A-20 s .Includes BZ357 of 88 Squadron RAF, allegedly on D Day but actually shows the special markings of Operation Starkey in 1943. This was a common mistake in books and magazines in the past that I had hoped had now been sorted out, but obviously not!On page 470 at least one paragraph has been repeated and the piece about white additions to wing markings on Bostons is not right. And NO ,Australian national markings are not black and white.Part 7 TrainingPart 8 Pilot notes..........Flight handling pilot manual reproduction. There are also a few comments about flying the A-20 but sadly only from official documents and not from the men at the coalface, so not of huge interestPart 9 SurvivorsSo there you go, sorry its so long but this is a huge book of over 500 pages. Generally well presented as you'd expect from this publisher but spoilt by the majority of the photos being very small and if you're expecting NEW ones then you will probably not be overwhelmed by them. Why the huge sections mentioned were allowed to go through I can't imagine, the space would have been better used in my humble opinion to have some larger pictures if the object was to have a very large book. Commercially would have made more sense to reduce the page count to make a more manageable and a cheaper/ more saleable book.As for "Ultimate"........well the Description section is fascinating if you have a deep interest in this aeroplane and this will surely never be repeated. As for the rest, the bits I know about were lacking to say the least and I look forward to hearing about the other sections from other reviewers.