Douglas B-18 Bolo

Operational history

The initial contract called for 133 B-18s (including DB-1), using [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].

The last B-18 of the run, designated DB-2 by the company, had a power-operated [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]. This design did not become standard.

Additional contracts in 1937 (177 aircraft) and 1938 (40 aircraft) were for the B-18A, which had the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]'s position further forward over the nose-[Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]'s station. The B-18A also used more powerful engines.

Deliveries of B-18s to Army units began in the first half of 1937, with the first examples being test and evaluation aircraft being turned over to the Materiel Division at [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], the Technical Training Command at [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], and [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien],Colorado.

Deliveries to operational groups began in late 1937, the first being the 7th Bombardment Group at [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].

B-18 derrière des Boeing P-26

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Production B-18s, with full military equipment fitted, had a maximum speed of 217 mph, cruising speed of 167 mph, and combat range of 850 miles.

Nevertheless, the B-18 was the most modern bomber design then available.

By 1940, most USAAC bomber squadrons were equipped with B-18s or B-18As.

However, the deficiencies in the B-18/B-18A bomber were becoming readily apparent to almost everyone.

In range, in speed, in bomb load, and particularly in defensive armor and armament, the design came up short, and the USAAF conceded that the aircraft was totally unsuited in the long-range bombing role for which it had originally been intended.

To send crews out in such a plane against a well-armed, determined foe would have been nothing short of suicidal.

However, in spite of the known shortcomings in the B-18/B-18A, the Douglas aircraft was the most numerous American bomber type deployed outside the Continental United States at the time of Pearl Harbor.

It was hoped that the B-18 could play a stopgap role until more suitable aircraft such as the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress and Consolidated B-24 Liberator became available in quantity.

When war came to the Pacific, most of the B-18/B-18A aircraft based overseas in the Philippines and in Hawaii were destroyed on the ground in the initial Japanese onslaught.

The few Bolos that remained played no significant role in subsequent operations.

B-18 A. Hawaï

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The Bolos remaining in the continental USA and in the Caribbean were then deployed in a defensive role in anticipation of attacks on the US mainland.

These attacks never materialized. [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] supplanted B-18s in first-line service in 1942.

Following this, 122 B-18As were modified for anti-[Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] warfare. The bombardier was replaced by a search [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] with a large [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].

[Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] (MAD) equipment was sometimes housed in a tail boom.

These aircraft, designated B-18B, were used in the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] on anti-submarine patrol.

Two aircraft were transferred to [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] in 1942 and used with a provisional conversion training unit set up
under the provisions of Lend-Lease.

They were later used for anti-submarine patrols.

They were struck off charge at the end of the war.

The [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] acquired 20 B-18As (designated the Douglas Digby Mark I), and also used them for patrol duties.

On 2 October 1942, a B-18A, piloted by Captain Howard Burhanna Jr. of the 99th Bomb Squadron, depth charged and sank the German [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] north of [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].

RCAF Digby

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Bolos and Digbys sank an additional two submarines during the course of the war.

RCAF Eastern Air Command (EAC) Digbys carried out 11 attacks on U-boats. [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] was confirmed sunk by Flying Officer F. Raymes' crew of No 10 (BR) Sqn, on 30 October 1942. east of [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].However, the antisubmarine role was relatively short-lived, and the Bolos were superseded in this role in 1943 by the B-24 Liberator which had a substantially longer range and a much heavier payload.

Pulling a [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] Douglas [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] out of Newfoundland waters during WWII.

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Surviving USAAF B-18s ended their useful lives in training and transport roles within the continental United States, and saw no further combat action.

Two B-18As were modified as unarmed cargo transports under the designation C-58.

At the end of the war, those bombers that were left were sold as surplus on the commercial market.

Some postwar B-18s of various models were operated as cargo or crop-spraying aircraft by commercial operators.

Variants


DB-1

Prototype, first of B-18 production run, 1 built.

B-18

Initial production version, 131 or 133 built.

B-18M

Bomb gear removed from B-18 to serve as trainer.


DB-2


Powered nose turret prototype; last of B-18 production run, 1 built.