Hobby Master HA4211 US Army Air Force Douglas A-20G Havoc Medium Bomber - "The Hell'n Pelican II", 90th Bombardment Squadron "Pair-O-Dice", 3rd Bombardment Group, Gusap Airfield, Papua, New Guinea, 1944 (1:72 Scale)
"Thanks to its 2,400 hp engine it had a considerable margin of excess power and its acceleration was phenomenal. It was pretty tricky to fly, but its performance more than made up for it..."
- French ace Pierre Clostermann, from his book "The Big Show"
The Douglas A-20/DB-7 Havoc was a family of American attack, light bomber and night fighter aircraft of World War II, that served with several Allied air forces, principally those of the Soviet Union, United Kingdom, and United States. The DB-7 was also used by the air forces of Australia, South Africa, France, and the Netherlands during the war, and Brazil afterwards. The bomber aircraft was known as Boston among British and Commonwealth air forces, while the Royal Air Force night fighter variants were given the service name Havoc. The United States Army Air Forces assigned the DB-7 the designation "A-20" and gave it the popular name "Havoc".
The A-20J carried an additional bombardier in an extended acrylic glass nose section. These were intended to lead bombing formations, with the following standard A-20s dropping their bombs when signaled by the leader. A total of 450 were built, 169 for the RAF which designated them Boston Mk IV from the summer of 1944 onwards.
The A-20G, delivered from February 1943, would be the most produced A-20 variant, with 2,850 built. The glazed nose was replaced by a solid nose containing four 20 mm (.79 in) Hispano cannon and two .50 in M2 Browning machine guns. After the first batch of 250, the less-accurate cannon were replaced by more machine guns. After 750 aircraft had been built, a power-driven gun turret fitted with two .50 in machine guns was fitted, with the fuselage 6 inches (15 cm) wider as a result, and the ventral tunnel gun changed from a .30 in to another .50 in Browning. The powerplants were two 1,600 hp (1,200 kW) R-2600-23. Many A-20Gs were delivered to the Soviet Union. Notably, U.S. A-20Gs were used on low-level sorties in the New Guinea campaign.
This particular 1:72 scale replica of a US Army Air Force Douglas A-20G Havoc medium bomber was nicknamed "The Hell'n Pelican II", and attached to the 90th Bombardment Squadron "Pair-O-Dice", 3rd Bombardment Group, then deployed to Gusap Airfield, in Papua, New Guinea, during 1944.
Now in stock!
Dimensions:
Wingspan: 8-1/4-inches
Length: 11-3/4-inches
Release Date: December 2025
Historical Account: "Commerce Destroyers" - During World War II, the 90th Bombardment Squadron operated in the South Pacific, flying A-20 Havoc and B-25 Mitchell aircraft. Their main mission involved highly-dangerous skip bombings. In an effort to improve the effectiveness and protection of the 3rd Bombardment Group's pilots, Major Paul 'Pappy' Gunn, 3rd Bombardment Group engineering officer, devised a modification to the B-25C. The modification replaced the forward bombardier with four forwards firing .50 caliber machine guns, supplemented with two twin .50 caliber gun packages side mounted on the fuselage. The lower turret was discarded. The A-20s received similar modifications. The modified aircraft were first employed by the 90th and proved exceptionally effective, receiving the nickname 'commerce destroyers.' During the Battle of the Bismarck Sea, every aircraft in the 90th scored a hit on the Japanese convoy of 18 ships. It was the first sea-level attack by B-25 strafers in World War II and demonstrated that this tactic was extremely effective. The squadron also participated in the raids on Wewak, New Guinea, which were preemptive strikes that virtually ended the threat of enemy offensive air capabilities.