B-18 Bolo
| Country | United States |
| Manufacturer | Douglas Aircraft Company |
| Primary Role | Medium Bomber |
| Maiden Flight | 1 April 1935 |
Contributor: C. Peter Chen
ww2dbaseThe B-18 Bolo bombers were the response to the United States Army Air Corps' 1934 request for a bomber with greater bomb load and greater range than the then-standard B-10 bombers. Though not the most capable among the contestants, the design's lower price gave it the competitive edge needed to win the contract. The design entered production in Jan 1936 and by 1940 most US Army Air Force bomber squadrons were equipped with B-18 bombers. The first combat action they saw, unwillingly, was the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, where many of them were destroyed on the ground. Later in the war when their capabilities were surpassed by more modern designs, some of them were transferred to other Allied nations such as Canada and Brazil while others were converted for anti-submarine use. During the design's production life, 350 were built.
ww2dbaseSource: Wikipedia.
Last Major Revision: Apr 2007
SPECIFICATIONS
B-18A
| Machinery | Two Wright R-1820-53 radial engines rated at 1,000hp each |
| Crew | 6 |
| Span | 27.28 m |
| Length | 17.63 m |
| Height | 4.60 m |
| Wing Area | 89.10 m² |
| Weight, Empty | 7,400 kg |
| Weight, Loaded | 10,030 kg |
| Weight, Maximum | 12,600 kg |
| Speed, Maximum | 346 km/h |
| Rate of Climb | 5.20 m/s |
| Service Ceiling | 7,280 m |
| Range, Normal | 1,850 km |
| Range, Maximum | 3,400 km |
Photographs
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Chiang Kaishek, 31 Jul 1937
9 Nov 2007 07:48:07 PM
In Canada we called them Digbys.They were usefull for air sea patrol.They were obsolete at the time, but we gave all our modern aircraft to the brits, or americans.