Talk:Douglas DB-7

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Why is this named Boston instead of Havoc? While it is true the first deliveries became named Boston (which obviously isn't the name the French Air Force intended to give them), it looks as if the majority were produced under the Havoc name, and that was its name in USAF service. Kd5mdk 8 July 2005 22:45 (UTC)

In light of that fact, perhaps a move and redirect is appropriate? I'd be happy to do it if there's consensus, although it wouldn't surprise me to know you and I are the only two people watching this page ;) —chris.lawson (talk) 8 July 2005 23:17 (UTC)

And we can see how well I watch my watchpage... Well, if nobody else feels like commenting I guess we are a concensus. Anybody who wishes to speak up should do so between now and whenever chris.lawson does it. :) Kd5mdk 09:51, 13 July 2005 (UTC)

"A-20" is a US Army designation code and "Boston" is a British name, so the present title is inconsistent. It should be moved to either "A-20 Havoc" or "Boston bomber". Bastie 19:52, 21 August 2005 (UTC)

Contents 1 Proper Title 2 P-70 Nighthawk 3 Assessment 4 Citation needed 5 This article needs a lot of help

[edit] Proper Title

In my opinion the correct title should be "Douglas DB-7" since it saw service with many, many Allied airforces. A-20 would be USAAF only. Boston would be all the Commonwealth airforces. Havoc was originally coined for RAF night fighter variants, but also used to describe A-20s. The Soviets, the largest user, probably called them A-20s, but I have seen Russian cutaways calling them Bostons. End of the day, Douglas called it the DB-7, so that is what we should call it.

We should also recategorize it as US Bombers 1940-49, not 1930-39. It was initially developed in the late '30s, but it didn't see action until the '40s and is a WWII plane. - jsimkins 21:43, 18 September 2005 (UTC)

[edit] P-70 Nighthawk

Anyone know if the "Nighthawk" moniker for the P-70 was official? - Emt147 ^Burninate! 07:15, 10 January 2006 (UTC)

I do not, but your earlier edit was incorrect. The night-fighters were known as the Havoc by Commonwealth airforces and the P-70 by the US. Your edit makes it sound like the Commonwealth called it the P-70. - jsimkins 09:09, 9 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Assessment

I classified this as start, the main impediment to B-class (or higher) being the somewhat fractured nature of the article. A longer section on the development history of the original aircraft is desireable, as it is now essentially an admittedly excellent list of variants. To move up the scale, the original (or most important) variant of the aircraft needs to have a complete article. Carom 15:58, 25 September 2006 (UTC)

It is hard to say which is the most important variant. The USSR was the heaviest user of the aircraft (in several variants), but there is next to no information on USSR use that I know of. I would say the best combination of original and most important would be the RAF Boston III and IIIA, but I am biased (my grandfather flew for No.88 squadron, which is why I have accumulated so much knowledge on this rather unknown aircraft). Jsimkins 18:13, 17 October 2006 (UTC)

BTW, I personally prefer the article as a general discussion of the DB-7 rather than something on one variant, primarily because of the large number of variants and airforces that used the DB-7. I agree that it does need help though. I would envisage getting this article to the next stage requiring a complete article on the history and service of the DB-7 as a whole and keeping the variant information similar to how it is (some variants could use more work, and some of the info could be moved out to other sections, and it would probably benefit from some grouping as the length is rather hard to digest). The next stage would include articles on its use with different airforces, so the entire entry would contain in-depth and fully featured information on the DB-7 in all its iterations, detailed information on its service with different countries and then succinct information on different variants. Jsimkins 18:22, 17 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Citation needed

Can we get a citation for one of the military historians finding this to be the third most important twin-engine warplane of WWII?

I will try and track it down as I was the one that added that line. I can assure you it is accurate, I just need to remember where I read it... Jsimkins 18:09, 17 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] This article needs a lot of help

Someone needs to take the time and effort to restructure this article, it's lay out is horrbile. --Signaleer 23:50, 19 December 2006 (UTC)

No numbers except the total produced, very few dates of who ordered what, how many, when, or deliveries, no first flight...the name of the article is the least problem here.--Buckboard 08:49, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

A concern that I see, is the fact that the article has a horrible structure and again, there are important subjects within the article that are missing or very weak, plus there are no sources or references cited.

--Signaleer 15:44, 6 January 2007 (UTC)