French DB-7s were the first to see combat; after the fall of France, the bomber served with the Royal Air Force under the service name Boston.

In March 1936, a design team headed by Donald Douglas, Jack Northrop, and Ed Heinemann produced a proposal for a bomber-reconnaissance aircraft powered by a pair of 450 hp (340 kW) Pratt & Whitney R-985 Wasp Junior 9-cylinder radial engines mounted on a shoulder wing.

To meet this requirement, the Douglas team, now headed by Heinemann, developed the Model 7B, with a similar layout to the 7A, but was powered by 1,100 hp (820 kW) Pratt & Whitney R-1830-S3C3-G Twin Wasp 14-cylinder engines, and carried a bombload of up to 2,000 lb (910 kg).

It faced competition from the North American NA-40, Stearman X-100, Martin 167F, and an unbuilt design from Bell Aircraft, the Model 9.

The Air Corps invited all five companies to build prototypes at their own expense and to submit sealed bids for production of their aircraft.

The Model 7B crashed on 23 January 1939 while demonstrating single-engine performance, killing the test pilot and seriously injuring a French observer aboard the aircraft.

These had a larger vertical tail to cope with the increased power of the Wright engines, had a longer nose to give more room for the bombardier/navigator, and carried more fuel.

[11] In a report to the British Aeroplane and Armament Experimental Establishment (AAEE) at RAF Boscombe Down, test pilots summed it up as: "has no vices and is very easy to take off and land ...

Douglas redesigned its Santa Monica plant to create a mechanized production line to produce A-20 Havocs.

It had a narrower, deeper fuselage, 1,000 hp (750 kW) Pratt & Whitney R-1830-SC3-G radials, French-built guns, and metric instruments.

The DB-7s were shipped to Casablanca in French North Africa where they were reassembled and tested before being handed over to operational units of the Armée de l'Air.

[18] After French forces in North Africa had joined the Allies, DB-7s were used as trainers and were replaced in front line escadrilles with Martin B-26 Marauders.

2 Group RAF and then the Second Tactical Air Force and carried out numerous raids against targets in mainland Europe.

[19][20] In late 1944 to early 1945, a few surviving ex-French DB-7s were moved to mainland France, where they saw action against the remaining isolated German pockets on the western coast.

[citation needed] The French had originally intended to use the DB-7 as a short-range tactical attack aircraft, but its range was too short for the RAF to be able to use them as light bombers against German targets in Europe.

The type saw its first operations with the RAF in early 1941, when 181 Boston Mk IIs began to be flown as night fighters and intruders.

[23] All the French DB-7As, an improved DB-7 version, were delivered to the RAF, where they were given the name Havoc II and converted to night fighters.

They were supplied to squadrons in the United Kingdom and Middle East (later moved to bases in Italy) replacing Bristol Blenheims.

Delivery had been scheduled for May 1942 but because of the desperate situation US government agreed to divert 32 DB-7B Boston III aircraft to the Dutch East Indies in advance.

RAAF Bostons took part in the Battle of the Bismarck Sea and in attacks on a large Japanese convoy headed toward Lae.

In 1940, the US military's indifference to the type was overcome by improvements made for the French and British Commonwealth air forces.

Two variants were ordered, in a tranche of more than 200 aircraft: the A-20 for high-altitude daylight bombing and the A-20A for low- and medium-altitude missions.

[31] The A-20B, another high-altitude bomber variant – lacking heavy armor and self-sealing fuel tanks – received a significant order from the USAAC: 999 aircraft (although two-thirds of these were exported to the USSR).

[33] A major shipment of DB-73s originally destined for France was retained by the US government and converted to A-20C/G attack configuration.

When operating in formation their heavy forward firepower could overwhelm shipboard antiaircraft defenses and at wave-top level (resembling a torpedo run) they could skip their bombs into the sides of transports and destroyers with deadly effect.

[35] In addition, the captains of small Japanese escorts (destroyers, for example) assumed the approaching aircraft were making torpedo runs and turned their vessels bow-on to the aircraft in defense, making the strafing far more devastating to the unarmored escorts and often leaving them even more vulnerable to follow-up "skip-bombing" runs.

[37] The first night-fighter squadron to use P-70s in combat was based at Henderson Field to intercept high-flying Japanese night raiders.

The P-70s scored only two kills during the Pacific war as its performance was not good enough to intercept Japanese night raiders, and were replaced by Northrop P-61 Black Widows as soon as possible.

They provided valuable tactical support to allied ground troops, especially during and following the Battle of Kasserine Pass.

Data from McDonnell Douglas aircraft since 1920 : Volume I,[51] Jane's Fighting aircraft of World War II[52]General characteristics Performance Armament The Way to the Stars, also known as Johnny in the Clouds, is a 1945 war drama film made by Two Cities Films and released by United Artists, that prominently features RAF Bostons.