Hobby Master’s 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)
Ordinarily, commerce raiding is a form of naval warfare used to destroy or disrupt logistics of the enemy on the open sea by attacking its merchant shipping, rather than engaging its combatants or enforcing a blockade against them. Privateering,, on the other hand, is a form of commerce raiding conducted by independent operators.
During World War II, elements of the United States Navy based in Brazil conducted operations in the Atlantic against German commerce raiders and blockade runners. In the Pacific, the U.S. Navy operated against Japanese merchant shipping, as well as engaging in offensive operations against ships of the Japanese Imperial Navy. The bulk of the Japanese merchant marine was sunk by American submarines. By the end of the war, only 12% of Japan’s pre-war merchant tonnage was still afloat.
The Indian Ocean raid was a naval sortie by the Carrier Striking Task Force of the Japanese Navy from March 31st to April 10th, 1942, against Allied shipping and bases in the Indian Ocean. It was an early engagement of the Pacific campaign of World War II.
The staff of the Imperial Japanese Navy decided to send some raiders to Indian Ocean waters from December 12th, 1941 to July 12th, 1942. The Germans had already been operating in the area and conducted mutual aid with Japanese submarines, in the form of re-supply and military intelligence. The Indian Ocean was the largest operating area involving direct contact between the two Axis partners, in which their primary objective was to keep pressure on the shipping lanes. The Japanese Navy participated in some commerce raiding, but concentrated its efforts toward a “decisive battle” in the Pacific, which never took place.
While naval assets continued to play a pivotal role in World War II, commerce destroyers took on an added dimension with the introduction of military aircraft. One such aircraft that took on this task was the inimitable Douglas A-20 Havoc, an American light bomber, attack aircraft, night intruder, night fighter, and reconnaissance aircraft of World War II. The A-20G, as it came to be known, filled the role perfectly. 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.
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.
Expect Hobby Master’s newest A-20G to strafe the competition in late November.