On September 20, 1944 the last
DouglasA-20K Havoc was produced by Douglas, with 7098 having been built by Douglas and 380 under license by
Boeing.[1] The Havoc was quickly replaced in
USAAF service by the
Douglas A-26, the
RAAF replaced them with
Bristol Beaufighters, and the
RAF with the
de Havilland Mosquito. One of the last substantial users was the Força Aérea Brasileira (
Brazilian Air Force) who continued using the A-20 until the late 1950s.
So quickly was the A-20 phased out of service and scrapped that, by the early 1960s, the aircraft was on the verge of extinction with only six complete airframes known in existence. Currently, due to numerous expeditions into the jungles of
New Guinea, as well as Russian crash sites, additional restorable airframes are being discovered and the number of intact aircraft growing.
44-0539 – Museu Aeroespacial, Campo dos Afonsos in
Rio de Janeiro.[7]
Finland
Submerged
A-20??
An A-20 plane was found during the
Nord Stream 2 gasline project in 2017. The plane is submerged 100 meters deep in the
Baltic Sea, in international waters. The aircraft is intact, which is rare for a plane that has crash-landed at sea. Inside could possibly be the remains of the pilot, as well as active bombs.[8]
Papua New Guinea
Wrecks
A-20G
42-86563 – Stripped wreck abandoned at Yamai Airfield,
Madang Province.[9]
Poland
Under restoration or in storage
A-20
s/n unknown – Extracted from Baltic Sea floor. To be displayed in
Kraków National Museum of Aviation after restoration.[10]
43-9436 –
Pima Air and Space Museum adjacent to
Davis-Monthan AFB in
Tucson, Arizona.[17] This aircraft was originally nicknamed Big Nig during its World War II service, but due to the racist origins of this name, the museum has opted to restore only the nose art image, not the name.