Original 1939 Douglas B-18 Bolo Bomber Photo & Export Cutaway Pair 8x10 USAAC For Sale

Original 1939 Douglas B-18 Bolo Bomber
Photo & Export Cutaway Pair 8x10 USAAC
Dated May 11, 1939, with export-marked cutawayDESCRIPTIONThis listing is a pair of period 8x10 sheets from a Douglas Aircraft factory photo album, sold together: a photograph of a Douglas B-18A Bolo twin-engine bomber parked on a ramp, dated May 11, 1939, and a halftone cutaway illustration titled INTERIOR ARRANGEMENT showing crew stations, bomb racks and gun positions, with a pencil note in the lower margin reading DS 280 for export.The photograph shows the bomber from the front quarter with its wedge-shaped bombardier nose set over an open gun station, a pair of antenna masts on the fuselage and light biplanes parked on the ramp behind. The negative number 15041 and the date 5-11-39 are lettered in white along the lower edge of the image. No national insignia, serial number or registration is visible on the airplane. The cutaway shows the crew at their stations inside the fuselage, with bombs stacked in racks below, the wing center section in the middle and a domed gun station near the tail.The B-18 Bolo grew out of Douglas's DC-2 airliner. It was priced at $58,500 against $99,620 for Boeing's four-engine Model 299, and the Army General Staff preferred the cheaper airplane. The B-18A, 217 of which were built, moved the bombardier forward into the wedge nose over the nose gunner and used 1,000 horsepower Wright R-1820-53 engines. It carried a crew of six and remained the Army Air Corps' primary bomber into 1941, even though it was already outclassed by European bombers in 1939. Japanese forces destroyed some B-18s on the ground on December 7, 1941, and converted B-18s later hunted U-boats, with a B-18 of the 99th Bomb Squadron sinking U-512 on October 2, 1942.The export note is the story. Douglas used the designation DB-280 for the B-18A built for the Royal Canadian Air Force as the Digby Mk I, named for the RAF bombing school at Digby. In late 1938 a British Air Ministry delegation visited Douglas to consider about 200 maritime reconnaissance bombers based on the B-18, but the RAF ordered Lockheed Hudsons instead, calling the Douglas underpowered, under-armed and overpriced. Canada did buy: twenty Digbys, serials 738 to 757, with British .303 guns, were delivered between December 29, 1939 and May 22, 1940 to replace the biplane Westland Wapitis of No. 10 Squadron. This photograph was made in the same year those airplanes were being built.Flying from Halifax, Dartmouth and Gander, No. 10 (Bomber Reconnaissance) Squadron's Digbys made 11 attacks on U-boats. The first, on October 25, 1941, was the RCAF's first attack on a submarine, but both depth charges failed to explode. On October 30, 1942, Flying Officer F. Raymes and his crew caught the surfaced U-520 east of Newfoundland and sank her with four depth charges, with all 53 men aboard lost. Liberators replaced the Digby in 1943.Both sheets came out of the same Douglas factory photo album and show the handling marks of album removal, described in the condition notes. Scanned at 600dpi.Every effort is made toward fact checking and provenance, including background research through news and historical archives. If any listing is incorrect in any way and you're unsatisfied with the item, please connect with me and I'll make it right. Orders placed before Noon CDT ship same day via Ground Advantage with tracking so you know exactly when it will arrive. Returns accepted on all items exceeding $25 in cost. All shipments receive rigid, professional packaging, sealed and protected in acid free protectors. Shipping is free and already built into the price, so the BIN price is exactly what you pay, no surprise shipping costs at checkout.CONDITIONTwo black and white 8x10 sheets sold together as a pair, both removed from an album. The photograph is sharp with good contrast, with scattered white specks, dark dust spots and light mottling in the sky and along the white border. A light corner crease is visible in the scans. The cutaway is a halftone printed sheet with overall toning and irregular edges with exposed paper fibers along the top, right and bottom. Its reverse is tan and stained from album adhesive, with gray album paper fibers along the edges and the printed title showing faintly through. The pencil note in the lower margin is faint but legible. The residue does not affect the image areas, which are complete with no holes or tears. Please review all photos closely, as they are part of the description.