A-20B 41-3040 370 in flight
The A-20B designation was given to the 999 aircraft built at Douglas’s new factory at Long Beach Municipal Airport, located about 15 miles southeast of the El Segundo facility. This plant was constructed under a federal expansion program initiated by President Roosevelt in May 1940, which aimed to build 50,000 aircraft for the impending war. This program allowed companies to borrow funds from the federal Defense Plant Corporation, build and equip a plant, and then have the government make annual payments for five years to purchase the facility. After five years, the government would gain title to the plant. This arrangement helped manufacturers build the necessary capacity without risking overcapacity post-war.
The Long Beach plant, originally intended for C-47 transport production, was completed in November 1941, with the first C-47 rolling out on December 23. Before the war ended, the plant produced C-47s, B-17s, A-26s, and A-20s. After the war, the federal government took over the facility, but Douglas later repurchased most of it for post-war production.
The A-20B had slight differences from the A-20As being produced in Santa Monica. The nose-glass design reverted to the DB-7B style, possibly because the fuselage was built as one unit like the DB-7A, rather than in two halves. Additionally, all armament, except the ventral flexible gun, was upgraded to Browning .50-calibre machine guns. Despite some sources suggesting otherwise, there is no record of aft-firing nacelle guns being specified. The aircraft was designed for glide bombing and could carry small chemical tanks under each wing, with provision for a 200-gallon bomb-bay ferry tank. It was powered by Wright R-2600-11 engines, similar to the A-20A.
The A-20B contract (AC-15948) specified a total price, including government-furnished equipment, of about $137,778 per aircraft. Production began shortly after the Long Beach plant opened, with Douglas serials assigned from 5001 to 5999 and AAF serials from 41-2671 to 41-3669. The first delivery was on February 24, 1942, and the last in February 1943. Most production at Long Beach consisted of final assembly of parts built elsewhere, such as fuselages made at El Segundo.
Most A-20Bs were allocated to the Soviet Union under Lend-Lease, with 668 aircraft sent there. Another 258 aircraft went to the Twelfth Air Force for operations in North Africa, while the rest stayed in the U.S. for training or development programs. Eight A-20Bs were transferred to the Navy as BD-1s.
The production number of 999 is notable. Part of contract AC-15948 included 775 O-53s, a heavy-observation version of the A-20B with turbocharged R-2600-7 engines. The 1,000th A-20B, s/n 41-3670, was likely intended to be an XO-53. The O-53 program was canceled, and presumably, so was the last A-20B.