

This is a wartime head-on view of an A-20G cockpit which shows the open hatch in which the liferaft was stowed. This view demonstrates why pilots were told they could never bail out of an A-20 - if they did they would be hurled into the empennage. There is at least one recorded case of a successful bail-out of an A-20G however. This occurred on 30th May 1944 just offshore Saidor, New Guinea, when 2/Lt Phillip R. Crow of the 672nd Bombardment Squadron abandoned his aircraft after a bomb hung up. Crow pulled the aircraft back to stall, then crawled onto the wing mid-root before falling. The aircraft, only two months old, was A-20G-25-Do serial # 43-9107. His Commanding Officer was not particularly pleased about the loss, but no-one disputed that Crow had set a 'first'. Return to WWII Photos Pacific Ghost Main Page Ordering Information