The Model 8A-3P was an export version of the A-17A for the Cuerpo de Aeronautical del Peru. The Model 8A-3P differed from the USAAC A-17A in being powered by a 1000-hp Wright GR-1820-G103 radial, and was fitted with the partially- retractable bomb-aiming tub that was carried by the Argentine Model 8A-2s.
A total of ten Model 8A-3Ps were built (company numbers 412 to 421). They served with the 31st Escuadron de Ataque y Reconicimemiento. These planes were used during the July 1941 war between Peru and Ecuador. The last Model 8A-3P was finally retired during the late 1950s.
Specification of Douglas DB-8A-3P:
Engine: One 1000-hp Wright GR-1820-G103 air-cooled radial.
Performance: Maximum speed 238 mph at 8700 feet, 208 mph at sea
level. Landing speed 66 mph. Initial climb rate 1200 feet per
minute, Service ceiling 24,000 feet, Maximum range 1180 miles.
Dimensions: Wingspan 47 feet 9 inches, Length 32 feet 1 inches,
Height 9 feet 9 inches, Wing area 363 square feet.
Weights: 4820 pounds empty, 7500 pounds loaded.
Armament: Four wing-mounted 0.30-inch machine guns, plus one flexible
0.30-inch machine gun operated by rear cockpit gunner. Normal bomb
load included 20 internally-carried 30-pound fragmentation bombs and
four externally-carried 100-pound bombs. Maximum bomb load was 1200
pounds.
Sources:
-
American Combat Planes, Third Enlarged Edition, Ray Wagner, Doubleday,
1982.
-
United States Military Aircraft Since 1909, Gordon Swanborough and
Peter M. Bowers, Smithsonian, 1989.
-
McDonnell Douglas Aircraft Since 1920, Volume I, Rene J. Francillon,
Naval Institute Press, 1988.
- Northrop's Connection--The Unsung A-17 Attack Aircraft and its Legacy, Part 2, Alain J. Pelletier, Air Enthusiast, September/October 1998, No. 77.
