The XA-20F was a single A-20A (39-725) fitted with upper and lower General Electric remotely-controlled power turrets, each mounting a pair of 0.5-inch machine guns. The turrets were controlled from a single sighting station. Although this experimental turret arrangement was not introduced onto the A-20 production line, it did provide valuable information for the later A-26 Invader program. Later, the aircraft was modified at Wright Field with a single fixed forward-firing 37-mm cannon in the nose.
The XA-20F may have been the same A-20A airframe which had been
designated XA-20B and fitted with three remotely-controlled turrets,
one each in the nose, dorsal and ventral positions. However, I don't know
for sure that this was the case.
Sources:
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American Combat Planes, Third Enlarged Edition, Ray Wagner, Doubleday,
1982.
-
McDonnell Douglas Aircraft Since 1920, Vol 1, Rene J. Francillon,
Naval Institute Press, 1988
-
United States Military Aircraft Since 1909, Gordon Swanborough and
Peter M. Bowers, Smithsonian, 1989.
-
A-20 Havoc in Action, Aircraft Number 144, Squadron/Signal Publications,
Jim Mesko, 1994.
-
Famous Bombers of the Second World War, William Green, Doubleday, 1960
-
Boston, Mitchell and Liberator In Australian Service, Stewart Wilson,
Aerospace Publications, 1992.
-
Jane's Fighting Aircraft of World War II, Military Press, 1989.
- Dog of War, Peter Bowers, Wings, Vol 26, No. 1 (1996)
