The Douglas B-18 and B-23: America's Forsaken Warriors Hardcover – September 15, 2015

I am writing this review of Dan Hagedorn’s new book, The Douglas B-18 and B-23: America's Forsaken Warriors, as the author of the “other” B-18 book: The Douglas B-18 Bolo: The Ultimate Look: from Drawing Board to U-boat Hunter (Schiffer, PA, 2007). After the release of my book in early 2007 Mr. Hagedorn contacted me saying he also had been researching a book on the B-18 for many years. At the time I told him I was looking forward to his book as he was the acknowledged B-18 expert and his new book proves my point. Definitely worth the wait and definitely 5 Stars. For those who have purchased my B-18 book you certainly will not be wasting your $ on the Hagedorn’s book. He has expanded on my material and has added many new photos.

Great book about the B-18 Bolo and B-23 Dragon. At the beginning of ww2 the B-18 was the only bomber available in large quantity in countries such as the Philippines. The B-18 was hoped to be a stopgap until bombers like the famous B-17 Flying Fortress and B-24 could be available in mass quantities. The book also talks very briefly about the B-23 Dragon. which was passed on because of better medium bomber designs like the B-25 Mitchell. In my opinion they could have gone into more detail about the B-23 but there is very little information out there about it. An overall great book and a B-18 fan necessity.

Though its prose is often clumsy and is at times confusing, especially on the development of the B-18 design, this is an exceedingly well-documented book on the long-underappreciated B-18 (its section on the B-23 is fittingly brief because the B-23 was built in quite small numbers and it filled no major operational role). This book is so well-documented that the sheer mass of its minutiae may cause more than a few readers' eyes to glaze over. Contains a wealth of design, exterior, interior and detail photographs whose first-rate quality is amplified by the book's high-quality paper, yet many of the images are of such small dimensions that one should have a magnifying glass to hand to make out details which one may find piquant.

I was not sure about this book but since I am getting ready to build a model of a B-18 I figured why not. This is one of the most if not best reference sources for this aircraft I have seen. I been building models since the late50s and I have a reference library par to non other. My son who is an airplane nut also was looking at the book and after a few pages just said, "Dad, this is really great book on the B-18, maybe now you will build it." Again if you are interested in this type of aircraft or era you can not find a better reference source. Well done, home for tea!

Dan Hagedorn and his son have produced the most comprehensive and detailed account of the B-18 that will probably ever be published. It should serve as a model for any future coverage of a World War II era warplane. The operational history of the B-18 and B-18A, down to the level of individual squadrons, is nowhere else presented in such detail as in this volume, a boon for Army Air Corps researchers. The wide selection of photos offered is also outstanding, most of which have never been seen before. The painstaking research the authors have conducted has yielded an account that appears error-free throughout the volume. If it were possible, I would give it six stars instead of five.

Very interesting book, I remember a B-23 flying out of Don Scott (OSU) Field in the 60s.. Thought it was run by Ohio U Avionics Test, not OSU. But it was an interesting bird.. I thought the visibility must be a bit poor, with the engines in the way.But it's nice to hear 'the rest of the story'

There are now two over-sized and comprehensive books on this black sheep of USAAC medium bombers - "black sheep" because it absorbed all the USAAC budget that might have gone into putting the B-17 into production long before WW-II. Based on the DC-2 (precursor to the DC-3), this portly and over-built bomber was useful in training pre-war aircrews and - once the war began - serving as an anti-sub patrol bomber off the US and Caribbean Island coasts. If you like obscure aircraft, this book highlights an exceptional one.

A pean to the slow, old-fashioned Douglas B-18. It served only in areas where there was no chance of encountering enemy aircraft; it would have been an easy target.The B-18's value was as a patrol aircraft, searching for U-boats on both sides of the Panama Canal and other quiet areas during WWII.

Very good book

Un volume interessantissimo per un velivolo quasi ignorato che invece ha retto l'onere della difesa costiera US durante la ww2 oltre ad esser stato usato per spedimentare operativamente dispositivi allora straprdinari come il radar aeroportato ed il Mad per la localizzazione dei sommergibili. Storia, tecnica, operatività, sperimentazioni e disegni molto utili anche ai fini modellistici. Profili a colori sempre graditi, il tutto legato ad una ricerca storica seria e documentale. Unica pecca, forse, l'aver voluto inserire anche un capitolo dedicato al B-23 cui non si sono potute dedicare molte pagine benché anch'esso molto interessante. In definitiva un libro che vale sicuramente ogni centesimo costato

A good book, but spoilt by the authors' continual use of, "...contrary to what has been published elsewhere", "...other books have got this wrong", etc. It starts off as a useful pointer that the authors have done their work, but after pages and pages of these awkward qualifying statements, it becomes annoying. In the end I put it down (but did look at the rest of the text, which confirmed my fears). I do hope to come back to it when I have the patience.Obviously well-researched, obviously well-produced but flawed, which is a great shame.

機体に関係した人々からの聞き取りインタビューの航空機史。B-18の機体の製造過程、発達史にふれ機体の運用にもふれる。カナダ軍での活動も概要に触れています。特にこの機体は海上探索を主な任務としたことも詳しく述べる。　第18章ではB-23、DC-266、DB-320の運用にも触れていてこの方面の機体はすべて網羅しています。今まで模型としても発表されること少ない機種でありますがダグラス社の意欲作でありB-17との関連も指摘されます。　現存する機体の写真もカラーにて紹介されています。部隊運用表も載せられてその運用状況が詳細に記され示されています。珍しい機体の出版で是非備えたい本です。