United States Army
The United States Army is the land warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the seven uniformed services of the United States, is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution; as the oldest and most senior branch of the U. S. military in order of precedence, the modern U. S. Army has its roots in the Continental Army, formed to fight the American Revolutionary War —before the United States of America was established as a country. After the Revolutionary War, the Congress of the Confederation created the United States Army on 3 June 1784 to replace the disbanded Continental Army; the United States Army considers itself descended from the Continental Army, dates its institutional inception from the origin of that armed force in 1775. As a uniformed military service, the U. S. Army is part of the Department of the Army, one of the three military departments of the Department of Defense; the U. S. Army is headed by a civilian senior appointed civil servant, the Secretary of the Army and by a chief military officer, the Chief of Staff of the Army, a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
It is the largest military branch, in the fiscal year 2017, the projected end strength for the Regular Army was 476,000 soldiers. S. Army was 1,018,000 soldiers; as a branch of the armed forces, the mission of the U. S. Army is "to fight and win our Nation's wars, by providing prompt, land dominance, across the full range of military operations and the spectrum of conflict, in support of combatant commanders"; the branch participates in conflicts worldwide and is the major ground-based offensive and defensive force of the United States. The United States Army serves as the land-based branch of the U. S. Armed Forces. Section 3062 of Title 10, U. S. Code defines the purpose of the army as: Preserving the peace and security and providing for the defense of the United States, the Commonwealths and possessions and any areas occupied by the United States Supporting the national policies Implementing the national objectives Overcoming any nations responsible for aggressive acts that imperil the peace and security of the United StatesIn 2018, the Army Strategy 2018 articulated an eight-point addendum to the Army Vision for 2028.
While the Army Mission remains constant, the Army Strategy builds upon the Army's Brigade Modernization by adding focus to Corps and Division-level echelons. Modernization, reform for high-intensity conflict, Joint multi-domain operations are added to the strategy, to be completed by 2028; the Continental Army was created on 14 June 1775 by the Second Continental Congress as a unified army for the colonies to fight Great Britain, with George Washington appointed as its commander. The army was led by men who had served in the British Army or colonial militias and who brought much of British military heritage with them; as the Revolutionary War progressed, French aid and military thinking helped shape the new army. A number of European soldiers came on their own to help, such as Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben, who taught Prussian Army tactics and organizational skills; the army fought numerous pitched battles and in the South in 1780–1781, at times using the Fabian strategy and hit-and-run tactics, under the leadership of Major General Nathanael Greene, hit where the British were weakest to wear down their forces.
Washington led victories against the British at Trenton and Princeton, but lost a series of battles in the New York and New Jersey campaign in 1776 and the Philadelphia campaign in 1777. With a decisive victory at Yorktown and the help of the French, the Continental Army prevailed against the British. After the war, the Continental Army was given land certificates and disbanded in a reflection of the republican distrust of standing armies. State militias became the new nation's sole ground army, with the exception of a regiment to guard the Western Frontier and one battery of artillery guarding West Point's arsenal. However, because of continuing conflict with Native Americans, it was soon realized that it was necessary to field a trained standing army; the Regular Army was at first small and after General St. Clair's defeat at the Battle of the Wabash, the Regular Army was reorganized as the Legion of the United States, established in 1791 and renamed the United States Army in 1796; the War of 1812, the second and last war between the United States and Great Britain, had mixed results.
The U. S. Army did not conquer Canada but it did destroy Native American resistance to expansion in the Old Northwest and it validated its independence by stopping two major British invasions in 1814 and 1815. After taking control of Lake Erie in 1813, the U. S. Army seized parts of western Upper Canada, burned York and defeated Tecumseh, which caused his Western Confederacy to collapse. Following U. S. victories in the Canadian province of Upper Canada, British troops who had dubbed the U. S. Army "Regulars, by God!", were able to capture and burn Washington, defended by militia, in 1814. The regular army, however proved they were professional and capable of defeating the British army during the invasions of Plattsburgh and Baltimore, prompting British agreement on the rejected terms of a status quo ante bellum. Two weeks after a treaty was signed, Andrew Jackson defeated the British in the Battle of New Orleans and Siege of Fort St. Philip, became a national hero. U. S. troops and sailors captured HMS Cyane and Penguin in the final engagements of the war.
Per the treaty, both sides (the United S
Central Mountain Air
Central Mountain Air Ltd. is a Canadian regional airline based in Smithers, British Columbia. It operates transborder services, its main base is Smithers Airport, with other bases at Calgary International Airport, Vancouver International Airport and Prince George Airport. The airline was established and started operations in 1987. In 1997 Central Mountain Air placed an order for additional Raytheon Beech 1900D Airliner aircraft and began operating as an Air Canada connector, replacing Air BC operating several routes within Alberta and British Columbia, latterly under the Air Canada Express banner. In October 2011, Central Mountain Air ceased its Capacity Purchase Agreement with Air Canada; the agreement had been for flights from Calgary to Lethbridge, Medicine Hat and Cranbrook, now operated by Air Georgian. Central Mountain Air continues to be an Air Canada codeshare partner for flights from Vancouver to Campbell River and Williams Lake. In late 2005 the first of two Dornier 328 were delivered to the airline, for use on chartered and scheduled flights.
In 2014 they received their third Dornier 328. In March 2010, 580741 BC, the parent company of Central Mountain Air, purchased fellow British Columbia-based airline Hawkair. On November 18, 2016, Hawkair declared bankruptcy, had all assets seized for liquidation, permanently suspended operations. Central Mountain Air is the sister company of Northern Thunderbird Air, which operates charter and cargo services from Prince George. Central Mountain Air operates services to the following domestic scheduled destinations: British Columbia Campbell River Dawson Creek Fort Nelson Fort St. John Kamloops Kelowna Prince George Quesnel Smithers Terrace Vancouver Williams Lake Alberta Calgary Edmonton High Level The Central Mountain Air fleet includes the following aircraft: The Transport Canada web site shows a de Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beaver and a Piper PA-31 Navajo both with cancelled certificates. Official website FlightSource.ca photos of CMA Aircraft Smithers Chamber of Commerce / Central Mountain Air
Department of National Defence (Canada)
The Department of National Defence abbreviated as DND, is a Canadian government department responsible for defending Canada's interests and values at home and abroad. National Defence is the largest department of the Government of Canada in terms of budget as well as staff, it is the department with the largest number of buildings. The department is headed by the Deputy Minister of National Defence, the department’s senior civil servant, reports directly to the Minister of National Defence; the Department of National Defence exists to aid the minister in carrying out his responsibilities within the Defence Portfolio, provides a civilian support system for the Canadian Armed Forces. Under the National Defence Act, the Canadian Armed Forces is a separate and distinct organization from, is not part of, the Department of National Defence; the Department of National Defence was established by the National Defence Act, which merged the Department of Militia and Defence, the Department of Naval Services, the Air Board.
The National Defence Act was passed by the Parliament of Canada on June 28, 1922. Both the Canadian Armed Forces and the Department of National Defence are, although two separate organizations, known collectively as The Defence Team as both institutions work together in the defence of Canada; the Minister of National Defence, as the member of cabinet responsible to Parliament for National Defence, heads the Defence Team. The Department of National Defence is headed by the Deputy Minister of National Defence. Under the Deputy Minister are a variety of associate deputy and assistant deputy ministers who are responsible for various aspects of the department; the Deputy Minister is appointed by the Governor General on behalf of the Queen of Canada on the advice of the Prime Minister. The Canadian Armed Forces, as a separate and distinct organization, is headed by the Chief of the Defence Staff, reporting to him are the Royal Canadian Navy, Canadian Army, Royal Canadian Air Force, a variety of other commands.
There are a variety of offices and support organizations which report to both the Chief of Defence Staff and the Deputy Minister. The Canadian Sovereign, represented by the Governor General, is responsible for appointing the Minister, Deputy Minister, Chief of Defence Staff on the recommendation of the Queen's Privy Council of Canada. Although not part of the Defence Team organizational structure, the legal military chain of command within the Canadian Forces originates from the Queen of Canada as Commander-in-Chief, through the Chief of the Defence Staff to all military officers by virtue of their holding of the Queen’s Commission, thus through them to all members of the Canadian Armed Forces; the Minister of National Defence is responsible for the entire Defence Portfolio comprising several organizations, including the Canadian Armed Forces, the Communications Security Establishment, Defence Research and Development Canada, the Department of National Defence, amongst others. The department is not responsible for all of these organizations itself, but rather exists to support the minister in carrying out all of his duties within the Defence Portfolio.
The Canadian Forces are a separate entity from the Department of National Defence. Minister of National Defence Canadian Forces Royal Canadian Navy Canadian Army Royal Canadian Air Force Military history of Canada History of the Canadian Army History of the Royal Canadian Navy History of the Royal Canadian Air Force Armed Forces Council Union of National Defence Employees Department of National Defence and Canadian Forces Archival papers held at University of Toronto Archives and Records Management Services
Eleventh Air Force
The Eleventh Air Force is a Numbered Air Force of the United States Air Force Pacific Air Forces. It is headquartered at Joint Base Elmendorf–Richardson, Alaska.11 AF plans, conducts and coordinates air operations in accordance with the tasks assigned by the commander, Pacific Air Forces, is the force provider for Alaskan Command, the Alaska North American Aerospace Defense Command Region and other unified commanders. Established on 28 December 1941 as the Alaskan Air Force at Elmendorf Field, Alaska Territory. 11 AF was a United States Army Air Forces combat air force in the American Theater of World War II, providing air defense of Alaska and engaging in combat operations in the Aleutian Islands and Northern Pacific during the Aleutian Islands Campaign. Re-designated as Alaskan Air Command in late 1945, the organization became responsible for the air defense of Alaska during the Cold War. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the organization was realigned under PACAF in 1990 and returned to its previous Numbered Air Force command echelon.
The commander of the Eleventh Air Force serves as the commander of United States Northern Command's sub-unified Alaskan Command, as commander of the Alaskan North American Aerospace Defense Command Region. This mission is accomplished through the PACAF Regional Support Center, the 611th Air and Space Operations Center, units of the Alaska Air National Guard. Together, they provide a network of critical air surveillance and command and communications functions necessary to perform tactical warning and attack assessment in defense of Alaska. 3d WingThe 3d Wing is a United States Air Force unit stationed at Joint Base Elmendorf–Richardson, Alaska. Its mission is to support and defend U. S. interests in the Asia-Pacific region and around the world by providing units that are ready for worldwide air power projection and a base, capable of meeting PACOM's theater staging and throughput requirements. 354th Fighter WingThe 354th Fighter Wing is stationed at Alaska. The wing's mission is to train and provide F-16C and Expeditionary Combat Support forces to combatant commanders anytime, anyplace, in support of U.
S. national security objectives. As the United States Air Force’s most northern operational wing, the 354th Fighter Wing hosts Air Education and Training Command’s Arctic Survival School. 36th WingThe 36th Wing's and Andersen Air Force Base's official mission statement is "...to employ, deploy and enable air and space forces from the most forward US sovereign Air Force Base in the Pacific." More the 36th Wing has three major missions: Operate Andersen AFB via its subordinate 36th Mission Support and 36th Medical Groups. 611th Air and Space Operations CenterThe 611th Air and Space Operations Center at Joint Base Elmendorf–Richardson, Alaska consists of five squadrons and two numbered flights that develop plans and directives for the employment of Alaskan combat and support forces assigned to the 11th Air Force, PACAF and NORAD. 611th Air Support GroupThe 611th Air Support Group at Joint Base Elmendorf–Richardson, Alaska consists of two squadrons that provides surveillance radars, Arctic infrastructure including airfields and worldwide ready EAF warriors for homeland defense, decisive force projection, aerospace command and control in Alaska.
Missile Defense Flight or Command Representative for Missile DefenseServes as the focal point for all issues related to Ground-based Midcourse Defense in Alaska, in support of Alaska Command, Alaska NORAD Region, 11 AF. 11th Air Force/Alaska NORAD Region Logistics FlightProvides a core group of logisticians to support Air Force and NORAD air operations throughout the theater, including manning the ANR Battlestaff and establishing logistics readiness centers when necessary. The 11th Air Force has two major units; these units are part of the Alaska Air National Guard. 168th Air Refueling WingThe 168th Air Refueling Wing is an Air National Guard stationed at Eielson Air Force Base and flies the Boeing KC-135R Stratotanker. The 168th has taken over the missile defense mission at Clear Air Force Station with their 213th Space Warning Squadron. 176th WingThe 176th Wing is an Air National Guard unit operating out of Joint Base Elmendorf–Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska. The 176th is a multifaceted organization consisting of an airlift squadron, a complete pararescue package, as well as the 176th Air Control Squadron, which supports the Alaska NORAD Region with continuous operations and maintenance.
Military aircraft began flying in Alaska in 1920 when the Black Wolf Squadron, or The Alaska Flying Expedition, made The New York to Nome Flight. Capt. St. Clair Streett commanded 7 men in 4 DH-4s as they took off from Mitchel Field on 17 July 1920; each plane had a black profile of a Wolf's head painted on their sides. The trip organizer, Billy Mitchell wanted to establish an airway to Asia; the 9349 mile round trip route included flying west to North Dakota north through Saskatchewan, British Columbia, the Yukon, onwards to Fairbanks on 19 Aug. and Nome on the 23rd. They started their return trip on the 31st, landing Mitchel Field on 20 Oct. 1920 after 112 flying hours. In 1924, the around the world flight by the Army using Douglas "World Cruiser"s transited though Alaska. However, the first permanently based military aircraft began to deploy to Alaska during the last half of 1940 after the
British Columbia Highway 97
Highway 97 is the longest continuously numbered route in the Canadian province of British Columbia, running 2,081 km from the Canada–United States border near Osoyoos in the south to the British Columbia/Yukon boundary in the north at Watson Lake, Yukon. The route takes its number from U. S. Route 97; the highway was designated'97' in 1953. The Okanagan Highway is a 189 km section of Highway 97 between the international border and the junction of Highway 97A north of Vernon, it is named for the Okanagan region of British Columbia, through which it passes. It begins in the south at the international border crossing north of Oroville, travels 4 km north to its junction with the Crowsnest Highway at Osoyoos; the highway travels north for 47 km, passing through the Testalinden Creek Landslide and the communities of Oliver and Okanagan Falls. From Okanagan Falls, Highway 97 runs near the western shore of Skaha Lake before arriving at the locality of Kaleden, where Highway 3A diverges west. 13 km north of Kaleden, Highway 97 arrives at the city of Penticton.
North of Penticton, Highway 97 follows the western shore of Okanagan Lake for 45 km, through the communities of Summerland and Peachland, before reaching its junction with Highway 97C just south of Westbank. From there, Highway 97 passes through West Kelowna and reserve lands belonging to the Westbank First Nation until, 15 km northeast of the 97C junction, Highway 97 begins to cross Okanagan Lake via the William R. Bennett Bridge; the highway enters the city of Kelowna upon landfall on the east shore of the lake. 6 km east into the city centre, the highway reaches its junction with Highway 33. As the Okanagan is a popular travel destination and has the highest population in inland B. C. this section of highway 97 is by far the busiest. Congestion is frequent - near the William Bennett Bridge, Southbound towards West Kelowna. Four kilometres north of the Highway 33 junction, Highway 97 leaves the urbanized area of Kelowna. For the next 43 km, the route travels well east of Okanagan Lake, passing through the community of Winfield.
Prior to 2013, the highway ran alongside the west shore of Wood Lake to Oyama. A new 9 km section of four-lane highway was constructed and opened to traffic at that time, which bypasses Oyama to the north; the original section of the highway skirting the western shore of Wood Lake is now known as Pelmewash Parkway. Both Oyama and Winfield lie within the municipality of Lake Country. Highway 97 passes along the west shore of Kalamalka Lake before entering the city of Vernon and a junction with Highway 6 just south of the city centre; the highway travels north for 10 km to a junction with Highway 97A near Swan Lake. Highway 97 continues northwest from Highway 97A for 81 km, past the town of Falkland, before it merges onto the Trans-Canada Highway at Monte Creek, is known as the Vernon-Monte Creek Highway; the highway follows Highway 1 for 105 km west to Cache Creek. As it travels westward, Highways 1 and 97 parallel the Thompson River, passing through the city of Kamloops, where the route shares a 12 km wrong-way concurrency with Highway 5 and intersects Highway 5A.
The Cariboo Highway section of Highway 97, between Cache Creek and Prince George, is 441 km in length and named for the Cariboo region, through which it travels. Much of its length as far as Quesnel follows the route of the original Cariboo Wagon Road, known as the Queen's Highway; the Cariboo Wagon Road's lower stretches between Yale and Cache Creek were severed in many places by the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway in the 1880s. That section, now part of the Trans-Canada, was rebuilt in the 1920s, when the name Cariboo Highway was first applied to the route, a designation which ran from Yale to Prince George, British Columbia. Today the Cariboo Highway designation begins at Cache Creek, veering north for 11 km to its junction with Highway 99. North of Highway 99, Highway 97 travels 92 km through Clinton, where the British Columbia Railway begins to parallel Highway 97, as well as through the community of 70 Mile House before reaching a junction at 93 Mile House with Highway 24.
Over the 100 km of road north of Highway 24, Highway 97 travels through 100 Mile House and 150 Mile House before reaching the city of Williams Lake and a junction with Highway 20, which runs west across the Chilcotin District to Bella Coola on the Central Coast. Over the next 120 km continuing northward, the highway passes through McLeese Lake and Marguerite. En route, Highway 97 follows the east bank of the Fraser River to the city of Quesnel, a junction with Highway 26. Over the next 115 km north of Quesnel, after passing through the hamlets of Strathnaver, Hixon and Red Rock, Highway 97 meets its junction with Highway 16 at Prince George. North of here, the highway veers away from the Fraser River, the British Columbia Railway veers northwestward from it; the term Cariboo Highway applied to the reconstructed route from Hope through the Fraser Canyon to Cache Creek and Prince George. Constructed in 1924-25, the new gravel toll highway opened in 1926, giving road access to canyon communities cut off since the destruction of parts of the Cariboo Road by construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway in the 1880s.
The Cariboo High
Nav Canada
Nav Canada is a run, not-for-profit corporation that owns and operates Canada's civil air navigation system. It was established in accordance with the Civil Air Navigation Services Commercialization Act; the company employs 1,900 air traffic controllers, 650 flight service specialists and 700 technologists. It has been responsible for the safe and expeditious flow of air traffic in Canadian airspace since November 1, 1996 when the government transferred the ANS from Transport Canada to Nav Canada; as part of the transfer, or privatization, Nav Canada paid the government CA$1.5 billion. Nav Canada manages 12 million aircraft movements a year for 40,000 customers in over 18 million square kilometres, making it the world’s second-largest air navigation service provider by traffic volume. Nav Canada, which operates independently of any government funding, is headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario, it is only allowed to be funded by service charges to aircraft operators. Nav Canada's operations consist of various sites across the country.
These include: About 1,400 ground-based navigation aids 55 flight service stations 8 flight information centres, one each in: Kamloops – most of British Columbia Edmonton – all of Alberta and northeastern BC Winnipeg – northwestern Ontario, all of Manitoba and Saskatchewan London – most of Ontario North Bay – all of Nunavut and Northwest Territories, most of the Arctic waters Quebec City – all of Quebec, southwestern Labrador, tip of eastern Ontario, northern New Brunswick Halifax – most of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, most of Newfoundland and Labrador Whitehorse – northwestern British Columbia and all of Yukon 41 control towers 46 radar sites and 15 automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast ground sites 7 Area Control Centres, one each in: Vancouver – Surrey, BC Edmonton – Edmonton International Airport Winnipeg – Winnipeg-James Armstrong Richardson International Airport Toronto Centre – Toronto-Pearson International Airport Montreal Centre – Montreal-Trudeau International Airport Moncton – Riverview, New Brunswick Gander – Gander International Airport North Atlantic Oceanic control centre: Gander ControlNav Canada has three other facilities: National Operations Centre: Ottawa Technical Systems Centre: Ottawa The Nav Centre – 1950 Montreal Road in Cornwall, Ontario As a non-share capital corporation, Nav Canada has no shareholders.
The company is governed by a 15-member board of directors representing the four stakeholder groups that founded Nav Canada. The four stakeholders elect 10 members as follows: These 10 directors elect four independent directors, with no ties to the stakeholder groups; those 14 directors appoint the president and chief executive officer who becomes the 15th board member. This structure ensures that the interests of individual stakeholders do not predominate and no member group could exert undue influence over the remainder of the board. To further ensure that the interests of Nav Canada are served, these board members cannot be active employees or members of airlines, unions, or government; the company was formed on November 1, 1996 when the government sold the country's air navigation services from Transport Canada to the new not-for-profit private entity for CAD$1.5 billion. The company was formed in response to a number of issues with Transport Canada's operation of air traffic control and air navigation facilities.
While TC's safety record and operational staff were rated its infrastructure was old and in need of serious updating at a time of government restraint. This resulted in system delays for airlines and costs that were exceeding the airline ticket tax, a directed tax, supposed to fund the system; the climate of government wage freezes resulted in staff shortages of air traffic controllers that were hard to address within a government department. Having TC as the service provider, the regulator and inspector was a conflict of interest. Pressure from the airlines on the government mounted for a solution to the problem, hurting the air industry's bottom line. A number of solutions were considered, including forming a crown corporation, but rejected in favour of outright privatization, the new company being formed as a non-share-capital not-for-profit, run by a board of directors who were appointed and now elected; the company's revenue is predominately from service fees charged to aircraft operators which amount to about CAD$1.2B annually.
Nav Canada raises revenues from developing and selling technology and related services to other air navigation service providers around the world. It has some smaller sources of income, such as conducting maintenance work for other ANS providers and rentals from the Nav Centre in Cornwall, Ontario. To address the old infrastructure it purchased from the Canadian government the company has carried out projects such as implementing a wide area multilateration system, replacing 95 Instrument Landing System installations with new equipment, new control towers in Toronto and Calgary, modernizing the Vancouver Area Control Centre and building a new logistics centre Nav Canada felt the impact of the late-2000s recession in two ways: losses in its investments in third party sponsored asset-backed commercial paper and falling revenues due to reduced air traffic levels. In the summer of 2007 the company held $368 million in ABCP. On 12 January 2009 final Ontario Superior Court of Justice approval was granted to restructure the third party ABCP notes.
The company expects that the non-credit related fai
Douglas B-18 Bolo
The Douglas B-18 Bolo is an American medium bomber which served with the United States Army Air Corps and the Royal Canadian Air Force during the late 1930s and early 1940s. The Bolo was built by the Douglas Aircraft Company, based on its DC-2, was developed to replace the Martin B-10. By 1940, it was considered to be underpowered, to have inadequate defensive armament, to carry too small a bomb load. Many were destroyed during the attacks on Pearl Harbor and the Philippines in December 1941. In 1942, the surviving B-18s were relegated to antisubmarine, transport duty, training. A B-18 was one of the first American aircraft to sink a German U-boat, U-654 on 22 August 1942 in the Caribbean. In 1934, the United States Army Air Corps put out a request for a bomber with double the bomb load and range of the Martin B-10, just entering service as the Army's standard bomber. In the evaluation at Wright Field the following year, Douglas showed its DB-1, it competed with the Boeing Model 299 and Martin Model 146.
While the Boeing design was superior, the crash of the B-17 prototype removed it from consideration. During the depths of the Great Depression, the lower price of the DB-1 counted in its favor; the Douglas design was ordered into immediate production in January 1936 as the B-18. The DB-1 design was that of the DC-2, with several modifications; the wingspan was 4.5 ft greater. The fuselage was deeper, to better accommodate the six-member crew. Added armament included nose and ventral gun turrets. Preston Tucker's firm received a contract to supply a remote controlled gun turret for the aircraft; the initial contract called for 133 B-18s. The last B-18 of the run, designated DB-2 by the company, had a power-operated nose turret; this design did not become standard. Additional contracts in 1937 and 1938 were for the B-18A, which had the bombardier's position further forward over the nose-gunner's station; the B-18A used more powerful engines. Deliveries of B-18s to Army units began in the first half of 1937, with the first examples being test and evaluation aircraft being turned over to the Materiel Division at Wright Field, the Technical Training Command at Chanute Field, the Aberdeen Proving Ground and Lowry Field, Colorado.
Deliveries to operational groups began in late 1937, the first being the 7th Bombardment Group at Hamilton Field, California. Production B-18s, with full military equipment fitted, had a maximum speed of 217 mph, cruising speed of 167 mph, combat range of 850 miles. By 1940, most USAAC bomber squadrons were equipped with B-18As. However, the deficiencies in the B-18/B-18A bomber were becoming apparent to everyone. In range, in speed, in bomb load, in defensive armor and armament, the design came up short, the Air Corps conceded that the aircraft was obsolete and unsuited in the long-range bombing role for which it had been acquired. To send crews out in such a plane against a well-armed, determined foe would have been nothing short of suicidal. However, in spite of the known shortcomings of the B-18/B-18A, the Douglas aircraft was the most numerous American bomber type deployed outside the continental United States at the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor, it was hoped that the B-18 could play a stopgap role until more suitable aircraft such as the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress and Consolidated B-24 Liberator became available in quantity.
When war came to the Pacific, most of the B-18/B-18A aircraft based overseas in the Philippines and in Hawaii were destroyed on the ground in the initial Japanese onslaught. The few Bolos that remained played no significant role in subsequent operations; the B-18s remaining in the continental US and in the Caribbean were deployed in a defensive role in anticipation of attacks on the US mainland. These attacks never materialized. B-17s supplanted B-18s in first-line service in 1942. Following this, 122 B-18As were modified for anti-submarine warfare; the bombardier was replaced by a search radar with a large radome. Magnetic anomaly detection equipment was sometimes housed in a tail boom; these aircraft, designated B-18B, were used in the Caribbean on anti-submarine patrol. On 2 October 1942, a B-18A, piloted by Captain Howard Burhanna Jr. of the 99th Bomb Squadron, depth charged and sank the German submarine U-512 north of Cayenne, French Guiana. Two aircraft were transferred to Força Aérea Brasileira in 1942 and used with a provisional conversion training unit set up under the provisions of Lend-Lease.
They were used for anti-submarine patrols. They were struck off charge at the end of the war. In 1940 the Royal Canadian Air Force acquired 20 B-18As, used them for patrol duties, being issued to 10 Squadron to replace the squadron's Westland Wapitis. Bolos and Digbys sank an additional two submarines during the course of the war. RCAF Eastern Air Command Digbys carried out 11 attacks on U-boats. U-520 was confirmed sunk by Flying Officer F. Raymes' crew of No. 10 Squadron, on 30 October 1942. East of Newfoundland. However, the antisubmarine role was short-lived, the Bolos were superseded in this role in 1943 by Consolidated B-24 Liberators which had a much heavier payload and a longer range which closed the mid-Atlantic gap. Surviving USAAF B-18s ended their useful lives in training and transport r
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