High-speed reconnaissance aircraft YF-3 39-748 at Ladd Field, 22 August 1942
Of the sixty-three A-20 production aircraft equipped with the R-2600-7 turbocharged engine, sixty were delivered as P-70 night fighters. The remaining three were converted into photographic aircraft, designated F-3s by the Army Air Forces (AAF) under Change Order 2917, as part of contract AC-12967. These F-3s retained the R-2600-7’s bulky turbocharger installation, unlike the P-70s, which used the supercharged R-2600-11, though at least one F-3 was photographed without turbochargers. The main modification involved installing a tandem T-3A camera in place of the bomb bay. The turtledeck between the cockpit and gunner’s compartment was partially replaced by a six-panel skylight, and a window was added aft of the camera compartment. The F-3s retained the A-20’s armament of four fixed forward-firing and two flexible .30-caliber machine guns.
The first F-3, possibly designated as the XF-3, though not reflected in records, was A-20 s/n 39-741. It was accepted by the AAF on April 13, 1942, flown to Bradley Field, Connecticut, in June 1942, and crashed in October 1942 at Bolling Field, Washington, DC. The second and third F-3s, s/n 39-745 and 39-748, were designated YF-3s and delivered to Gray Field, Washington, in April 1942. The first YF-3 also crashed at Bolling Field in October 1942, while the second survived the war, serving at Will Rogers Field, Oklahoma, likely for training, before being disposed of as a ZYF-3 in June 1946.
There was consideration to add a manned tail gun to some A-20s, including possibly the F-3s, but no evidence indicates this modification was implemented. The F-3A designation later applied to forty-six A-20J and A-20K aircraft converted at modification centers or the factory. These glass-nose aircraft were equipped for photographic missions with K-19B, K-17, or K-22 cameras, intervalometers in the nose and former gunner’s compartment, a Type K-2 viewfinder, and four photo flash bombs. The lower nose .50-caliber guns were removed for the camera installations. Most F-3As served with the Ninth Air Force in Europe.
Known AAF serial numbers for F-3As include A-20H s/n 43-9876, 43-21457 to 43-21461, 43-21581, and 43-22091 to 43-22093; and A-20K s/n 44-71 to 44-72, 44-194 to 44-198, 44-342 to 44-347, 44-365 to 44-370, 44-707 to 44-711, 44-719 to 44-728, and 44-733 to 44-734.