Douglas B-23 Dragon

what is it?

The Douglas B-23 Dragon is an American twin-engined bomber developed by the Douglas Aircraft Company as a successor to the B-18 Bolo.

🔎How to recognise it: 2 piston engines with propellers · 28 m wingspan

base stats

• speed 454 km/htop speed
• size 14.7 tmax take-off weight
• built 38made in total

Bars compare against all aircraft: 3,500 km/h, 20,000 km, 850 seats; size and number built on a log scale up to 640 t (An-225) and 45,000 built (Cessna 172).

fun facts

• 🎂First flew 87 years ago, in 1939.
• 🏎️Top speed is 3.5× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
• 🚗Wingspan of 28 m: about 6 cars parked nose to tail.
• 🐘Fully loaded it can weigh as much as 2 African elephants (~6 t each).
• 🏔️Can fly 1.1× higher than Mount Everest (8,849 m).

piston: A car-like piston engine turning a propeller: simple and cheap, the classic small plane.

spec sheet

first flight

1939-07-27

retired

1945

status

retired

number built

38

role

medium bomber

origin

🇺🇸 United States

makers

Douglas

engines

2× Wright R-2600-3

length

17.8 m

wingspan

28 m

height

5.6 m

max take-off weight

14.7 t

top speed

454 km/h

cruise speed

338 km/h

range

—

ceiling

9,632 m

Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.