My dad flew rear seat (gunner) in the B-26 in Korea. He told me a lot of wild stories about flying on them. He said they were considered 'hot-rods' by the guys who flew them and they did some wild low altitude stuff with them. On one occasion, during a ground attack mission one of the pilots flew too low and the left wing struck a telephone pole. It tore most of the wingtip off but the plane remained in the air and got back home. He also experienced one of the B-26's well-known issues... they had a nose gear collapse on landing. Their plane had battle damage as well and my dad cut his foot jumping out of the plane after it stopped. They said he would get a Purple Heart for it but he never did. I saw the remaining one from here in North Texas at an airshow at Addison airport several years ago.
This video was particularly interesting to me. Back in the summer of 1973, I took my first job in aviation as a summer helper with the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, in Dryden, Ontario. The “Ministry” had a fleet of converted Grumman CS2F Tracker, chemical bombers which I cleaned, serviced and handed tools to the AMEs doing maintenance. The Tracker was an impressive machine especially for an 18 year old setting off in an aircraft maintenance career but when a contract, A26 showed up on the ramp next to us I thought that it was the coolest thing ever. I spent numerous evenings helping out the owner/ pilot/ engineer just because I could and ever since, I have been particularly fond of the aircraft and remember well, the sounds smells and sleek appearance. Videos, like this, bring back fond memories and gets the old nostalgia going. I am still a working AME and a couple of recent extended periods of off time have shown me that I’m not ready for retirement quite yet. Thanks much for the well researched and presented documentaries.
I do know a lot about aeroplanes BUT I also know there are a HELL of a lot of rare to obscure aeroplanes ..... Which Ed seems to have a psychic sense for sniffing out.
That's a good sign. There are too many who know a great deal on a subject yet think they know it all. Any good, intelligent and well educated person knows that whatever they understand is just the tip of the iceberg. 🙂
This man is giving you erroneous information and sometimes his opinion, he is not presenting correct data, many of this types have no surviving data, examples CUBANS COMBAT PILOS OPERATING IN AFRICA, FOR THE CIA, That is erroneous data, all pilots USA NATIONALS , NO FROM AMERICA BUT THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, . NOTE THE CUBANS FOUNDERS OF AMERICA AND THE USA 🇺🇸
Ed Heinemann was a brilliant aeronautical engineer and is often overshadowed by contemporaries like Kelly Johnson and Jack Northrop. A retrospect on his career would be a fantastic video. Cheers.
Not to be confused with the _OTHER_ B-26, the Marauder. Always annoyed me that they chose to rename the A-26 to the B-26 as there was already a B-26 that used to exist
I learned some years ago of the duplication confusion, but I'd bet dollars to donuts I did not know the distinction when I was a kid, and was probably one reason I thought for so long that the B-25 was a miserable piker compared to the mighty B-26.
The B-26 was very maneuverable for an aircraft of its size, I have heard that at some altitudes it could turn inside a late model Messerschmitt 109. This was the source of the wing trouble. It was very easy for a pilot to over-stress the aircraft in combat maneuvering which lead to metal fatigue and just plain breaking the wing spars. The B-26 was also used as a firefighting aircraft in the U.S. and it was only phased out due to metal fatigue and spare parts trouble. Its just a good airplane.
It's also not a very large aircraft. The twin engines are deceptive. It's a bit smaller than a modern fighter in length and height. Much closer to a fighter than a bomber.
My father was a naval aviator in the early 50s and the air force and Navy would jump each other for practice. He felt overconfident and got sloppy jumping an a26 in an f8f and got turned inside of... He got ribbed mercilessly for a while
B-26 also played a role in Katanga and then Biafra rebellions in Africa. It was flown with rudimentary armament made of mg's and home-made bombs. One of the mercenary pilots flying it was Jan Zumbach, WW2 ace notable for his action in Polish 303rd Squadron.
Flyable after a nose gear failure some years ago ... but currently being repaired again, as she suffered a main landing gear failure last summer. The group repairing / maintaining her is on Facebook . Nice blokes.
Mad to think the USAF and USN started the war with AT28s and A1s, ended it with F14s and F111s but meanwhile managed to fly the A26 alongside the F100 and F105, the A3D and A6 for the USN.
I supported the recovery of a MIA CIA A-26 in Nicaragua in 1998. That particular aircraft flew in the bay of pigs and lost its way flying back to its secret CIA airbase in Nicaragua. Both crewmembers were lost and it was kept secret for decades. The family was finally allowed to know what happened and the location of the crash. I was a medevac crew chief station in Panama and went to Nicaragua to support the recovery effort.
@@petesheppard1709 Your welcome. I was part of an effort to identify a WWII era aircraft that was MIA in Panama. A North American O-47. Also, at a ceremony honoring the U.S. Army MEDEVAC in assisting in the recovery of a commuter airplane that crashed, the Deputy Ambassador was handed a folder with pictures detailing two WWII looking aircraft that were located in the jungle. Then, there were two helicopters, I believe Sikorsky S-55's located in the jungle. Parked in tandem and left. There was an unofficial effort to locate a F-16B that went missing, around 1992. The Panamanian police officer that we worked with had many more stories of missing people, boats and aircraft. That was his specialty.
Fascinating, lots of history I wasn't aware of, I remember buying a copy of Avation Illustrated (Ithink) magazine in the early 80s, featuring A26s involved in Igloo White, dropping ADSIDs and TURDSIDs (Airdropped seismic intruder detectors) ove rhte ho chi Minh trail. Been in love with the plane ever, its so pretty looking,. THanks again for a great article
The A/B/A-26 Invader/Counterinvader was my favorite twin engine warbird when I was a kid. The USAF retired the last one a year before I entered college ROTC, so a lot of old-timers were still around through much of my career. Indeed, even after 911, when my staff was augmented by both Reserve members and Air Guardsmen, one of the old Chief Master Sergeants loaned to us turned out to be from the Alabama Air Guard. He had started his career as an 18 year-old Airman in the unit from which the CIA had recruited many of the Bay Of Pigs crew and support personnel. He joined it shortly after the infamous invasion and filled me with stories about the acrimony these men long felt toward President Kennedy and his decision not to back them up as originally planned. Regarding the Congo incursion of 1964, one of my NCOs in the late 1970s was a black Master Sergeant who had been a C-130 loadmaster during the rescue operation at Stanleyville. He related to me that as they landed, a fellow airman who was white, asked him what he was going to do if, when they lowered the tail ramp, rebels confronted them instead of Belgian paratroopers. He replied, "That's easy; I'm going to grab you and yell 'I got mine, I got mine.'" Military humor is priceless.
The surviving flyable K had a landing accident at the end of 2022. They’re currently fundraising to try and get her airborne again, if you could use your platform to highlight this worthy cause I’m sure they’d be grateful!
This was one of the best so far. The A-26/B-26 is an amazing aircraft. for something built in the 1940's its very advanced. kind of like a mini B-29 in the level of technological sophistication. No wonder it was so deadly at gfround attack. I recall as a kid seeing an A-26 1/72 Airfix kit in the store and thinking oh boy I need to build this one. Well it was one of those that I never did get and I regretted it ever since.
Love the channel Ed, and have been enjoying it for ages. Have you ever heard of the Australian aircraft that were used in Vietnam, which used chemical sensors to track the north Vietnamese armies by sniffing out the camp toilets? It's a very interesting story, and I'd love to see your take on it
@@EdNashsMilitaryMatters I know it was an RAAF PC-6, and that it is currently stored in the Australian War Memorial's Treloar Technology Centre in Canberra. If I find any further information, I'll definitely let you know
@@olivergs9840 were they perhaps transferred to Air America and used with the XM-3 people sniffer before being transferred back to the Australian Army?
For viewers in Singapore/ SE Asia/ Australia, there’s a well preserved A-26B at the Indonesian Air Force Museum in Jogjakarta. Well worth the visit to Java IMO.
You know, I get the impression that just stand within 100 yards and looking, these thing could give a hearty black eye. Just as the Mig 21 looks like it's going fast even though it's not moving. There was an A-26 based at Blackbushe, and was regularly in use. It was so fast !!!. The day came when that plane met its sticky end at the Biggin Hill air fair. Rendering the exciting sights and sounds of the Invader rather short lived at the Hampshire airport. Keep up the good work Ed.
I actually saw thta crash - it tried a roll too low and went in. We saw it fly past, start the roll, and as it inverted, began to lose height. There's a valley just outside the airfield, and it went over the crest. Next thing was an explosion and column of black smoke. By the way, Biggin Hill is in Kent.
@@DrivermanO You're right, Biggin is indeed in Kent. But the "bush" is in Hants. I remember the footage of that crash. I was a boy then, and it shook me badly. About that time, Doug Arnold had quite a few interesting planes around. Including Spanish Ju52s, and He111s, Danish Hunters and more. Interesting place back then. But losing that Invader seemed all too surreal, as I took a dozen or so photo's of it just days before. Tragic loss of men and machine. Thanks for getting back. It's frequent we can tall of these events and there's no response
The original B-26 and A-26 were different aircraft. The A-26 was built by Douglas and went into service in 1942, The original B-26 was built by Marin and entered service in 1941.
I’ve been in the flyable B-26K/A-26A. Didn’t fly in it, but got to go inside while on display. The flight deck is *not* spacious. This was at the 2018 Wings Over Dallas airshow, the event where this past year that crash between a B-17 and P-63 occurred.
I remember reading a Smithsonian Air & Space article about the B-26K and it's operation when I was a kid, and it helped make the Invader/Counter Invader my favorite aircraft of all time. This video was a nice surprise to see when I got on UA-cam today.
"Special Kay", the B-26K restored to fly, unfortunately suffered a mishap a while back when one of the main gear collapsed. The group who operate "Kay" are raising funds to get her back into the air...she's a spectacular airplane.
It must be about eight to ten tears ago that I was driving down beside Archerfield airfield in Brisbane, Queensland, one Sunday morning when I was stunned to see a B-26 parked beside a hangar. It's not the sort of aircraft you expect to see any time in Australia so for the weeks that it was there, every Sunday morning I would stop by to feast my eyes on this amazing plane. Eventually it moved on, but it was soon replaced by a TBM Avenger. It sort of makes me wish I was around when Archerfield was an RAAF base during and after WW2.
Nice to hear a mention of Special Kay at the end of the video. I'm a former volunteer (having worked there for 8 years) for the Vintage Flying Museum, so I've seen a lot of the progress with the restoration of Kay, as well as another Invader (the former CAF "Spirit of Waco", now known as "Night Mission").
Per Wikipedia, there are 16 airworthy examples with another 9 in restoration. I saw that Kermit Weeks posted a video of the Fantasy of Flight A-26's first flight after restoration recently, so hopefully that can be added to the list of flyables soon.
They actually toyed with the idea of converted them to turboprops but that's as far as it got. They decided not to since they had such a surplus of Pratt & Whitney engine sitting in warehouses.
After the excellent videos you did on the Argentine FMA IA-58 Pucará, and now on the Douglas A-26K Invader, you may complete the CoIn aircraft stories with the North American OV-10 Bronco and other LARA planes. Love your YT Channel!! A huge favorite for classic Aviation! 👍👍👍
@@EdNashsMilitaryMatters The OV-10 Bronco is an ugly duckling plane that I find very attractive! 🤔 I have the same aeronautical aesthetic perversion with the Interwar French aircraft. It is paradoxical that Marcel (Bloch) Dassault emphasized so much about how gorgeous were his Mirages ... 🤗
@@EdNashsMilitaryMatters nice ! i love coin aircraft & i dont know really why. they seem more interesting then a lot of the more often discussed air superiority fighter's or attack / bomber aircraft of their day. As a WT Player , i would love to see the bronco or the A-26K in the game some day.
All these aircrafts were an answer to the concept of CoIn , an economical aircraft that had to fight lower intensity conflicts, naturally it was a flawed concept, given how lethal had became AA systems, and add the fact that generally Manpads could easily destroy less sophisticated aircrafts.
I last saw these, in 1974, on through a trip from Boston to Portland, Ore.. They were along the flightline, in Central Montana, and I was 10 then. They had the USAF camo of two greens, tan, (a-top) and Black undersides .8x.50 cal guns up front, and Angry Looking, from my POV!
*Have the 5th Air Force book. GEN Kenney wanted B-25s as ship-killers because Pappy Gunn said he could engineer a 75mm cannon into the nose and four Ma Deuce pods on the sides. Thinking was the A-26 too small and airframe strength unsuitable to the task. Another point was the simplified support logistics of only twin engined medium bomber. Cheers!*
FWI, Kermit Weeks posted yesterday on the the first test flight of an A-26B after a 30 year restoration. See Kermit Weeks "Douglas A-26B Invader - First Test Flight - Chino Airport, CA". More to follow I'm sure!
1:38 - Brazilian Air Force B-26. It was great fun to watch them dropping bombs in airshows in front of Copacabana Beach in the 60's / 70's. There's one example kept in the Museu Aeroespacial in Rio de Janeiro.
One small anecdote about its operation in Brazil in the 60's: during a flight, one aircraft declared emergency because of a engine failure, with the pilot describing over the radio the aircraft and the type of emergency he was experiencing. Then a pilot from a airliner that was nearby, goes over the radio with words of encouragement, explaining that he flew the B-26 at WWII, and that the reputation of the B-26 being difficult to fly with one engine was overblown. Obviously he didn't get the memo where the designation of the Douglas A-26 was changed to B-26...
Back in the early 1960`s I was flying with the Calif Air Guard. One of the guys I flew with had flow A26s in Korea and then the ANG on the east coast. He told of once flying along and saw a B25 from another state ANG. He feathered one of his props and then flew past the B25 on one engine. The A26 was magnificent.
Growing up I lived near Teterboro airport. I don’t remember seeing any B-26 conversions to corporate planes, but 2 B-25 conversions were there. Even as an 8 year old in The mid ‘60’s , I knew the difference in these aircraft as an already avid plastic modeler. There was also a P-47 and P-51 at that airport in a different area.
I love the classic Mosquito layout, all that power and a clear view ahead. I’d give almost anything to try a plane with this configuration. Thank you once again for the excellent history.
I was always confused as a kid between the A-26 (Invader) and the B-26 (Marauder) , especially when the Invader was later named the B-26 and the Marauder was dropped. The Invader can be seen as the follow on to the A-20 Havoc.
I've always liked the A-26 and it's variance, ever since I had a Squadron A-26 In Action book. Still have that book somewhere, emphasis on somewhere 🙂.
I had the honor of working with an aerospace engineer who started his career at On Mark Engineering right after graduating from engineering school - what an interesting he was to talk to, especially about this aircraft. The sole flying A(B?)-26 example you described frequently lands at the airport close to my house. It's easy to spot since it's painted black and I think it's an On Mark re-build. Excellent video about a great, and underappreciated aircraft.
We had an A26 sitting just inside the fence next to the road by Archerfield airport here in Brisbane for quite a long time. Unfortunately several years back, it was dismantled and shipped off to goodness knows where. Hopefully to a collection and to restoration. Impressive plane just sitting there.
Hey Ed, I love your channel. Been subscribed for quite a while. My father was a naval aviator for 24 years. Starting in well. He join the Navy in 1960. Anyway, one of the aircraft that he flew was the A3D Sky warrior. The air crew in the Navy called it all three dead. Because there were no ejection seats for a carrier aircraft in the 1960s. So if something went wrong during a catapult lunch well you went in the drink and they wrote a letter to your family. If something went wrong while you were flying, there was a panel in the floor that was jettisoned and then you would slide down a little ramp and open a parachute after you exited the aircraft. But here's the thing, the Air Force flew the b66 destroyer. Exact same aircraft as the A3D except it had a tail gun. And oh my god ejection seats!! Why the hell did the Air Force get ejection seats in their aircraft and the Navy and its wisdom not retrofit ejection seats into its carrier force aircraft??????? Obviously my dad didn't die because I'm writing this comment. He had lots of friends that don't have sons writing comments now though. (Edit: voice to text sucks.)
I just love the B-26. It is the ultimate workhorse of the Cold War and covert CIA missions God knows where, plane just oozes atmosphere of Jagged Alliance games.
I love COIN planes of the Vietnam era especially A-1J/E (Sandy and COIN Missions) and the B-26K but i hope you covering the Armys OV-1 Mohawk especially the armed JOV-1 Version , not much info around on JOV-1`s and their operational service in VN Squadron Signal Mohawk in Action wrote abit about their time in Vietnam and weapon configuration. A series about Army fixed wing planes of Vietnam era would be nice, the Mohawks , Caribou`s, Bird Dogs ect. of the Army living a life in the Shadow, the YO-3 was a good start.
The is a B-26K in the airpark just inside Hurlburt's main gate along with just about every aircraft the Air Commandos have flown. If you ever get the chance you should check it out. There is even a COIN version of the T-28 trainer in South Vietnamese Air Force markings.
Fabulous bit of kit, I built these models as a kit in 2 different scales, but all I can remember is the Airfix one, the other possibly an italian make(?), also as a film buff amongst many here (so thank you for feeding that too lol) this model appeared in at least 1 movie I can recall, Forever Young a romcom (yawn) but the star is definitely the B-26, well worth catching just for that. Again thank you for another great trip down memory lane.
An interesting aside is that the B26s also saw rather heavy use under the Portuguese during their Colonial War. I think 7 or 8 were acquired by illicit means and served as coin platforms in Angola.
I always thought the A-26 was one of the most beautiful airplanes ever. In the early 1980's I had the good fortune to live near the end of the runway at a very busy air tanker base in British Columbia. Conair at the time was using A-26's, Grumman S-2 Trackers and DC-6's for firefighting. When they were busy it was a pretty awesome airshow all day long.
Watching this plane's history in the Congo made me think of the 1968 film Dark of the Sun. Brutal film, kind of never shown in the US but often shown overseas on TCM ME while I lived there.
I remember walking around two of these that were civilian transport conversions at Midland airport when I was young, probably 1960's. Then one day they were gone. I know both were owned by the same person or company, one being used for spares. Don't know what happened to them. It was very impressive as an example of how far aircraft development can go in a short time, since I could compare those to a B-26 Marauder that was sitting unloved at another airport not far away.
The glass nose and 8 gun-nose was something already in use in the A-26 during WW2, this nose change option was already a thing of the Invader's airframe. During WW2 a few even flew with 75 mm or 37 mm gun noses.
Hey Ed, B-26 is a phenomenal aircraft. Wish you mentioned the time an A-26 raced a De havilland Mosquito during WW2. Don't know what they raced for, maybe a lager or the like., but author David C. Cooke mentioned this in Famous Bombers of WW2 when I was a Kid in the 70's. The Mosquito mustav won But I like the story nonetheless.
Awesome plane. Funny how it's armament & mission came to resemble the older Mitchells in New Guinea/New Britain, nose packed with barking .50s, dropping cluster bombs & incendiaries from the tree-tops... Too bad more of them weren't preserved, but I guess that's what happens to a plane that refused to go quietly into that good night.
Thank you for another very informative video. I did know some things about this aircraft. But you have definitely increased my overall knowledge about yet another aircraft. Well Done!
Well done as always and the A-26 had quite a life as aerial firefighters with Airspray in Alberta. I have pics somewhere thatI took at the tanker base in the 90's.
Probably one of the greatest radial engined aircraft of all time . And that payload ......astonishing ! B17's could only manage 4000 lbs . By coincidence l've just watched Kermit Weeks latest video and Steve Hinton's first eventful test flight of Kermits restored A26 B . ( which took place in May 2022 so slightly confused that it took Kermit so long to publish) Thanks Ed
Common misconception, the B17 could carry something like 16,000 pounds of bombs. That four thousand pound number refers to the normal combat load, so they could have better performance. Greg’s Airplanes and Automobiles has a good video that covers that, including the relevant sources and references
Another great video. As much as an aviation nerd that I am, I always learn something illuminating from your channel. Enjoyed your summary of the action in Congo.
My dad flew rear seat (gunner) in the B-26 in Korea. He told me a lot of wild stories about flying on them. He said they were considered 'hot-rods' by the guys who flew them and they did some wild low altitude stuff with them. On one occasion, during a ground attack mission one of the pilots flew too low and the left wing struck a telephone pole. It tore most of the wingtip off but the plane remained in the air and got back home. He also experienced one of the B-26's well-known issues... they had a nose gear collapse on landing. Their plane had battle damage as well and my dad cut his foot jumping out of the plane after it stopped. They said he would get a Purple Heart for it but he never did. I saw the remaining one from here in North Texas at an airshow at Addison airport several years ago.
This video was particularly interesting to me. Back in the summer of 1973, I took my first job in aviation as a summer helper with the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, in Dryden, Ontario. The “Ministry” had a fleet of converted Grumman CS2F Tracker, chemical bombers which I cleaned, serviced and handed tools to the AMEs doing maintenance.
The Tracker was an impressive machine especially for an 18 year old setting off in an aircraft maintenance career but when a contract, A26 showed up on the ramp next to us I thought that it was the coolest thing ever. I spent numerous evenings helping out the owner/ pilot/ engineer just because I could and ever since, I have been particularly fond of the aircraft and remember well, the sounds smells and sleek appearance. Videos, like this, bring back fond memories and gets the old nostalgia going.
I am still a working AME and a couple of recent extended periods of off time have shown me that I’m not ready for retirement quite yet.
Thanks much for the well researched and presented documentaries.
I am a aviation nerd, but this channel shows me time and again how little I actually know about airplanes. Thank you Ed :)
I do know a lot about aeroplanes
BUT I also know there are a HELL of a lot of rare to obscure aeroplanes .....
Which Ed seems to have a psychic sense for sniffing out.
That's a good sign. There are too many who know a great deal on a subject yet think they know it all. Any good, intelligent and well educated person knows that whatever they understand is just the tip of the iceberg. 🙂
This man is giving you erroneous information and sometimes his opinion, he is not presenting correct data, many of this types have no surviving data, examples CUBANS COMBAT PILOS OPERATING IN AFRICA, FOR THE CIA, That is erroneous data, all pilots USA NATIONALS , NO FROM AMERICA BUT THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, . NOTE THE CUBANS FOUNDERS OF AMERICA AND THE USA 🇺🇸
@@pavelavietor1 bro, take your meds.
@@andrewince8824 thanks doctor I be fine
I'd forgive my boss if his corporate ride was a converted B 26
Comment of the day!
Isn't driving a B-26 to work the thing you have to forgive? Still, definitely the sign of a Boss.
Just doing his part to preserve history.
*Well said. At times, your boss might have been Bud Maytag of Maytag Corp or the CEO of Diamond Match Co (FAA N-2DM).*
At least you don’t have awkward conversations with the boss when 4000hp is 7 feet away.
I got the privilege of seeing her fly at "Warbirds in Action" at Minter Field. She's BEAUTIFUL!
Ed Heinemann was a brilliant aeronautical engineer and is often overshadowed by contemporaries like Kelly Johnson and Jack Northrop. A retrospect on his career would be a fantastic video. Cheers.
I'm tempted to do videos on aero designers just so people can appreciate how much they advanced during their careers, Heinemann being a great example.
And a video about the A4.
Not to be confused with the _OTHER_ B-26, the Marauder. Always annoyed me that they chose to rename the A-26 to the B-26 as there was already a B-26 that used to exist
Yep! Then BACK to A-26! Yesh!
That is much more confusing than all the M-1 designations, Carbine, Mess kit, Tank etc.
OK, now I understand...
I learned some years ago of the duplication confusion, but I'd bet dollars to donuts I did not know the distinction when I was a kid, and was probably one reason I thought for so long that the B-25 was a miserable piker compared to the mighty B-26.
It was because the air force wanted to get rid of the atack prefix. turned them into bombers. So A-26 became B-26.
We have a RB-26 right inside the main gate of my unit... it had the 6 wing 50cals...I
Christopher Robbins follow up book to "Air America" was "The Ravens" covering the US covert operation in Laos. That would make a good video subject.
Will try to get a copy of these books.
You don't need an F-16 nor an F-35 to bomb a bunch of dudes with AK's and RPG's out in the middle of nowhere.
Which is why SOCOM got themselves some Air Tractors.
1 of the few exceptional acft that served with Distinction in atleast 3 wars!!!...
The B-26 was very maneuverable for an aircraft of its size, I have heard that at some altitudes it could turn inside a late model Messerschmitt 109. This was the source of the wing trouble. It was very easy for a pilot to over-stress the aircraft in combat maneuvering which lead to metal fatigue and just plain breaking the wing spars. The B-26 was also used as a firefighting aircraft in the U.S. and it was only phased out due to metal fatigue and spare parts trouble. Its just a good airplane.
It's also not a very large aircraft. The twin engines are deceptive. It's a bit smaller than a modern fighter in length and height. Much closer to a fighter than a bomber.
My father was a naval aviator in the early 50s and the air force and Navy would jump each other for practice. He felt overconfident and got sloppy jumping an a26 in an f8f and got turned inside of... He got ribbed mercilessly for a while
Should be one in the Hurlburt Field Air Park.
B-26 also played a role in Katanga and then Biafra rebellions in Africa. It was flown with rudimentary armament made of mg's and home-made bombs. One of the mercenary pilots flying it was Jan Zumbach, WW2 ace notable for his action in Polish 303rd Squadron.
My father in-law flew 55 combat missions in Korea in these beautiful planes, all night interdiction. 14 forward firing 50 cal's
"Special K" is a A-26K based in Fort Worth, it is I believe the only flying one
Flyable after a nose gear failure some years ago ... but currently being repaired again, as she suffered a main landing gear failure last summer.
The group repairing / maintaining her is on Facebook .
Nice blokes.
I have been lucky enough to have seen Special K and she does take passengers on occasion. She looks better in person than in pictures. Cheers all.
Mad to think the USAF and USN started the war with AT28s and A1s, ended it with F14s and F111s but meanwhile managed to fly the A26 alongside the F100 and F105, the A3D and A6 for the USN.
"Nimrod" was the callsign of the night interdiction A26's over Laos
FUN FACT: The B-26s used at the Bay of Pigs were seconded from the Alabama Air National Guard. Some of the ANG pilots also flew some of the missions.
I supported the recovery of a MIA CIA A-26 in Nicaragua in 1998. That particular aircraft flew in the bay of pigs and lost its way flying back to its secret CIA airbase in Nicaragua. Both crewmembers were lost and it was kept secret for decades. The family was finally allowed to know what happened and the location of the crash. I was a medevac crew chief station in Panama and went to Nicaragua to support the recovery effort.
@@jbgood7694 Thanks for helping bring long overdue closure.
@@petesheppard1709 Your welcome. I was part of an effort to identify a WWII era aircraft that was MIA in Panama. A North American O-47. Also, at a ceremony honoring the U.S. Army MEDEVAC in assisting in the recovery of a commuter airplane that crashed, the Deputy Ambassador was handed a folder with pictures detailing two WWII looking aircraft that were located in the jungle. Then, there were two helicopters, I believe Sikorsky S-55's located in the jungle. Parked in tandem and left. There was an unofficial effort to locate a F-16B that went missing, around 1992. The Panamanian police officer that we worked with had many more stories of missing people, boats and aircraft. That was his specialty.
A26 invader, B26 marauder. Different planes...nice video on the A26
Fascinating, lots of history I wasn't aware of, I remember buying a copy of Avation Illustrated (Ithink) magazine in the early 80s, featuring A26s involved in Igloo White, dropping ADSIDs and TURDSIDs (Airdropped seismic intruder detectors) ove rhte ho chi Minh trail. Been in love with the plane ever, its so pretty looking,. THanks again for a great article
A beast with a '6 Pack' of the legendary Browning 'MaDeuce' 50 caliber machine guns mounted in the 26's nose..A10 drivers are devotees..
i worked on the B-26 back in the 60's in the Air Commandos. Even flew in them from time to time. One heck of an airplane.
Thirty years ago worked with a nurse who’s father flew them in Indochina
The A/B/A-26 Invader/Counterinvader was my favorite twin engine warbird when I was a kid. The USAF retired the last one a year before I entered college ROTC, so a lot of old-timers were still around through much of my career. Indeed, even after 911, when my staff was augmented by both Reserve members and Air Guardsmen, one of the old Chief Master Sergeants loaned to us turned out to be from the Alabama Air Guard. He had started his career as an 18 year-old Airman in the unit from which the CIA had recruited many of the Bay Of Pigs crew and support personnel. He joined it shortly after the infamous invasion and filled me with stories about the acrimony these men long felt toward President Kennedy and his decision not to back them up as originally planned. Regarding the Congo incursion of 1964, one of my NCOs in the late 1970s was a black Master Sergeant who had been a C-130 loadmaster during the rescue operation at Stanleyville. He related to me that as they landed, a fellow airman who was white, asked him what he was going to do if, when they lowered the tail ramp, rebels confronted them instead of Belgian paratroopers. He replied, "That's easy; I'm going to grab you and yell 'I got mine, I got mine.'" Military humor is priceless.
VERY interesting propellers on them. Flat and increasing in surface area closer to the tips. Most fascinating!
The surviving flyable K had a landing accident at the end of 2022.
They’re currently fundraising to try and get her airborne again, if you could use your platform to highlight this worthy cause I’m sure they’d be grateful!
This was one of the best so far. The A-26/B-26 is an amazing aircraft. for something built in the 1940's its very advanced. kind of like a mini B-29 in the level of technological sophistication. No wonder it was so deadly at gfround attack. I recall as a kid seeing an A-26 1/72 Airfix kit in the store and thinking oh boy I need to build this one. Well it was one of those that I never did get and I regretted it ever since.
Love the channel Ed, and have been enjoying it for ages.
Have you ever heard of the Australian aircraft that were used in Vietnam, which used chemical sensors to track the north Vietnamese armies by sniffing out the camp toilets? It's a very interesting story, and I'd love to see your take on it
Cant say I'm familiar. Any idea what was it called?
@@EdNashsMilitaryMatters I know it was an RAAF PC-6, and that it is currently stored in the Australian War Memorial's Treloar Technology Centre in Canberra. If I find any further information, I'll definitely let you know
@@olivergs9840 were they perhaps transferred to Air America and used with the XM-3 people sniffer before being transferred back to the Australian Army?
@@thelandofnod123 I'm not sure, but I think it was a similar system mounted to a STOL plane
@Aqua Fyre It definitely wasn't a P3 Orion; it was a Pilatus PC-6B Turbo Porter
Air America was a great movie
I've always thought the A/B-26 was one of the best looking military prop planes ever produced with aesthetically pleasing lines and proportions.
For viewers in Singapore/ SE Asia/ Australia, there’s a well preserved A-26B at the Indonesian Air Force Museum in Jogjakarta. Well worth the visit to Java IMO.
You know, I get the impression that just stand within 100 yards and looking, these thing could give a hearty black eye.
Just as the Mig 21 looks like it's going fast even though it's not moving.
There was an A-26 based at Blackbushe, and was regularly in use. It was so fast !!!. The day came when that plane met its sticky end at the Biggin Hill air fair. Rendering the exciting sights and sounds of the Invader rather short lived at the Hampshire airport.
Keep up the good work Ed.
I actually saw thta crash - it tried a roll too low and went in. We saw it fly past, start the roll, and as it inverted, began to lose height. There's a valley just outside the airfield, and it went over the crest. Next thing was an explosion and column of black smoke. By the way, Biggin Hill is in Kent.
@@DrivermanO You're right, Biggin is indeed in Kent. But the "bush" is in Hants. I remember the footage of that crash. I was a boy then, and it shook me badly. About that time, Doug Arnold had quite a few interesting planes around. Including Spanish Ju52s, and He111s, Danish Hunters and more. Interesting place back then. But losing that Invader seemed all too surreal, as I took a dozen or so photo's of it just days before. Tragic loss of men and machine. Thanks for getting back. It's frequent we can tall of these events and there's no response
The original B-26 and A-26 were different aircraft. The A-26 was built by Douglas and went into service in 1942, The original B-26 was built by Marin and entered service in 1941.
This bird makes more sense than the revamped P-51 as the new close air support choice to supposedly replace the A-10.
My Father worked on these and Skyraiders in Thailand and Vietnam.
Really good video. Very informative. There is very good example at The Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton, Ohio.
I’ve been in the flyable B-26K/A-26A. Didn’t fly in it, but got to go inside while on display. The flight deck is *not* spacious.
This was at the 2018 Wings Over Dallas airshow, the event where this past year that crash between a B-17 and P-63 occurred.
I remember reading a Smithsonian Air & Space article about the B-26K and it's operation when I was a kid, and it helped make the Invader/Counter Invader my favorite aircraft of all time. This video was a nice surprise to see when I got on UA-cam today.
"Special Kay", the B-26K restored to fly, unfortunately suffered a mishap a while back when one of the main gear collapsed. The group who operate "Kay" are raising funds to get her back into the air...she's a spectacular airplane.
Damn! Wondered why news on her seemed to have stopped. Hope they get her airborne soon.
As always Ed, you do the research, and I get the dividends. Thanks mate.
It must be about eight to ten tears ago that I was driving down beside Archerfield airfield in Brisbane, Queensland, one Sunday morning when I was stunned to see a B-26 parked beside a hangar. It's not the sort of aircraft you expect to see any time in Australia so for the weeks that it was there, every Sunday morning I would stop by to feast my eyes on this amazing plane.
Eventually it moved on, but it was soon replaced by a TBM Avenger. It sort of makes me wish I was around when Archerfield was an RAAF base during and after WW2.
Nice to hear a mention of Special Kay at the end of the video. I'm a former volunteer (having worked there for 8 years) for the Vintage Flying Museum, so I've seen a lot of the progress with the restoration of Kay, as well as another Invader (the former CAF "Spirit of Waco", now known as "Night Mission").
Per Wikipedia, there are 16 airworthy examples with another 9 in restoration. I saw that Kermit Weeks posted a video of the Fantasy of Flight A-26's first flight after restoration recently, so hopefully that can be added to the list of flyables soon.
Special Kay had a main mount collapse this summer. She's in the barn for repairs now.
They actually toyed with the idea of converted them to turboprops but that's as far as it got. They decided not to since they had such a surplus of Pratt & Whitney engine sitting in warehouses.
After the excellent videos you did on the Argentine FMA IA-58 Pucará, and now on the Douglas A-26K Invader, you may complete the CoIn aircraft stories with the North American OV-10 Bronco and other LARA planes.
Love your YT Channel!! A huge favorite for classic Aviation! 👍👍👍
Ov 10 is very much on my radar 😁
@@EdNashsMilitaryMatters
The OV-10 Bronco is an ugly duckling plane that I find very attractive! 🤔
I have the same aeronautical aesthetic perversion with the Interwar French aircraft. It is paradoxical that Marcel (Bloch) Dassault emphasized so much about how gorgeous were his Mirages ... 🤗
@@EdNashsMilitaryMatters nice ! i love coin aircraft & i dont know really why. they seem more interesting then a lot of the more often discussed air superiority fighter's or attack / bomber aircraft of their day.
As a WT Player , i would love to see the bronco or the A-26K in the game some day.
@@EdNashsMilitaryMatters ; Don't forget the APKWS armed modern "Sniper" OV-10G
All these aircrafts were an answer to the concept of CoIn , an economical aircraft that had to fight lower intensity conflicts, naturally it was a flawed concept, given how lethal had became AA systems, and add the fact that generally Manpads could easily destroy less sophisticated aircrafts.
I last saw these, in 1974, on through a trip from Boston to Portland, Ore.. They were along the flightline, in Central Montana, and I was 10 then. They had the USAF camo of two greens, tan, (a-top) and Black undersides .8x.50 cal guns up front, and Angry Looking, from my POV!
General Kenney despised them & all went to Europe. Other than that, another excellent vid. Many thanx Ed! 👍👍
*Have the 5th Air Force book. GEN Kenney wanted B-25s as ship-killers because Pappy Gunn said he could engineer a 75mm cannon into the nose and four Ma Deuce pods on the sides. Thinking was the A-26 too small and airframe strength unsuitable to the task. Another point was the simplified support logistics of only twin engined medium bomber. Cheers!*
I just love how this aircraft looks with all those different weapons strapped to it, so gorgeous!
In the late 70’s, I saw one of these on the ramp in Las Vegas. It was a U.S. Customs aircraft for drug war along the Mexican border.
FWI, Kermit Weeks posted yesterday on the the first test flight of an A-26B after a 30 year restoration. See Kermit Weeks "Douglas A-26B Invader - First Test Flight - Chino Airport, CA". More to follow I'm sure!
1:38 - Brazilian Air Force B-26. It was great fun to watch them dropping bombs in airshows in front of Copacabana Beach in the 60's / 70's. There's one example kept in the Museu Aeroespacial in Rio de Janeiro.
But definitely not a CIA plane.
No, I was just putting examples up. CIA specific pics are...difficult to get in quantity 😁
Yeah I know that. I'm just being a smartass
One small anecdote about its operation in Brazil in the 60's: during a flight, one aircraft declared emergency because of a engine failure, with the pilot describing over the radio the aircraft and the type of emergency he was experiencing. Then a pilot from a airliner that was nearby, goes over the radio with words of encouragement, explaining that he flew the B-26 at WWII, and that the reputation of the B-26 being difficult to fly with one engine was overblown. Obviously he didn't get the memo where the designation of the Douglas A-26 was changed to B-26...
Back in the early 1960`s I was flying with the Calif Air Guard. One of the guys I flew with had flow A26s in Korea and then the ANG on the east coast. He told of once flying along and saw a B25 from another state ANG. He feathered one of his props and then flew past the B25 on one engine. The A26 was magnificent.
Pretty modern design for a 1942/43 plane
Growing up I lived near Teterboro airport. I don’t remember seeing any B-26 conversions to corporate planes, but 2 B-25 conversions were there. Even as an 8 year old in The mid ‘60’s , I knew the difference in these aircraft as an already avid plastic modeler.
There was also a P-47 and P-51 at that airport in a different area.
"brutal reputation"? The Simbas were cannibals.
*Correct.*
I love the classic Mosquito layout, all that power and a clear view ahead.
I’d give almost anything to try a plane with this configuration.
Thank you once again for the excellent history.
I was always confused as a kid between the A-26 (Invader) and the B-26 (Marauder) , especially when the Invader was later named the B-26 and the Marauder was dropped.
The Invader can be seen as the follow on to the A-20 Havoc.
New Forgotten Craft!! Love the stuff Ed o7
Isn’t Kermit week’s currently restoring a ?-26 as well ?
I've always liked the A-26 and it's variance, ever since I had a Squadron A-26 In Action book. Still have that book somewhere, emphasis on somewhere 🙂.
I had the honor of working with an aerospace engineer who started his career at On Mark Engineering right after graduating from engineering school - what an interesting he was to talk to, especially about this aircraft. The sole flying A(B?)-26 example you described frequently lands at the airport close to my house. It's easy to spot since it's painted black and I think it's an On Mark re-build. Excellent video about a great, and underappreciated aircraft.
*Many 26Ks were indeed refits but early on, like 1960 they were delivered to OnMark in crates from D-M AFB. Cheers!*
We had an A26 sitting just inside the fence next to the road by Archerfield airport here in Brisbane for quite a long time. Unfortunately several years back, it was dismantled and shipped off to goodness knows where. Hopefully to a collection and to restoration. Impressive plane just sitting there.
Thank you for another great bit of history!
Hey Ed, I love your channel. Been subscribed for quite a while. My father was a naval aviator for 24 years. Starting in well. He join the Navy in 1960. Anyway, one of the aircraft that he flew was the A3D Sky warrior. The air crew in the Navy called it all three dead. Because there were no ejection seats for a carrier aircraft in the 1960s. So if something went wrong during a catapult lunch well you went in the drink and they wrote a letter to your family. If something went wrong while you were flying, there was a panel in the floor that was jettisoned and then you would slide down a little ramp and open a parachute after you exited the aircraft. But here's the thing, the Air Force flew the b66 destroyer. Exact same aircraft as the A3D except it had a tail gun. And oh my god ejection seats!! Why the hell did the Air Force get ejection seats in their aircraft and the Navy and its wisdom not retrofit ejection seats into its carrier force aircraft??????? Obviously my dad didn't die because I'm writing this comment. He had lots of friends that don't have sons writing comments now though. (Edit: voice to text sucks.)
An intriguing aircraft with a long illustrious career. Nice video!
I just love the B-26. It is the ultimate workhorse of the Cold War and covert CIA missions God knows where, plane just oozes atmosphere of Jagged Alliance games.
I love COIN planes of the Vietnam era especially A-1J/E (Sandy and COIN Missions) and the B-26K but i hope you covering the Armys OV-1 Mohawk especially the armed JOV-1 Version , not much info around on JOV-1`s and their operational service in VN Squadron Signal Mohawk in Action wrote abit about their time in Vietnam and weapon configuration. A series about Army fixed wing planes of Vietnam era would be nice, the Mohawks , Caribou`s, Bird Dogs ect. of the Army living a life in the Shadow, the YO-3 was a good start.
*YOV-10D was even more shadowy... Cheers!*
The is a B-26K in the airpark just inside Hurlburt's main gate along with just about every aircraft the Air Commandos have flown. If you ever get the chance you should check it out. There is even a COIN version of the T-28 trainer in South Vietnamese Air Force markings.
Fabulous bit of kit, I built these models as a kit in 2 different scales, but all I can remember is the Airfix one, the other possibly an italian make(?), also as a film buff amongst many here (so thank you for feeding that too lol) this model appeared in at least 1 movie I can recall, Forever Young a romcom (yawn) but the star is definitely the B-26, well worth catching just for that. Again thank you for another great trip down memory lane.
It's a B25 in forever young.
O Mr Ed i know Air America very well.....Thanks very much.....
Old Flying Shoe🇺🇸
Slick looking aircraft. Thanks for the content.
Wahoo! One of my favorites. Thank you for bringing us this video!
An interesting aside is that the B26s also saw rather heavy use under the Portuguese during their Colonial War. I think 7 or 8 were acquired by illicit means and served as coin platforms in Angola.
Another excellent vid! Where is the plane at the end; which museum?
The book The Nimrods is a
Great read on B-26K Ops over Laos!
That's the National Museum of the USAF @ Dayton OH
Special K is being repaired at Vintage Flying Museum , Fort Worth, TX Meacham Field
I always thought the A-26 was one of the most beautiful airplanes ever. In the early 1980's I had the good fortune to live near the end of the runway at a very busy air tanker base in British Columbia. Conair at the time was using A-26's, Grumman S-2 Trackers and DC-6's for firefighting. When they were busy it was a pretty awesome airshow all day long.
Thank you as always for the excellent research and presentation, and for once, actually signing off so we know the video is over!
Handsome design. I want my civ version in magenta metal fleck paint job.
The old Invader is one of my favourite combat aircraft.
Portugal bought a couple of B-26 for combat in the Colonial War but little is know about its use. Or at least I know little about it :)
Watching this plane's history in the Congo made me think of the 1968 film Dark of the Sun. Brutal film, kind of never shown in the US but often shown overseas on TCM ME while I lived there.
I remember walking around two of these that were civilian transport conversions at Midland airport when I was young, probably 1960's. Then one day they were gone. I know both were owned by the same person or company, one being used for spares. Don't know what happened to them. It was very impressive as an example of how far aircraft development can go in a short time, since I could compare those to a B-26 Marauder that was sitting unloved at another airport not far away.
The glass nose and 8 gun-nose was something already in use in the A-26 during WW2, this nose change option was already a thing of the Invader's airframe.
During WW2 a few even flew with 75 mm or 37 mm gun noses.
Hey Ed, B-26 is a phenomenal aircraft. Wish you mentioned the time an A-26 raced a De havilland Mosquito during WW2. Don't know what they raced for, maybe a lager or the like., but author David C. Cooke mentioned this in Famous Bombers of WW2 when I was a Kid in the 70's. The Mosquito mustav won But I like the story nonetheless.
Who won?
@@ronmaximilian6953 *The Mosquito had ~100 MPH advantage over the A-26.*
Awesome plane. Funny how it's armament & mission came to resemble the older Mitchells in New Guinea/New Britain, nose packed with barking .50s, dropping cluster bombs & incendiaries from the tree-tops... Too bad more of them weren't preserved, but I guess that's what happens to a plane that refused to go quietly into that good night.
Thank you for another very informative video. I did know some things about this aircraft. But you have definitely increased my overall knowledge about yet another aircraft. Well Done!
One of my personal favorites; thank-you!
Man this is a beautiful aircraft. It just has a mean eff around & find out look.
one of the most underrated ww2 designs. i think it had a heavy influence on the concept of the A-10 if looking closer at it.
That one is new to me. I always thought the Martin B 26 was soleley the Marauder.
*Correct. The WW2 B-26 was the Marauder.*
Thank you for this and many of your other videos. Very informative. Cheers!
Fascinating stuff! As a bit of trivia, some B26's appear in the film, "The Train", staring Burt Lancaster. A great was film ,imo, Thanks Ed.
Yes, a superb film which is another great piece of work between Burt Lancaster and John Frankenheimer.
And ACTUAL train crashes! Err, my previous post - for ' was film' read 'war film' 🙂
Will we make it to the tunnel ?????
There are probably plenty of the converted to civilian ones tucked away.. somewhere.
Cheers Ed !
Not to be confused with the Martin B-26 Marauder.
Perfect timing, as I am currently building a model of the B-26K. Keep up the great videos.
Well done as always and the A-26 had quite a life as aerial firefighters with Airspray in Alberta. I have pics somewhere thatI took at the tanker base in the 90's.
Great piece - as usual. How's about a review of the CIA "airforce" since ww2?
Probably one of the greatest radial engined aircraft of all time . And that payload ......astonishing ! B17's could only manage 4000 lbs . By coincidence l've just watched Kermit Weeks latest video and Steve Hinton's first eventful test flight of Kermits restored A26 B . ( which took place in May 2022 so slightly confused that it took Kermit so long to publish) Thanks Ed
Common misconception, the B17 could carry something like 16,000 pounds of bombs. That four thousand pound number refers to the normal combat load, so they could have better performance.
Greg’s Airplanes and Automobiles has a good video that covers that, including the relevant sources and references
@@rich7787 Thanks Rich . That's the first time l've heard that . I'll have a look at that .
@@johndavey72 You’re welcome, it’s an excellent channel and that was something about the B17 I had always heard too.
Another great video. As much as an aviation nerd that I am, I always learn something illuminating from your channel. Enjoyed your summary of the action in Congo.
Great! Always liked the aircraft, triggered by building the Airfix kit back in the 70s. More like this, please!