A-26 / B-26 INVADER

3rd BG Evaluation of June 1944

Data Cards of  A-26B-5-DL  #41-39116 through A-26B-5-DL  #41-39119

The information in the PDF above shows the transfer of the test aircraft from Douglas - Long Beach to their departure from Oakland on May 6, 1944. They arrived at Finschhafen later that month and were assembled and flown to Nadzab as detailed in the John P. Henebry document below.

Via: Scott Lindley

 A-26B - 35 - DL  41-39475 in front of Douglas building at Long Beach - Ernest Santariello Collection

Excerpt from The Grim Reapers: At Work In the Pacific Theater by John P. Henebry

June 1944 8th Attack Squadron A-26 Evaluation

Erection and Maintenance Instructions for Army Models A-26B and A-26C Airplanes

POPULAR SCIENCE  JULY 1945

Mindoro - Okinawa - Japan  1945 

8th Attack Squadron Training Flight over Japan  June 1947 - Dwight Turner Collection

The photo of the 5th Chadwick -- I don't recall a single story building adjacent to the hangars, but after all it has been about 65 years.This photo gives us an excellent shot of all 3 versions of the WW II Invader. There were 2 versions of the hard nose {B} model. In all cases with the 3rd BG, all hard nose 6 gun versions were unpainted aluminum. Also, in all cases all hard nose 8 gun versions were painted OD. I never saw any exception to this rule.  The early glass nose "C" models were unpainted aluminum. At some later point during WW II, the C model was used as unarmed Recon and designated RB-26C and were painted black. That later pretty much became standard paint for all 26 C models. The C model Alpha ID "D" in the photo, was lost at some point and was replaced by a 6 gun hard nose s/n 44-34296 - I was crew chief on it from late '47 until it was lost in a mid-air in April 1948, at which point I became CC on 44-34364.   
The flight line shot with glass nose {unpainted aluminum} "C".  This aircraft has had the vert stab replaced {with whatever parts were available} due to some damage. This was not uncommon as we were moving these planes in and out of hangars built for Japanese fighters and the door height presented a problem. The photo I have attached shows a wooden ramp we used to run the nose wheel up on in order to lower the tail for moving in and out of the hangar - sometimes there were accidents. Take a close look at this photo - you will see the 8th, 13th and 90th BS of the 3rd BG represented.. Look at the extreme left edge and you will see a part of a yellow tail of the 8th, then all the red tails of the 13th, then zoom in and notice the white tails of the 90th in the background. In regards to the questions of the unpainted 6 gun aircraft, they possibly came from the 319th BG  A-26 Invaders based on Okinawa and was deactivated Dec 1945. In addition to the 3rd BG at Yokota AB, the 38th BG was at Itama AB, Osaka, Japan from Oct 1946 - April 1949 when it was inactivated. It is logical to assume the Invaders of the 319th were used as replacement acft for the 3rd BG and the 38th BG as losses occurred in these units.

The 6 gun nose was the early version of the B model - the 8 gun nose was the later version of the B model. The 319th was equipped with the early version B model. This matches with my recollection that all the replacement planes we received were the 6 gun nose B model most likely from the deactivated 319th BG.

(Joe Stroud)

M/Sgt. Joseph R. Stroud  USAF Ret.

Dave Menard Collection  ( Replicainscale)

While at Iwakuni, Joe Kostohryz took a photo of the same flat top (43-22343)with a the glass nose changed to a 6 gun hardnose so they must have intended in 1951 to use it in combat despite its bail out problems.  I don't know what the tail ID was in the under-the-wing shot by John Harris, but when Kostohryz took the photo the tail ID was not a letter of the alphabet but an exclamation point (known on the flight line as "the Point) 

Each B-26 squadron in Korea got a very bright searchlight to hang under a wing so they could see better what they were shooting at.  I have a story about the searchlight on my web site. 13thbombsquadron.org 

Capt. John Walmsley of the 8th Squadron got a Medal of Honor for getting killed using the searchlight and after that the idea was dropped.
Charles Hinton - Information   John W. Harris - Photos

When the 452nd BG (709th BS, 729th BS, 730th BS, 731st BS) left the US they flew to Iwakuni AB in Japan arriving November 1950. The 731st BS was immediately re-assigned to the 3rd BG who conducted missions from Iwakuni. On June 25, 1951 the 731st was re-designated 90th Bombardment Squadron (Light Night Intruder). Between November 1950 and June 25, 1951 the 731st BS flew 2,000 sorties requiring over 9,000 flying hours. “Brown Nose” also flew in Vietnam as a B-26K.

Attached is an interesting bit of trivia: Right after the truce in Korea, USAF sent a number of B-26s to the French in IndoChina. Here is part of the transfer process ongoing. Its at Clark sometime in Fall of 53. You can just make out a French crewman or two in this photo. The B-26  coded BC-372 was returned to USAF control next year. The B-26s you see here (at Clark Field) are primarily B-models and come from at least a couple of different units. All are what you might call well-used, and most have the WW2 gun nose with 6 .50-cals displaced horizontally in pairs of two.

Don Jay

4-35372 (c/n 28651, B-26B) loaned to France Apr 1954 for service in Indochina.
Returned to USAF Jul 1954 and to civil registry as N8028E but NTU.
Stored by Pima Museum, then sold for parts. Fuselage reported at Gnoss Field, CA

When I was at Clark 58-61, my office was in a large Quonset hut at the north end of the parking ramp. Just off the ramp area was a large grass field where B-26 Invaders were parked - probably 25 to 30 as I recall, looking very much like the ones in this photo. I remember they were black and had different colors on vert stab tips. About mid 1959, a crew of Filipinos showed up one day with saws, cutting torches and anything that could be used to cut metal and began to unceremoniously destroy these planes. After salvaging anything usable they melted the metal over open fires in the field. Within a matter of days there was no evidence these planes had ever been there. Hard to watch because I really loved my time on the Invader ten years earlier.

The image is too small to see the details necessary to identify them, and there can be more than one aircraft with the 3 digit "buzz"   The 13th had a "372" in 1950 with ID on the tail as N, but it had an 8 gun nose (that could have been changed)  Aircraft built with 6 gun noses had upper & lower turrets.   The bird X-ray may be a K-9 airplane because the red on the stabilizer tip is only half red.                                                                                                                                                                                                                            (Charles Hinton)

If the green tail you are speaking of is a "half color": type, that would probably indicate it belonged to the 17th B/W if the photo is 1953 vintage.  The 17th took over for the 452nd (a reserve wing) in May of 1952 and the aircraft remained in place to the end of the war.  As you know the 3rd Wing was based at K-8 Kunsan and the 452nd/17th was at K-9 Pusan. Not being up on such, I do not know the exact squadron conversions, color by color but I suspect some of your other contacts may.  To me it appears the half red tail of the 729th squadron (452nd) became the half red of the 37th squadron (17th).  I know there were half green and half blue tailed birds involved too but haven't made those conversions yet. As best I can tell right now, the colors for the 17th B/W squadrons were: 34th green -- 37th red -- and 95th blue; all with the color on the tail but not rudder (my half-tail description). I'm just doing online checking so get confirmation from someone before we agree it's "fact".  The attached photo is not a 13th bird but one from the 37th of the 17th Wing; hence the half color.

(Scott Lindley)

Scott Lindley sent this image which shows the placement of the 6 guns in the nose.