View Full Version : Douglas A26 Invader
Duke Elegant
19th Aug 2004, 04:01
For those of you who may be interested in World War Two aircraft , I would like to draw your attention to the following thread that is on Avcanada.
http://www.avcanada.ca/forums2/viewtopic.php?t=2981
I would love to answer any questions you may have.
Duke Elegant
Lu Zuckerman
19th Aug 2004, 16:17
Prior to entering the US Coast Guard I was a member of the 112th Bomb Group , Ohio Air National Guard. We flew B-26s of various types. I was being trained as a gunner. I loved flying in the Invader but in the back end you could not see very much.
:E :E
con-pilot
19th Aug 2004, 19:22
My father flew both the Martin B-26 and the Douglas A/B-26. His favorite aircraft of all time to fly was the Douglas A-26 (or if you prefer B-26), his least favorite was the B-36, he claimed one did not fly the B-36 one herded it about.
In the one hundred some odd different aircraft I have flown I have never had the chance to fly the Douglas B-26, well someday maybe I hope.
Way back in 1950 I was based (with Mustangs) at Iwakuni in Japan when the Korean war started. In next to no time we had a couple of squadrons of B26s co locate.
We did some escorts on bombing missions and considered them to be a very potent ground attack A/C.
I think they had 6 or 8 .50 cals in the nose and at least 6 .50s in each wing - to make a total of around 20 forward firing guns. Don't know of any other type with so many.
Saw one come back after a night sortie with a long length of steel cable wrapped around one prop. The N Koreans used to stretch cables across valleys and managed to catch a few.
Hitched a ride in a B26 from Pohang back to Iwakuni once - but never again. It had bad spark plugs in one engine and we aborted the first take off attempt - too many backfires. Made it on the second and the adrenalin level was maintained at a high level for a long time as we sputtered our way over a lot of oggin.