Douglas A 26 / B 26 Invader Light Bomber & Ground Attack Aircraft | WW2, Korea, Vietnam.1942 - 1980
Vložit
- čas přidán 28. 12. 2022
- The Douglas A-26 Invader (designated B-26 between 1948 and 1965) is an American twin-engined light bomber and ground attack aircraft. Often confused with the B-26 Marauder because of the designation, it was built by Douglas Aircraft Company during World War II, the Invader also saw service during several major Cold War conflicts. A limited number of highly modified United States Air Force aircraft served in Southeast Asia until 1969. It was a fast aircraft capable of carrying a large bomb load. A range of guns could be fitted to produce a formidable ground-attack aircraft.
A redesignation of the type from A-26 to B-26 led to confusion with the Martin B-26 Marauder, which first flew in November 1940, some 20 months before the Douglas design's maiden flight. Although both aircraft were powered by the widely used Pratt & Whitney R-2800 Double Wasp 18-cylinder, double-row radial engine, they were completely different and separate designs, with some 5,300 Marauders produced to 2,503 Invaders.
The A-26 was Douglas Aircraft's successor to the A-20 (DB-7) Havoc, also known as Douglas Boston.
Designed by Ed Heinemann, Robert Donovan, and Ted R. Smith, the innovative NACA 65-215 laminar-flow airfoil wing of the A-26 was the work of project aerodynamicist A.M.O. Smith.
The Douglas XA-26 prototype (AAC Ser. No. 41-19504) first flew on 10 July 1942 at Mines Field, El Segundo, with test pilot Benny Howard at the controls. Flight tests revealed excellent performance and handling, but engine-cooling problems led to cowling changes and elimination of the propeller spinners on production aircraft. During testing, the nose wheel was found to be structurally inadequate, thus the nose gear was redesigned and made more structurally sound.
The A-26B gun-nose could be equipped with a combination of armament, including .50 caliber machine guns, 20 or 37mm auto cannon, or an experimental 75mm pack howitzer (never used operationally). The 'B' gun-nose version housed six (and later, eight) .50 caliber machine guns, officially the "all-purpose nose", later known as the "six-gun nose" or "eight-gun nose".
The A-26C's "glass" "Bombardier nose", contained a Norden bombsight for medium-altitude precision bombing. The A-26C nose section included two fixed M-2 guns, but those were eliminated after underwing gun packs or internal guns in the wings proved effective during colder weather.
General characteristics
Crew: 3
Length: 50 ft (15 m)
Wingspan: 70 ft (21 m)
Height: 18 ft 6 in (5.64 m)
Wing area: 540 sq ft (50 m2)
Airfoil: NACA 65-215
Empty weight: 22,370 lb (10,147 kg)
Gross weight: 27,600 lb (12,519 kg)
Max takeoff weight: 35,000 lb (15,876 kg)
Fuel capacity: 925 US gal (770 imp gal; 3,500 l) normal + optional 675 US gal (562 imp gal; 2,560 l) ferry tank in the bomb bay; Oil capacity 60 US gal (50 imp gal; 230 l) in two nacelle tanks
Powerplant: 2 × Pratt & Whitney R-2800-71 Double Wasp or -27s, or -79s 18-cylinder air-cooled two-row radial piston engines, 2,000 hp (1,500 kW) each for take-off
Propellers: 3-bladed Hamilton Standard Hydromatic, 12 ft 7 in (3.84 m) diameter constant-speed fully-feathering propellers
Performance
Maximum speed: 359 mph (578 km/h, 312 kn) at 16,700 ft (5,100 m) (normal rated power)
Cruise speed: 266 mph (428 km/h, 231 kn) at 5,000 ft (1,500 m) (62.5% rated power)
Range: 1,600 mi (2,600 km, 1,400 nmi) without ferry tank at 5,000 ft (1,500 m) at 206 mph (179 kn; 332 km/h)
Combat range: 700 mi (1,100 km, 610 nmi)
Ferry range: 3,000 mi (4,800 km, 2,600 nmi) with ferry tank at 5,000 ft (1,500 m) at 210 mph (180 kn; 340 km/h)
Service ceiling: 28,500 ft (8,700 m) ; 14,400 ft (4,400 m) on one engine
Time to altitude: 10,000 ft (3,000 m) in 8 minutes 6 seconds
Wing loading: 51.1 lb/sq ft (249 kg/m2)
Power/mass: 0.145 hp/lb (0.238 kW/kg)
Armament
Guns:
6 or 8 0.50 in (12.7 mm) M2 Browning machine guns in solid, "all purpose" nose: or 2 0.50 in (12.7 mm) M2 machine guns in glass "bombardier" nose
Up to 8 0.50 in (12.7 mm) M2 machine guns paired in four optional under wing pods: or 3 0.50 in (12.7 mm) M2 machine guns in each outer wing panel
2 0.50 in (12.7 mm) M2 machine guns in remote-controlled dorsal turret
2 0.50 in (12.7 mm) M2 machine guns in remote-controlled ventral turret
Rockets: Up to 10 5-inch (12.7 cm) HVAR rockets on "zero length" launch pylons, five under each outer wing panel
Bombs: Up to 6,000 lb (2,700 kg) capacity - 4,000 lb (1,800 kg) in the bomb bay plus 2,000 lb (910 kg) carried externally on underwing hardpoints
#invader #a26 #aircraft - Věda a technologie
Click the link to watch more aircraft, heroes and their stories, missions: www.youtube.com/@Dronescapes
Aren’t there any water bomber versions still flying, full or part scale?
Our father was a Douglas AC machinist in Long Beach California on the A-26 thru WWII. We lived in company housing located nearby in Lakewood, Ca. Finished planes could be heard flying out for delivery throughout the day (I was 3yo), likely by WAFP volunteers, aka as WASP- Women Airforce Service Pilots.
When the war ended, Douglas offered the homes to employees for just a few thousand. However with no job, father's family fell on hard times with so many looking for non-defense jobs but we survived; dad found employment at Sears and we moved over to ex-company housing surplused by US Rubber (Uniroyal), Chrysler, B.F. Goodrich and others, in ELA.
When I first moved where I live now there was a man that owned an A26 with an airstrip right along a long straight section of highway. There wasn’t a lot of traffic then he many times he would just use the highway as his runway. You could see his touchdown tire marks on it. I saw it take off a few times. This was over 40 years ago.
😯
One of my favorite attack aircraft. A fine light bomber.
Saying that the A-26 was good at dogfighting and then mentioning that their record is 7 kills to 67 losses is a contradiction.
My dad had thousands of hours in these as well as A-20, B-17, B-29, B-50 and various cargo planes as bomber and cargo squadrons were reconstituted numerous times. His records were mostly destroyed in the fire in 1973 at the records center, but we have been able to piece together some of it. I know he was listed as in offensive actions in South America and likely Vietnam in these planes - I have actually visited On Mark Engineering with him (the video narration calls it Mark Engineering) discussing a job prospect in the late 60s - they knew him well so I assume he had time in Ks. One of the Guppys was being worked on at the time - I believe it was Van Nuys airstrip
Thousands?
*Correct. On Mark Engineering was located on west side of KVNY between the runway and the CA ANG buildings on Hayvenhurst Avenue. Your Dad probably interviewed first with Mike Keithley and then CEO Bob Denny. Cheers!*
Yes thousands - 22,000 some total hours between 1940 and 1969 - 5000 some in B-29s and several thousand in A-26 - was a combat pilot, reserve pilot, flight instructor, test pilot for Boeing and a cargo pilot where the hours really rack up
"On Mark Engineering was an American aircraft remanufacturing company established in 1954 at Van Nuys Airport in California. Its most significant products were rebuilding military surplus A-26 Invaders into executive transports"
Love these videos of "Champions" of Air Warfare that have been forgotten.
THANK YOU!
The A/B-24 reminds me of a B-61 (my personal favorite from WWII) and B-24 having a Child...
B61 is a nuclear bomb still deployed - not a plane?
These are great videos,...the occasional narrative slip makes me consider (and laugh) how badly I would likely do trying to replicate it :) Thanks DroneScapes!
The A-26 then B-26 then A-26 then A-26K is one of my favorite planes. Definitely in the top 10.❤😊
There is technically no such thing as an A-26K. The A-26 Invader was reclassified as B-26 Invader in 1947 when the newly-created USAF dropped the Attack class and retired the Martin Marauder. In 1964 OnMark made the B-26K variant. It was changed to A-26A in 1966 for use in Vietnam.
I used to watch A26s taking off at Billings Montana airport.
Rocky Mountain Tanker Service AKA Lynch Flying Service used A26s for dropping fire retardant on forest fire
Steven Spielberg used Lynch's A26s in the film Always
1:20 So 1944 to 1969= 25 years. The B-52 is 70 years+.....is it a math issue on your part?
First thing I thought of when I heard that.
Annd what about the CH-47 or UH-1 Huey?
@@KeepZeeZ The video is about the A/B-26.
@@paladin0654 Bruh... You mentioned the B-52
Okay mate, I made my comment a year ago. I was commenting on age/math.
Great video the A=26 was a very elegant plane. FYI I think the A-20 Havoc and the Bristol Beaufighter were two of the most underrated aircraft of the allies. The A-20 was not as good as the A-26 and the Beaufighter was not as good as the Mosquito but they both did yeoman like work throughout the war.
the Beau served the aussies well in the far east :)
Indeed it did.
The original B 26 was Martin's Marauder. They were fazed out post war and the Douglas A 26 took on their number as bombers becoming B 26's. Later, when Thailand objected to bombers using their bases they became A 26's again.
There is one on display at the Bradley Air Museum in Windsor Locks Ct. It was used after military service for mining survey I think. Very compact inside.
Very nice video on the Douglas A-26/B-26 Invader medium bomber. Thankyou for sharing. Theres no doubt that the Douglas A-26/B-26 Invader is only the second longest serving aircraft in the USAF's inventory. The single most longest serving aircraft in the USAF's inventory still goes to the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress. There are still plans to upgrade the current fleet of B-52's so they will last an additional 60 to 80 years. Can you imagine a bomber being in USAF service for over 100 years? The B-52 is certainly well on its way to achieving this milestone in aviation history.
The C-47 was in USAF/USAAF service 8 years longer than the A-26.
Great plane. Great vid 👍 Thanks for sharing, appreciate it 👍
Greets from the Netherlands 🌷, T.
Okay, hold on. The test flight was at Mines Field, CA in Jul 1942, but the first combat trials of the A-26 didnt happen until Jul 1944 in the PTO and Aug 1944 in the ETO. This year-long delay was due to many changes made to the Invader between the test flight and production development. To say that it was accepted with few changes and rushed into combat is not accruate. Additionally, crews had to trained on the Inavder. While the reception was generally good, the deployment and conversion was relatively slow.
The A20 Havoc was known in Britain as the Boston, not the A26, as mentioned in this video! Otherwise great video! 👍
Yes that was a poor and striking inaccuracy that had me confused for a minute or two.
Most Excellent!
Kermit Weeks has 1 close to flying. 6 gun nose, 4 mounted on the side of the fuselage and 4 pods under the wings. He also has an 8 gun and glass nose for displaying. Last I saw, they had run the engines , waiting on ammo belt guides to the guns in the nose.
Kermit's plane, 41-39301, is now named Pistol Packing Princess and has already flown several flights and made her debut. The A-26 does not have the fuselage-mounted machine god pods, those were used on the Mitchell. The underwing gun pods were common on earlier Invaders until the internal wing guns were used.
I've been watching A Different Show , There GONE ,. GREAT Show!!
By far the best to engine bomber ever made
The upper turret could only be used for strafing on the flat top canopies. When they switched to the clamshell/bubble top design this feature was deleted.
We now see where the Pedegree of the A-10 went after the WW2 Thunderbolt.
I had touched an A26 at Lackland 12 years ago. Knew nothing about them. Now I know BETTER.
Ed Heineman, who was the chief designer of this aircraft at Douglas, was also responsible for many other fine aircraft including the SBD(scout bomber douglas), The SBD was a tough, extremely resilient and reliable aircraft and though throughout the war attempts were made to retire it, a suitable replacement never materialized.
The XA-26F Jet engine prototype was not the only Invader built after 2 Sep 1945. There were at least 20 thay have records of being completed between 2 Sep and 21 Dec 1945.
B-52's have been in service far longer than this plane.
The nose wasnt the only difference between the prototypes. The XA-26-A night fighter protoype also had 4x 20mm cannons mounted in a tub under the fuselage and a shorter bomb bay.
Also, the upper and lower turrets are essentially identical, and they both featured Browning M2 .50 cals. The ammo boxes were all universal and carried 500 rounds each. They didnt load them differently between upper and lower turrets.
American Mosquito? Or much better aircraft?
GREAT Aircraft, thanks 👍
Thank you too Robert!
@@Dronescapes GREAT JOB 👍
Technically, the 3rd Bomb Group used A-26s in combat before anyone. And the 416th wasnt the first unit. Project Squadron was technically the first unit in the PTO. They were attached to the 386th BG and conducted combat tests in Aug and Sep. Then Project Squadron was retasked with training trained the 416th BG after that.
Aren’t there any water bomber versions still flying, full or part scale?
No Invader could bring 18 guns to bear in practice. While the 6-gun nose was upgraded to an 8-gun nose, the underwing gun pods were dropped in favor of internal wing guns, featuring 3 guns per wing. The introduction of these features also conincided with the revised canopy which removed the ability for the upper turret to be used. 8+(3x2)=14 forward guns on late models. 6+8+2=16 on early models.
What was the payload and ordnance? Did the Korean War loadout differ from the WW2? And what could the B-26K utilize?
@@PaulScunnion207 That's a good question. When they were planned on paper for WWII the Invaders were envisioned with the following Loadouts for WWII:
Mix #1 - 4x 1,000 lb - 4,000 lbs total
Mix #2 - 6x 500 lb - 3,000 lbs total
Mix #3 - 8x 250 lb - 2,000 lbs total
Mix #4 - 16x 100 lb - 1,600 lbs total
Mix #5 - 2x Mk 13 Torpedoes - 4,432 lbs total
Mix #6 - 4x Mk 26 1,000 lb Naval Mines - 4,000 lbs total
Although they are capable of carrying mines and torpedoes, by the time they saw action the lack of naval targets meant that they had basically nothing worthwhile to shoot at, so those loadouts were never used beyond testing. In the ETO They used Mix 1, Mix 2, and Mix 3 quite a lot. The Invaders that went to the Pacific had underwing attachments instead of the gun pods, so they supplemented their loadouts (Mixes 1, 2, & 3) with 14x 5" HVAR "Holy Moses" rockets, split up as 7x per wing.
By Korea it was a hot mess. The planes were a mix of old and new types, they did work to standardize the loadouts somewhat, by in the first year of the Korean war especially, the mix-matching planes meant they usually just carried whatever could fit. They also experimented a lot in Korea, using WWII destroyer search lights on a couple of planes, 3x planes had special Infrared train-hunting sensors, and at least 1x plane had it's 6-gun nose swapped out for 2x.50s and 2x 20mm cannons. By the end of the Korean War they had some favorite loadouts. One common loadout was:
10x 500 lb bombs (6 in bomb bay, plus 2 under each wing) - 5,000 lbs total. + 2x flares (1x per wing)
16x 250 lb bombs (in bomb bay) + 2x 500 lb under each wing - 5,000 lbs total. + 2x flares (1x per wing)
15x 160 lb frag bombs (in bomb bay) + 4x 500lb bombs (2x wing) = 5,900 lbs total.
But they also used less frequently:
8x 500 lb bomb (6x in bay + 1x per wing) + 6x Flare launchers (3x per wing)
6x 500 lb bombs (in bay) + 2x Napalm tanks (1x per wing), + 4x 6.5" Anti-tank Rockets (2x wing) +4x 5" HVAR rockets (2x per wing)
There were some missions where they carried 4x clusters of 20x anti-personnel fragmentation bombs in the Bay (80x total) + whatever wing ordnance they needed.
In Vietnam the loadouts were largely based on what target area they were going to - Steel Tiger or Barrel Roll. They B-26K, which was changed to the A-26A right as combat use in Vietnam began, had their wings reinforced to be able to carry 4,000lbs on their wings + the 4,000 lbs in their bomb bays, for a possible max load of 8,000 lbs. They used Napalm, parachute bombs, flares, rockets, plus all of the other bombs from WWII and Korea.
The first A-26As in Vietnam were flown by the 603rd SOS, Detachment 1. The 606th wasnt formed until 6 months later.
The only Invaders to carry radars were the French B-26N variant in Algeria, and the US Navy JD-1. None of them carried radar for night bombing missions.
The Invaders were pulled from Vietnam due to Bureaucratic reasons, namely high ranking Generals wanting to allow the jets more targets. There were enough supplies and airframes to keep the Invaders on station for several more years.
There is one A26 K model that has been airworthy lately...Known as Special K she suffered a landing gear failure and is again under repair...Parts are hard to come by so they're scouring the planet for replacement parts..Hopefully by the end of 2024 she will be back in the air..
A-10 says, hold my beer... LOL 😂 Douglas A-1 Skyraider looks on skeptically.
Even a P-3 has been in service longer than the A-10 by 10 years.
@@Chris_at_Home true, but the A-10 hasn't been retired from active US front line service like the P-3.
The A-10 has to make it to 2030 to have the same active duty time as the P-3. They will have to make it 3 more years after that for reserve duty.
The USAF only rebuilt 40 airframes into the B-26K model, not 41.
By the time of Vietnam the USAF had plenty of capable strategic bombers. The Invaders were used to great effect - the highest ground-target kill counts and per mission kill counts of any plane - because they could loiter over an area for a long time looking for targets, and they could drop in low and slow and strafe enemy convoys, hitting nearly every truck, neither of those things could be done by the jet bombers.
B-52,A-6 ,C-130
Another great doc. To think they hung on til the A-7????? Question, what caliber were the gun packs?
.50 mm. All of the machine guns on the Invader were Browning. 50s.
@@IHF thanks brother!!!
I have a photograph of Brown Nose taken by my dad on the flight line in Korea. It had a huge number of missions. Wonder what ultimately happened to it.
Must watch if you love learning about Airplanes
👍
They did no carry canon operationally but I believe that, early on in its design stage, such armament was considered.
The first 30x production aircraft were manufactured with a 75mm cannon in the nose. None of those were used in combat. In 1945 they test fires a 105mm canon, but the war ended before it could be further developed. It remains the largest forward-firing canon ever shot from a plane. During Korea they did use 20mm cannons on one plane as a specialized train-killer.
Douglas built, exactly, 2,503 Invaders which rolled off the line. The USAF didnt accept all them, so many were sent directly to storage and either sold or scrapped.
*Some remained in their Douglas knock-down crates. Those crates were delivered to On Mark at KVNY before 1960 for on-site storage until needed. Cheers!*
@@blackrifle6736 Quick question, do you happen to have a source for that? All of the records that I have show the un-accepted Douglas planes either being sold to the civilian market or scrapped. Military planes were sent to Hill, Kingman, and a few other places for long-term open storage. I've also never seen an Invader stored in a crate - that crate would have to be massive. The first military Invaders that that arrived at On-Mark were in 1959, and the 40 that were converted into the K-models came from planes that were already in service. On Mark itself didn't form as a company until 1954, 9 years after the war ended.
@@IHF *I saw crates of spare parts, instrument panels and fuselage components but no wings or spars stacked under oiled, OD canvas tarps at the far west end of the property, against a fence separating OnMark from what I remember was Marquardt property.*
*The name OnMark is the concatenation of Onnalee Doheny and Marquita Denny. OnMark's formation commenced in June 1945 with MAJ Bob Denny marrying Corliss C Moseley's daughter Marquita. During WW2 GCAC serviced and repaired A-26s. A-26 aircraft and spare parts continuously arrived at Moseley's Grand Central Airport in Glendale, CA. Source: "Fly By Knights" The A-26 part of the enterprise moved to VNY around 1950. Cheers!*
A26s when empty and low of Fuel, were known to out pace Mustangs on many occasions
Interesting. Thank you!
yes ^ what he said
Thanks for a good video. Back in the early 1950’s the local ANG unit here was equipped the recon version, the RB-26, which was flown a good bit lighter than than the B or C models. It was widely rumored that, down low, these ships could outrun the the P-51’s of the neighboring Guard unit. Later on, the civilian On Mark conversions of the 196O’s probably could. Makes for good conversation anyway.
@@grumpyoldfart1945 These surplus as well as On Mark Marksmans, Marketeers etc were known by the feds to be used by smugglers back in the day and to outrun all fielded US interception / interdiction aircraft at the time - there is a good story on this somewhere told by DEA agents that came across one of the planes they had chased for years prior at an airshow if it hasn't been scrubbed from the internet - EDIT - it hasn't - look up Texas Special A/B-26 Invader - story still up
@@grumpyoldfart1945 *Not conjecture. Bob Denny named his Marksman the "450" for a reason... Cheers!*
I had a great uncle who was one of the engineers. Who designed the A26.
Why is the ultimate 4-engined RB-57, with an 80,000 feet ceiling, not mentioned? I find it odd that the Aussie-made Canberra gor the RAAF is likewise not covered here, it saw much combat use during the Vietnam War, operating with US direction. The USAF’s own figures show that the RAAF Canberras flying purely in the tactical bombing role were responsible for 16% of confirmed bomb damage to the Communist enemy, despite making up only 4% of the tactical bomber strength.
*sigh* the A-26As were mothballed. Every Imvader that came back was sent to Davis-Monthan. They sat in mothball for a full 2 years before the first ones were actually scrapped. Many of them sat in mothball a lot longer, the last being disposed of in 1975. Not all were scrapped either. 3 were given to museums. Another 3 were sold to the civilian market where they were intended for use as Air Racers and Fire bombers. Of those, one still survives.
@3:39 I've worked on that very B-26K.
😯👍
It's currently being restored back to airworthy condition in Texas, after a landing gear incident.
23:00 "the Invader continued to be classified as a plane...."
personally..B-25 and a low slung 75mm 4 50 on nacelles. Came to end your party. Usually as the sun was setting.
B52 outlived this relic by nearly twice
It was designated the A26 in Southeast Asia because use of any "B" (bomber) aircraft was deemed to be illegal in that theatre of operation because of it being a "defensive war". Same plane, same armament just a name game.
They didn't want to retire it because the name was too baller.
It's hard to not like anything called Invader.
Or maybe that's just me.
👍😄
The longest A in use the Invader.
Next letter is B
A-10 says, what?
@@mpeugeot brrrrrrrrt
American answer to the British Mosquito
This plane is parked in the front lawn of my high school aeronautics class (south mountain HS)
That is an On Mark Marksman or Marketeer - On Mark re did many of these B-26 as executive transports - Cruise speed of 365. They have been known to be used by smugglers and outrun US LE aircraft on numerous occasions back in the day
That plane is local to me. Ive visited it and photographed it before.
And of course there was the B26 used at the Bay of Pigs.
A US plane painted up in Cuban airforce livery.
Yes, correct
And the 2 ANG US pilots that made several missions out of Florida until they were killed. My Dad was on standby for this and luckily wasn't called on
Are there any let flying today that are owned by individuals?
Yeah. SEVERAL but I don't have an exact #. There were A LOT that went into service with the US Forestry Service, fighting Forset Fires
There are about a dozen that still fly today, and another 2 dozen that are "airworthy" by the FAA but havent flown in years, but could be brought back to flying status relatively easily. Then there are about 4 dozen more that I know that are stored dismantled that could, hypothetically, be restored with some considerable effort.
And big Dollars. Spendy
At 1:15, "no other American combat aircraft can match its record...." Yeah I think the F-15 eagle and the F-16 falcon have got it beat, especially the F-15 which is being modernized and upgraded, and will probably be flying for another 20 years.
whats with the arabic ?
Subtitles? They are in almost 20 different languages. Do you have your browser set to Arabic, or perhaps you are watching it from abroad?
@@Dronescapes nope. The subtitles automatically default to Arabic on this video only.
Heey Turkish language please
Script writer is sloppy as hell. "Canons" no. A-26K were conversions by "On the Mark". Sorry this channel just became not worth botheeing with
Perhaps they could take a spelling lesson from you also. botheeing?
@WGB