(Continued from my book)
The B-26 "Invader"
The "Office" of a B-26
Stepping off that C-47 in South Georgia was like walking into an open oven, with broiler mode engaged! But anyway, here we are, a brash young 2nd Lt. with about 130 hours flying time, ready to conquer the "Invader" beast. I already knew when I was sent through C-45 and C-47 for multi-engine training that I was going to be a "truck" driver of some kind, just didn't know what then. At least training on this thing, I knew I wouldn't be in "MATS" driving buses around!
It was a great training base, with history all the way back to 1942 and had 9 aux training fields scatted around this part of Georgia and in the B-26, about 50 minutes to Avon Park, one of the largest gunnery ranges in the Eastern U.S. This base would later become a SAC base in 1957 and a Naval Air station in 1964. We had 7 runways laid out in just about every direction you could want to take off in considering wind direction.
First thing you had to get through was ground school on the 26! They wanted you to know every little nut and bolt on this thing, and never did understand why, because when flying you can't stop in mid-air, get out and fix or replace something broke, but that is the Air Force for you.
The "Invader" had 2 R-2800 "twin wasp" engines which were very reliable and could take a lot of mis use and still get you home. The problem, which was covered extensively was engine cooling during ground attacks, because of the different airspeed used. Diving on a target you had to close cowl flaps all the way to prevent rapid cooling of the engines, then had to open them on climb out for cooling purposes. So you were busier than a one legged man at a butt kicking contest, just flying the airplane, let alone lining up on target, triggering off the 8 .50 cals in the nose or firing rockets at ground targets. My favorite was the "plywood" buildings, (don't know how long it took to construct one of them), you could line up on that and with a 2 second burst, all that was left was wheel barrows of splinters.
Surplus tanks was another favorite for the rockets, trick was to "track" the things where they couldn't move anymore. Of course they didn't move anyway because they were not manned. Kind of like shooting ducks in a swimming pool!
In addition to paying attention to all the little details I have mentioned, you had a "Range Officer", whom had to clear you into and out of the target area. We had designated points or "gates" as they were called to enter the immediate area, but it was up to you to maneuver around and line yourself up with the target. You always had some sort of obstruction surrounding the target you were given and you always had to do some maneuvering to line up for a clear shot.
The first time you walk around the 26, you are greatly impressed with its size! The Air Force is going to trust me with this thing? Wow! Oh, well, if young guys my age could fly the "marauder" B-26's with no more, sometimes than, 70 or 80 hours at MacDill during the early war years, this thing with a different wing and some better creature comforts, should be a breeze. The early 26's built by Martin had a terrible rep during training because it killed a lot of young pilots. You would hear things like, "one a day in Tampa Bay", a "flying prostitute", because the wings were so small, it really didn't any visible means of support, but the "widow maker" stuck with it for many years!
The "Invader" was a pretty simple aircraft to fly, but you had some details to pay attention to, starting, 6 blades on engine rotation, triggering the prime on last 2 blades, ignition switch to both as you slid the fuel mixture control to full rich. Taxiing was a breeze, a light tap on toe brake either way was instant, so was easy ground handling.
We had the TB-26B, which had dual controls for training purposes and the course was 10 hours dual instruction and 20 hours solo in the B-26C, a single seat 26, but you had a flight engineer position to your right or as some I found out later, a radar-bombardier position which was used on the "glass" nosed B-26C's and they could carry up to 8 500 lbers. Many of those where used later in the "Nam" war to great success. It was the premier truck killer on the Ho Chi Men trail in Nam. The glass nosed 26 was the aircraft which dropped the first and last bomb in the Korean conflict.
Takeoff was straight forward and really had no surprises, unless the "nut" setting in the right seat, pulled an engine on you, but with that big rudder and vertical stab, it was a breeze as long as you stayed about 120 knots. VMC, if I remember correctly was 112 in the weight config which we flew the B in. Accelerate to 105 knots, back pressure on elevators, nose wheel up and you flew right off the ground, gear up, flaps 10 degrees, cowl flaps to trail, depending on outside air temp, accelerate to 150 knots, set up about a 1,000 feet per min on the ROC, follow "Cecil's" instruction, all the controllers were called that for some reason. Climb to 8,000 feet, do some air work, slow flight, steep turns, stalls and engine out procedures. 2 hours of sweating and hard work. When you first start out, you are "behind" the aircraft, so to speak, because you have to absorb all the instructor is saying and fly to! The wing on the 26C is a Lamar flow wing, similar to the wing on the P-51 mustang, so it is fast, but one thing that I was warned about, is to never accelerate stall the thing, because it would snap into a spin every time.
Next phase is "tactical" training, how to dive in on targets, how to deliver ords and or air to ground rockets and of course, those .50 cals in the nose! If you are 2,000 feet above the ground, "what power setting do you want to set up before diving in" was a favorite instructor question. If you had a 20 degree dive angle, in 1500 feet, you would accelerate to one speed, but a different speed if you only did a 10 degree dive. What you did not want to do was exceed 290 knots which was VNE speed and on pull out, you could, in theory pull a wing off the thing! If it was hidden gun position for example, which you knew had an open area somewhere around it, you wanted to approach it from an angle so that at the last second you could turn in, fire your weapons and give the gunner the least amount of time in which to shoot back at you. Fortunately I never had to worry about that! My first pass was a railroad car, and when I touched the .50's off, I thought the thing had quit flying! Wow, what a recoil from those 8 .50's. I have no idea if I hit the thing or not, as I was busy flying the thing, still behind it a little, but the instructor seemed to be pleased, or I scared him so bad, he said good pass and less go home! I bet some of those guys wore "depends" with some of the things which I saw!
(More later)
