Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => Wishlist => Topic started by: swareiam on October 05, 2014, 08:24:30 AM
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Douglas A-26 Invader
Next AH Bird.
(http://www.sepsy.de/USAAF-jpg-Planes/douglas%20invader%20titelbild.jpg)
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Douglas A-26 Invader
Next AH Bird.
(http://www.sepsy.de/USAAF-jpg-Planes/douglas%20invader%20titelbild.jpg)
:airplane: I know I am going to get an argument about this, but the picture you display is of B-26C, not a A-26C....the only reason the A was ever attached to it again was before of the Thailand not allowing "Bombers" to based in Thailand, hence the B-26C all of a sudden became once again an A-26.
But I agree with your "wish" as it was a great aircraft of the WW2 and Korean and the Vietnam war! The one you have displayed only had one set of flight controls, the co-pilot position was occupied by a "flight engineer/gunner/navigator/mechanic", depending on who you talked to.
Very Fast, very stable instrument platform and gun platform. It could and did carry bombs as it had a bomb bay and was know in Vietnam as a "truck killer". But they were easy prey for the MIG's early on until our F-4's kept them run off. Would give you a solid 295 knots cruise at 10,000 feet!
(http://i1120.photobucket.com/albums/l488/05263739/a26_invader_WRG-0012840.jpg)
The way most of them appeared in the Nam war!
(http://)
A company named "On Mark" conversions converted a lot of older 26's to the new B-26K: info below from On Mark
The On Mark B-26K Counter Invader was a major redesign of the Invader, produced in the mid 1960s for use in Vietnam. Work on the B-26K began in 1962, but was given more urgency after a series of wing failures in 1963 and early 1964 forced the Air Force to ground its fleet of elderly B-26s.
On Mark Engineers, of Van Nuys California, was chosen because it had developed some expertise in converted surplus B-26s into high speed commercial transport aircraft.
On Mark proposed an almost total rebuilt of the aircraft. The fuselage and tail would be remanufactured, the rudder replaced with a larger version and removable duel controls fitted as standard. The wing would be reinforced with steel straps running from tip to root, partly to solve the wing failure problem but more importantly to allow for the installation of eight hard points each capable of carrying 1,000lb of stores, bringing the total payload of the B-26 up to 12,000lb. More powerful 2,500hp Pratt & Whitney R-2800-103W engines with water injection were to be used, maintaining the aircrafts top speed even with all of the extra weight. The aircraft was also given 165 gallon fuel tanks at the wing tips and a full package of up-to-date airborne electronics.
The hard points allowed the B-26K to carry a wide range of armaments. They could carry XM75 grenade launchers, P-2 grenade dispensers, LAU-3A, MA3, Aero 6A and LAU-10A rockets, MA3 rocket adaptors, SUU12 .50-caliber machine gun pods and bombs of up to 1,000lb. The inboard pylons could also carry a 230 gallon drop tank.
The prototype YB-26K made its maiden flight on 28 January 1963. After a series of tests it was accepted by the Air Force, and in November 1963 On Mark were given a contract to convert forty B-26s to the new standard (using -52W engines instead of the -103W of the prototype). The last conversion for the Air Force was completed in April 1965, and the company also received orders for the same conversion from other operators of the B-26.
The B-26K entered combat with the 609th Special Operations Squadron, from bases in Thailand. This led to one final designation change. The Thai government was unwilling to let the Americans operate bomber aircraft from its air bases, so the B-26K became the A-26A, reusing the designation which was used for the B-26C night fighter!
(http://i1120.photobucket.com/albums/l488/05263739/BlackB-26CInvader.jpg)
"Standard 26C"
(http://i1120.photobucket.com/albums/l488/05263739/B-26K.jpg)
The "K" was the most lethal of all the 26's and had the numbers to back that up! 325MPH cruise at 16,000 feet, with a 2500 mile range! Could land on 3,000 foot strip with out using prop reverse and could take off over a 50 foot obstacle in 2450 feet on a standard day.
Anyway+++100 on wish!
(and before anyone asks, it was a K which I ferried to Lima, Peru, just never got it all the way there)
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I vote no. Remodel the A20/Boston first, imo. I understand the allure of the A-26 to the fanboi's, but I'd rather see HTC remodel some of the AH Generation I planes. I also believe there are planes that would fill some of the gaps in the plane set and had a much bigger footprint in WWII than the A-26.
Beaufighter? IL-4 or DB-3? Wellington? Ki-100? ... to name a few