I had a great mail from Robert Baetke concerning two beautiful Invaders his organisation purchased a short time ago.

He would appreciate any further info on these two machines, can anybody help....Enjoy

 

Hello,

I have been looking at your fabulous web site of A-26 photos and had to contact you to let you know that I am currently working on former Air Spray Tanker 10. I am a volunteer A&P at the Classic Aircraft Aviation Museum in Hillsboro, OR and we purchased Tankers 10 and 4 from Airspray last summer. I am currently doing an anual inspection and repairs on Tanker 10 (we have re-registered it as N26PJ) in preparation for adding it to the airshow circuit next year. I am also the webmaster for our website at www.classicaircraft.org and have published my research there on the history of Tanker 10. If you have any further information or pictures that you would care to contribute to the history I would very much appreciate it. I would also be very happy to send you pictures of our two planes for your collection.

I have not been able to find any detail on are when the French flew it in Indochina and its service as an executive transport while owned by the Raytheon Missile Division. I would love to find pictures of it during either of these times.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely

Robert

General History of the Type

The A-26 Invader was designed and built by the Douglas Aircraft company and first flew on July 10, 1942. Intended to eventually replace the A-20 Havoc, B-25 Mitchell and B-26 Marauder, the A-26 possessed several unique features including a laminar flow wing with double slotted flaps, single-pilot controls, a fuselage with a rectangular cross-section, and remotely operated dorsal and ventral gun turrets. It was powered by two Pratt and Whitney R-2800 Double Wasp engines producing 2000 HP each. A total of 2,503 A-26’s of all variants were produced. Of the 1091 A-26C’s manufactured, all but five were made in Tulsa, OK. The remaining five were built in Long Beach, CA.

Military History

A-26’s were assigned to the 9^th Air Force and saw combat in the European theater beginning in November of 1944. By January of 1945 they were also present in the Pacific theater. In the early 60’s, A-26’s provided by Intermountain Airlines (a covert CIA operation) were used by Cuban exiles in the Bay of Pigs battle. In 1966 the B-26K (a.k.a. A-26A Counter Invader) was deployed in Thailand to attack the supply lines moving along the Ho Chi Minh Trail. A-26’s served in Korea and in the Vietnam War until 1969.  The last A-26 in military service was donated to the National Air and Space Museum in 1972 by the National Guard Bureau in Washington DC.

 

Specific History of A-26C #44-35708

Classic Aircraft Aviation Museum’s A-26C (44-35708) was completed at the Tulsa, OK manufacturing facility on May 25, 1945 and flown to a staging area in Salinas, CA in August of that same year. With the end of WWII occurring just one month later in September of 1945, 44-35708 would spend the next two years in storage at various AAF bases in Mississippi, New Mexico and California until being assigned to the 114^th Bombardment (Light) Squadron, (Air National Guard) at Mitchell Field, New York in April of 1948.  In August of 1950 44-35708 was flown to Floyd Bennett Field, NY and was assigned to the 106^th Composite Group (ANG). In March of 1951 44-35708 moved to March Field, CA as part of the 106^th Bombardment (Light) Wing of the Strategic Air Command. Two months later 44-35708 was moved to the Warner Robins Air Materiel Area at Robins AFB, GA and in January of 1952 it was moved to the Sacramento Air Materiel Area at McClellan AFB, CA. In March of 1952 44-35708 was dropped from the US inventory by transfer to the Military Assistance Plan.

From April 1952 until November 1955, 44-35708 served with the French Air Force in Indochina and was then returned to the USAF. The next three years, 1955-1958 were spent in open storage at Clark AFB, Philippines.

In 1963, 44-35708 was acquired by On Mark Engineering Co. of Van Nuys, CA and was converted into a civilian transport known as the On Mark “Marketeer” and gained the civilian registration N5530V. This aircraft was purchased by the Raytheon Missile Division in 1969 and used as an executive transport until October 25th, 1976 when it was sold to Air Spray Ltd. of Alberta Canada for $25,000.

Air Spray re-registered the aircraft as C-GXGY and designated it Tanker 10. The plane was converted into a fire bomber by Aero Union and it flew fire suppression missions in Canada and the U.S. from 1976 until being retired from service in 2004. This was the last year Air Spray operated A-26’s and the entire fleet of some 14 aircraft was put into outdoor storage at their base of operations in Red Deer, Alberta and put up for sale.

In May of 2006 representatives of the Classic Aircraft Aviation Museum traveled to Red Deer, Alberta to inspect the A-26 fleet and came away with an agreement to purchase Tanker 10 and Tanker 4. Tanker 10 was subsequently flown to the museum in Hillsboro, Oregon early in October 2006 and is currently undergoing a thorough inspection in preparation for re-certification. Current plans include maintaining the aircraft in an airworthy condition and making it available for both flying and static display at air shows.