Biafran Air Force

Biafra acquired and used (at least) two provisionally armed A-26s during Nigerian Civil War. Former French Air Force (of the CEV test centre) B-26R, USAAF serial 41-39531, put up for sale, 11 July 1966. Registered to Pan Eurasian Trading Company, Luxembourg, 2 August 1966 (N64Y?) as "an investment", never operated; "resold to a Mr Ernes A. Koenig - a German-American residing in Luxembourg. It seems very likely that Mr Koenig acted as an agent for Eastern Nigeria, and one source claims that the real buyer was a 'French company, which paid good money for the aircraft'. It has been claimed that the Biafrans (who had purchasing agents in France) ended up paying as much as $320,000 for it, which certainly made the aircraft a good investment for somebody. Although there is no direct evidence for contacts between Mr Koenig and the Eastern Nigerians at this stage, it should be mentioned that he was later also involved in the sale of ex-Luftwaffe C-47s to Biafra."

In late October, Koenig had the Invader placed on the US register as N12756, the airframe stored at Courtrai-Wevelgelhem in Belgium. Taken out of storage and prepped for delivery to Africa in early June 1967. Ferried to Lisbon by Belgian pilot in mid-June. Departed Lisbon 26 June, flown by former French CEV pilot and ex-Polish squadron co-pilot, arriving at Biafran capital Enugu on 29 June 1967. Known as "The Shark" with a crudely-applied shark's mouth and a single nose-mounted machine gun, it was abandoned at Enugu on 4 October 1967 in a damaged condition.

A second former French Invader, RB-26P, USAAF 44-34312, registered F-BMJR, one of five sold to aerial survey company Société Carta by the Armée de l'Air in 1966, and last seen at Creil near Paris in June 1967, was flown to Biafra in August 1967 by two American pilots. "It was sold to Biafra through the French arms dealer Pierre Laureys, who had also been involved in the sale of the first Invader." (Some reports claim that an Invader carrying the bogus registration N1888T was delivered to Biafra. There might be possibly some connection with this RB-26P.)

It was painted in a similar camouflage scheme to the first B-26, but with no shark's mouth. It commenced operations using locally produced ordinance until damaged in accident 2 December 1967 and grounded. Abandoned at Port Harcourt in damaged condition due to a lack of spares. Captured by Nigerian forces 18 May 1968, it was blown up or damaged sufficiently by BAF commandos on 19 May 1968 to prevent operation.

Neither Invader received a BAF serial.Hagedorn, Dan and Hellström, Leif (1994). "Foreign Invaders - The Douglas Invader in foreign military and US clandestine service. Earl Shilton, Leicester, England: Midland Publishing Limited, 75, ISBN 1-85780-013-3.. 

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Brazilian Air Force

The Forca Aerea Brasileira (FAB) was the largest Invader operator next to the United States and France. However, none of the FAB's Invaders ever fired a shot or dropped a bomb during actual combat.

Brazil declared war on the Axis powers on August 22, 1942. A Brazilian Expeditionary Force participated in combat in the Italian campaign in 1944-45. As an American ally in the war in Europe against Germany and Italy, Brazil had received a lot of US arms and equipment under Lend-Lease. In addition, Brazil had gotten lots of arms supplies from the USA in subsequent postwar American Republics Projects.

In the early 1950s, the bomber squadrons of the FAB were equipped with a mix of Douglas A-20K Havocs, Lockeed PV-1 Venturas and PV-2 Harpoons, Boeing B-17G Fortresses, plus a large number of North American B-25 Mitchells. As the last of the A-20s, Venturas, and Harpoons began to reach the end of their service lives, the FAB decided that it needed an interim attack aircraft that would fill in the gap until state-of-the-art jet attack aircraft could be acquired. The B-26 Invader seemed to be an ideal choice.

A batch of B-26Bs and B-26Cs was offered to Brazil by the United States in 1956. Selected aircraft were taken out of storage at Davis-Monthan AFB and were overhauled by the Fairchild facilities at St. Augustine, Florida and Hagerstown, Maryland. The first examples were delivered to Brazil in September of 1957, the last arriving in February of 1958.

14 B-26Cs and 14 B-26Bs were initially delivered, and were assigned FAB serials between 5145 and 5172. The B-26s were issued to the 5o Grupo de Aviacao at Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, replacing that unit's B-25 Mitchells. The group had two operating units, the 1o/5o Gav and the 2o/5o Gav. The group's initial mission was primarily training. This training role lasted until 1963, when 1o/5o Gav centralized all the B-26s, becoming a dedicated attack unit, while 2o/5o re-equipped with Beech H18S trainers. 1o/5o moved to Recife in 1971, and operated there until it was disbanded in 1973. 1o Esquadrao do 10o Grupo de Aviacao (1o/10o Gav) flew nine B-26s from 1971 onward.

In 1966, wing spar cracks had started to show up in some of the FAB's Invaders. In an attempt to prolong their service lives, in 1968, several FAB Invaders were flown back to Tucson, Arizona for an upgrading by the Hamilton Aircraft Company. Most of the changes involved IRAN (Inspect and Repair as Necessary) of avionics, communications equipment, and weapons systems. 15 aircraft were refurbished. In addition, three new aircraft (FAB serials 5173/5175) were acquired by Hamilton from surplus stocks as attrition replacements. Unfortunately, one of the FAB B-26 was so badly corroded that it had to be struck off in Arizona and replaced by another.

In addition, a civilian B-26 was impounded by the Brazilian government in June of 1966 due to its involvement in illegal smuggling activities. It sat derelict at Brasilia until 1970, when the FAB finally took it on charge and used it as a transport aircraft under the FAB serial number of 5176.

In spite of the Hamilton rebuild program, wing spar cracks began to reappear in the wings of many FAB B-26s in 1972, which led to the decision to retire the B-26 from FAB service rather than to attempt to keep them in the air for much longer. The withdrawal took place in stages, beginning in 1973 and lasting until December of 1975. The aircraft were replaced by EMBRAER-built Macchi MB-326GB light attack aircraft. Most were scrapped, but a couple of FAB B-26s have been preserved in Brazilian museums, and one was sold back to the USA in 1984.

• B-26B FAB 5145, 41-39246, taken on charge September 1957, refurbished 1968, withdrawn from use, stricken 1975.
• B-26B FAB 5146, 43-22469, taken on charge September 1957, struck off charge 14 July 1967, crashed on T-O at Natal.
• B-26B FAB 5147, 43-22496, taken on charge September 1957, refurbished 1968, withdrawn from use, struck off charge 1975.
• B-26B FAB 5148, 43-22597, taken on charge September 1957, struck off charge 5 August 1965, written-off at Natal.
• B-26B FAB 5149, B-26C FAB 5149, 44-34163, taken on charge 1957, refurbished 1968 into B-26C, withdrawn from use, struck off charge April 1974.
• B-26B FAB 5150, 44-34196, taken on charge 1957, refurbished 1968, withdrawn from use, struck off charge 1975.
• B-26B FAB 5151, 44-34207, taken on charge 1957, written off at Natal, struck off charge, 9 August 1965.
• B-26B FAB 5152, 44-34208, taken on charge 1957, withdrawn from use and struck off charge January 1975.
• B-26B FAB 5153, 44-35235, taken on charge 1957, refurbished 1968, withdrawn from use, struck off charge 1975.
• B-26B FAB 5154, 44-35405, taken on charge 1957, written off 13 June 1958, São José de Mipibu, SP state.
• B-26B FAB 5155, 44-35415, taken on charge 1957, written off 28 September 1965, Niquelândia, GO state.
• B-26B FAB 5156, 44-35586, taken on charge 1957, refurbished 1968, withdrawn from use, struck off charge December 1975. Was displayed at FAB Academy in 1 o/ 10 o GAv markings. Transferred to Parnamirim in 1987.
• B-26B FAB 5157, 44-35610, taken on charge 1957, refurbished 1968, withdrawn from use, struck off charge December 1973.
• B-26B FAB 5158, 44-35713, taken on charge 1957, refurbished 1968, withdrawn from use, struck off charge August 1972.
• B-26C FAB 5159, B-26B FAB 5159, 41-39288, taken on charge 1957, refurbished 1968 into B-26B. Withdrawn from use, now displayed at Museu Aerospacial near Rio de Janeiro.
• B-26C FAB 5160, B-26B FAB 5160, 43-22271, taken on charge 1957, refurbished 1968 into B-26B. Withdrawn from use, struck off charge December 1975.
• B-26C FAB 5161, 43-22415, taken on charge 1958, to have been refurbished 1968 but found to be too badly corroded. Withdrawn from use, struck off charge June 1968.
• B-26C FAB 5162, 43-22456, taken on charge 1958, refurbished 1968, withdrawn from use, struck off charge 1975.
• B-26C FAB 5163, 43-22457, taken on charge 1958, withdrawn from use, struck of charge October 1967.
• B-26C FAB 5164, 43-22461, taken on charge 1958, withdrawn from use, struck off charge June 1968.
• B-26C FAB 5165, 43-22472, taken on charge 1958, withdrawn from use, struck off charge October 1967.
• B-26C FAB 5166, 43-22477, taken on charge 1958, withdrawn from use, struck off charge June 1968.
• B-26C FAB 5167, 43-22605, taken on charge 1958, written off at Caravelas, BA state, 10 June1963.
• B-26C FAB 5168, 44-34120, taken on charge 1958, withdrawn from use, struck off charge June 1968.
• B-26C FAB 5169, 44-34329, taken on charge 1958, withdrawn from use, struck off charge June 1968.
• B-26C FAB 5170, B-26B FAB 5170, 44-35264, taken on charge February 1958, refurbished 1969 into B-26B. Withdrawn from use, struck off charge December 1975.
• B-26C FAB 5171, B-26B FAB 5171, 44-35790, taken on charge February 1958, refurbished 1968 still as B-26C, but later reconfigured into B-26B in Brazil. Withdrawn from use, struck off charge December 1975.
• B-26C FAB 5172, 44-35902, taken on charge February 1958, refurbished 1968, withdrawn from use, struck off charge December 1975.
• B-26C FAB 5173, 44-34615, N4817E, taken on charge June 1969, withdrawn from use between 1973 and 1975, struck off charge circa 1974.
• B-26C FAB 5174, 44-34749, N4823E, taken on charge June 1969, withdrawn from use, struck off charge December 1975, originally preserved at ESPAer near Sâo Paulo but sold back to USA as N4823E circa 1984.
• B-26C FAB 5175, 44-35969, N8628E, taken on charge June 1969, withdrawn from use, struck off charge December 1975.
• CB-26 FAB 5176, later C-26 FAB 5176, 44-34134, N115RG, N4974N, civilian aircraft impounded 21 June 1966, taken on charge 1970, used as a transport, withdrawn from use, struck off charge January 1975, preserved with Museu de Armas e Veiculos Motorizidos Antigos, Bebedouro, SP state.

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Chilean Air Force

As a signatory to the postwar US-inspired Mutual Defense Assistance Pact (MDAP), Chile became elegible for American military aid. As part of this military aid package, B-26 Invaders were acquired to replace the Fuerza Aerea del Chile's (FACh) fleet of aging B-25 Mitchells.

The first ten Invaders were handed over to Chile in November of 1954. They had all been drawn from surplus stocks stored at McClellan AFB. Although they all bore USAF serial numbers from A-26B production blocks, they were in fact transparent-nosed B-26Cs, since they had all were converted from B-26B to B-26C standards before delivery. They bore the FACh serials 812 to 821 and were assigned to Grupo 8 based at Antofagasta. These planes were especially welcome in Chile because the B-25s were by this time very much "tired iron" and were becoming severe maintenance and spares problems.

Twelve more B-26Cs plus a pair of B-26Bs were delivered to Chile between September 1956 and March 1957, followed by nine B-26Cs and three B-26Bs in March of 1958, bringing the total received by Chile to 36.

By 1962, attrition had reduced the FACh Invader fleet to 22 B-26Cs and 2 B-26Bs. By this time, the usual problems with wing spar failures had begun to manifest themselves, and several FACh Invaders went through a wing spar upgrading and refurbishment process at Albrook AFB in the US Panama Canal Zone.

Chile was supplied with two more B-26Bs in 1963, followed by four more in 1965. This brought the total number of Invaders delivered to Chile to 40. Perhaps three more were supplied as replacements after this date, although this cannot be confirmed.

During the 1960s, some of the FACh B-26Cs were locally converted to a semi-hard six and sometimes eight-gun nose configuration and locally designated B-26D.

In 1965, the FACh's B-26s flew some limited border patrol activities during a period of increased tension with neighboring Argentina over border disputes. Fortunately, this crisis passed without any military action actually taking place.

Fatigue and attrition gradually took their toll, and only 16 B-26s were still operational by the middle of 1968. Strength was down to only ten by the early 1970s. Grupo 8 may have flown some sorties during the September 11, 1973 military coup against President Salvador Allende, but there is no evidence that they actually delivered any ordnance.

The last operational FACh B-26 was scrapped in 1979. However, several Invaders survive in Chile as gate guards or in museums.

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Colombian Air Force

The South American nation of Colombia has for a long time maintined a rivalry with its neighbor Venezuela, with border disputes, trade frictions, and territorial differences causing relations to be on occasion tense and acrimonious. In 1951, Colombia had signed a Military Assistance Agreement with the USA, making the country elegible for receipt of military aid. That same year, alarmed at the Venezuelan acquisition of surplus British and American warplanes, the government of Colombia requested that the US provide nine B-26s to re-equip the bomber force of the Fuerza Aerea Colombiana. However, the US government was reluctant to contribute to the development of yet another arms race in Latin America, and the Colombian request for B-26s was politely turned down.

However, in 1953 there was a change in policy and MDAP officials decided to equip all participating Latin American air forces with B-26s. However, deliveries of B-26s to Colombia still represented a special challenge, since the US government did not want to alarm Venezuela. Consequently it was agreed rather artificially that the mission of the FAC B-26 bomber force would be exclusively anti-submarine warfare and maritime reconnaissance rather than ground attack or bombing. Under this rather thin pretext, the delivery of B-26s to Colombia was approved.

The first B-26s were delivered to the FAC at its Villavicencio base in late 1954. The final aircraft were delivered in late November of 1957, bringing the total to nineteen. They were serialed FAC 2501 through 2519.

The B-26s were initially delivered with both turrets in place, but there was no provision for any training of aerial gunners, and most aircraft later had their ventral turrets removed.

Colombia was racked with chronic internal strife throughout most of the 1940s and 1950s. Beginning in 1948, there was a state of undeclared civil war known as la violencia. La violencia spread throughout the country, especially in the Andes and the llanos (plains), sparing only the southernmost portion of Nari? and parts of the Caribbean coastal area. By mid-1952 as much as one-third of of national territory was estimated to have been controlled by various forces opposed to the government. It was an extremely complex phenomenon, characterized by both partisan political rivalry and sheer rural banditry. La violencia claimed over 200,000 lives during the next eighteen years, with the bloodiest period occurring between 1948 and 1958.

FAC B-26s were heavily involved in counterinsurgency operations between 1955 and 1958, and several aircraft were lost during combat. Many aging FAC B-26s developed the usual wing spar cracks and went through the wing spar repair program at Albrook AFB in the Canal Zone in 1964-65. By this time, attrition had reduced the fleet to only eight.

In 1968, the FAC decided to deactivate its bomber force in favor of transports, and most FAC B-26s stood down in 1968. A couple were kept airworthy until 1972 as courier aircraft. A couple of FAC B-26s are preserved in museums.

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Cuban Air Force

Since March of 1952, the Carribean island of Cuba had been under the control of Fulgencio Batista Zaldivar. Batista's influence over Cuba dated back to 1933. In an uprising known as the "Revolt of the Sergeants," on September 4, 1933 Batista and a group of followers took over the Cuban government. The coup overthrew the liberal government of Gerardo Machado, and marked the beginning of the army's influence as an organized force in the running of the government. On January 14, 1934, Batista forced provisional president Ram? Grau San Mart? to resign, and he appointed Carlos Mendieta to the presidency. Within five days, the U.S. recognized Cuba's new government.

For the next decade Batista ran the country from the background, pulling the strings of a succession of puppet presidents. On March 10, 1952, almost twenty years after the Revolt of the Sergeants, Batista took over the government once more, this time against elected Cuban president Carlos Pr? Socorras. The coup took place three months before the upcoming elections that he was sure to lose. Batista suspended the constitution and dissolved the congress. He held a sham election in 1954, with him as the only candidate, and was elected president of Cuba.

Once president, Batista entered into relationships with mobsters such as Meyer Lansky, which opened the way for large-scale gambling in Havana, and he reorganized the Cuban state so that he and his political appointees could harvest the nation's riches. Under Batista, Cuba became extremely profitable for American business and organized crime. Havana became the "Latin Las Vegas," a playground of choice for wealthy gamblers, and Batista's family and cronies regularly skimmed profits from the casinos. In exchange for bribes, Batista granted lucrative contracts to dozens of US corporations for massive construction projects. Opposition was swiftly and violently crushed.

In 1952, Cuba signed a military pact with the USA, which involved an extensive program of American assistance to the Cuban military. Under US Mutual Defense Assistance Program Grant Aid deliveries, the Fuerza Aerea del Ejercito de Cuba (FAEC) received 16 transparent-nosed B-26Cs in 1956, followed by two replacement aircraft in 1957. Two pilots came to the USA in 1956 to received B-26 advanced training so that they could act as instructors. The B-26s were stationed at Campo Columbia, located near Havana. They were serialed in the range between 901 to 935, with even numbers being skipped, perhaps to give people the impression that the FAEC had more Invaders than it really did.

The first B-26 accident took place on March 19, 1957, when Lt. Sardi?s lost an engine on takeoff and crashed. US-sponsored Mobile Training Teams were scheduled to come to Cuba and assist in training. However, revolts and insurrections inside the Cuban military repeatedly interrupted these plans. Nevertheless, the Mission did manage to complete a training program in August of 1957 for 23 pilots. On September 5, 1957, the FAEC took part in the suppression of a Cuban Navy revolt at Cayo Loco Naval Station in Cienfuegos, located on the southern coast of the island. Only two of the B-26s actually took part in the action, one flown by Capt Zuniga, the other by Capt Pinera. Capt Zuniga had one of his engines put out of action by ground fire. One of the B-26 pilots and some of the fighter pilots refused to take part in the attacks and were subsequently imprisoned.

Fidel Castro Ruz, a tall, bearded attorney in his thirties who had been in exile in Mexico following a failed attack on the Moncada Army Barracks in Santiago on July 26, 1953, landed in Oriente Province in Cuba on Christmas Day 1956 with a band of 81 fellow revolutionaries. Although most of them were quickly captured or killed, Castro and a few others evaded Batista's soldiers and set up headquarters in the jungled hills of the Sierra Maestra range. By 1958 his force had grown to about 2,000 guerrillas, for the most part young and middle-class. Castro's brother Raul, and Ernesto (Ch· Guevara, an Argentine physician, were his top lieutenants. Businessmen and landowners who opposed the Batista regime gave financial support to the rebels. The United States, meanwhile, cut off arms shipments to Batista's army. Growing criticism of the US role in supporting the corrupt and repressive Batista regime led to a suspension of further arms deliveries to Cuba in November of 1957.

The FAEC had lost two of its B-26s in accidents prior to the beginning of the Castro insurgency. Actual FAEC B-26 operations against the rebels began in early 1958, with most of the attacks being individual sorties carried out against targets of opportunity. Operational utilization was inhibited by the almost total lack of cooperation between Cuban army units on the ground and the air force, which made intelligence on the location of rebel positions and units so old as to be essentially useless by the time an air attack mission could be staged. The B-26 crews were unable to stop the rebel supply lines along the northern coast. The Cuban military was used more as a personal force loyal to President Batista rather than to the country as a whole, and Batista's political cronies often replaced professional officers in both the Army and the FAEC. Corruption and ineptitude spread rapidly through the ranks. As the situation got worse, the FAEC could not respond effectively because of the lack of spares and the shortage of ordnance. Contrary to some reports, the B-26 unit was never actually grounded and only one pilot defected to Miami--Lt. Crespo who flew his B-26 to Miami in December of 1958.

Following the Castro victory in January of 1959, the surviving FAEC aircraft were organized into the Fuerza Aerea Revolucionaria (Revolutionary Air Force, or FAR). This included a motley collection of F-47Ds, Hawker Sea Furies, Lockheed T-33As, C-54s, C-46s, and C-47s, plus the surviving B-26s. Most of the former FAEC aircrews which had flown these planes had already fled the country, fearing reprisals from the victorious Castro forces. One of the first acts of the new government was to arrest and jail the B-26 unit's pilots who had remained in Cuba. They were placed on trial, but were found not guilty. Annoyed at their acquittal, the government ordered them retried and this time they were found guilty and sentenced to long prison terms. In order to fill in the gap, a few former FAEC transport pilots as well as some civilian airline pilots were hastily recruited to operate these planes, plus a few opportunists with more enthusiasm than useful experience. Usually only three or four B-26s could be made airworthy at any one time. One FAR B-26 crashed at Camaguey in 1959 when an inexperienced pilot lost control on takeoff.

It soon became obvious to Washington that the Cuban revolution was taking a definitely Communist turn, and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) began a series of clandestine operations designed to overthrow Castro's regime before it could consolidate its power. These culminated in the CIA-backed Bay of Pigs invasion of April 1961, carried out by a brigade of Cuban expatriates and supported by an air force made up of aircraft acquired in secret out of USAF surplus stocks.

At the time of the Bay of Pigs invasion of April 1961, the FAR could muster only six airworthy B-26s. Five of them were based at San Antonio de los Banos airfield south of Havana. The other one was based at Santiago de Cuba, along with several grounded examples. Castro had the foresight very early in his rule to disperse his air force, more because he did not trust his air crews than for any strategic reason. During the initial rebel air strike on April 15, 1961, the B-26 based at Santiago was destroyed, and two FAR B-26s were disabled at San Antonio de los Banos. On April 17, a FAR B-26 attacked invasion support vessels and was shot down by anti-aircraft fire. On April 18, a FAR B-26 overflew some of Castro's own troops and was shot own by friendly fire. This last sortie was the last known instance of a FAR B-26 being flown.

There is a B-26 on display in an open-air museum at Playa Giron, painted as FAR 933. However, it is likely that this aircraft is actually a war prize returned to Cuba from Angola, and painted to commemorate the defeat of the Bay of Pigs invasion force.

 

El Salvador Air Force

Serial	c/no.	Prev. Identity	Delivered	Fate/Notes
600	n/a	n/a	1969	sold to N62289
601	n/a	n/a	1969	sold to N26VC
602	n/a	n/a	1969	n/a
603	n/a	n/a	1969	n/a
604	n/a	n/a	1969	n/a
605	n/a	n/a	1969	n/a

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French Air Force

Beginning in January of 1951, the French Armee de l'Air acquired Invaders from the USA to fight in its colonial wars, first in Indochina and then later in Algeria. Next to the US Armed Forces, France was the largest user of the Douglas Invader, operating at one time or another over 200 of these aircraft.

INDOCHINA:

In the 19th century, France established colonial domination over much of Indochina. Politically, the territory of Vietnam was administered by French nationals, with the assistance of Vietnamese locals at low-level, low-paying jobs. State monopolies on the production and sale of alcohol, opium, and salt were imposed. Huge tracts of land in southern Vietnam were turned over to French settlers and their Vietnamese collaborators. The resulting plantation system of agriculture transformed southern Vietnam into a rice exporting area.

In September of 1940, Japanese forces occupied much of Indochina, but allowed the French (France had surrendered to Germany in June of 1940 and the Vichy government in Paris was now a de-facto ally of Germany) to continue their colonial administration of the area. A coalition of Communist and nationalist groups was established in China to fight against Japanese occupation of Vietnam and IndoChina. The organization was officially known as Viet Nam Doc Lap Dong Minh Hoi (League for the Independence of Vietnam), but usually known as Viet Minh. The leader of the Viet Minh was Nguyen Tat Thanh, who was better known as Ho Chi Minh. During the war, the Viet Minh provided the only significant organized resistance in Vietnam to the Japanese occupation. The Viet Minh worked with the OSS (Office of Strategic Services), a US intelligence agency, in helping to recover downed American aircrews. In addition, the OSS helped the Viet Minh to build up a small guerilla force.

In March 1945, Japan ousted the Vichy French and assumed direct rule over Vietnam. The Viet Minh duly stepped up their anti-Japanese activities. By the time Japan surrendered to the United States in August 1945, the Viet Minh represented the strongest political force in Vietnam. After the departure of the Japanese, the Viet Minh leader, Ho Chi Minh publically declared Vietnam independent on September 2, 1945. Ho attempted to negotiate the end of colonial rule but without success. Assisted by the British and the Nationalist Chinese, the French began to return to re-assume colonial control of Indochina. The French army shelled Haiphong harbor in November of 1946, and by December of 1946 open warfare was taking place between the French and the Viet Minh. On December 19, 1946, the War of Resistance against the French forces burst out. The French seized control of several cities, and the resistance forces had to withdraw from those key cities and conduct the guerrilla warfare against the French Expeditionary Army.

The French Armee de l'Air was in a rather weak state at that time, with the only combat aircraft available being a few Spitfires plus some transport aircraft that could be converted into makeshift bombers in an emergency. These were supplemented by some Bell P-63 Kingcobras delivered in 1949.

At first, the United States attempted to stay clear of the Indochina war, even expressing some sympathy for the Viet Minh cause because their anticolonialist stance. Ho's 1945 declaration of independence had, in fact, closely followed the format of America's 1776 Declaration of Independence. However, following the Communist takeover of China in 1949, President Truman's attitude toward the Indochina war changed. On May 8, 1950, it was anounced that the USA would provide aid to the French forces fighting in Indochina.

Initially, the French were to supposed to get F-51D Mustangs, but the outbreak of war in Korea forced the United States to substitute Grumman F6F Hellcats instead. However, what was really needed was a force of piston-engined medium bombers. Despite the pressing needs of the Korean War, the US government decided that it could spare a squadron of Invaders for use by the French in Indochina.

In November of 1950, French crews began training on Invaders belonging to USAF units stationed in France. The following month, they moved to Indo-China and were supplied with 17 B-26B and eight B-26C Invaders drawn from USAF surplus stocks and refurbished in Japan before delivery to Indochina.

The first combat sortie was flown on February 1, 1951. By October 1, 1951, the French Invaders had dropped 1767 tons of bombs and 218 napalm containers. One of the problems was that that many of the B-26Bs had as many as 18 machine guns and consumed ammunition at a prodigious rate. By early 1954, the French air units in Indochina were seriously overextended, and the war against the Viet Minh was nowhere close to being won. With the end of the Korean War, the US government decided to supply additional aircraft to support the French effort in Indochina. This brought the Armee de l'Air B-26 squadrons up to a strength of 25 aircraft each. These additional aircraft were not officially transferred to the Armee de l'Air but remained on USAF charge. In addition, USAF mechanics were sent to Indochina to help maintain the Invaders.

During the battle for Dien Bien Phu, which lasted from March to May of 1954, seven Invaders were lost in action. Four of them were shot down over the besieged garrison itself, with a fifth crashing in Laos due to damage received over Dien Bien Phu. Dien Bien Phu fell to the Viet Minh on May 8, and 14,000 French troops surrendered. The loss of Dien Bien Phu had a disastrous effect on French morale. Most of the air crews had to be grounded after the end of the battle due to fatigue. The decision was made to negotiate a settlement with the Viet Minh. The Geneva Accords were signed on July 21, 1954, followed by an armistice on August 1 which formally ended the war. France surrendered all claims in Indochina and relinquished control in Vietnam north of the 17th parallel to a new Communist government headed by Ho Chi Minh. The country was partitioned into two separate states of North and South Vietnam. According to the terms of the Geneva Accords, Vietnam would hold national elections in 1956 to reunify the country, and the boundary at the 17th parallel would vanish with the elections.

During the fighting, a total of 113 B-26Bs, B-26Cs, and RB-26Cs had been supplied to French forces in Indo-China, enough to equip three bomber groups (Groupe de Bombardement 1/19 *Gascogne*, GB 1/25 *Tunisie* and GB 1/91 *Bourgogne*, plus one reconnaissance flight (Escadrille de Reconnaissance Photographique ERP.2/19 *Armagnac*). The B-26 units had flown 33,000 hours in 15,000 missions, delivering 18,500 tons of ordnance. During the Indochina War, 25 Invaders were lost either in combat on in flying accidents. Armee de l'Air Invaders operating in Indochina were usually in natural metal finish (sometimes with black nacelles) or in overall black. The Armee de l'Air did not issue new serial numbers to the Invaders, and they continued to carry their USAF serials. They often also kept their USAF "buzz numbers" on the rear fuselage, consisting of the letters "BC" followed by the last three digits of the serial.

Before they left Indochina, the French B-26 units were disbanded and their aircraft were returned to the USA. Not a single one of these aircraft was purchased by the Armee de l'Air for use in France.

EUROPE AND NORTH AFRICA:

In the early 1950s, a total of seven surplus Invaders was purchased by the French government for use in various test and training programs. The first of these arrived in July of 1951. Seven more were acquired in 1953.

The North African nation of Algeria had been annexed by France in 1834. Shortly thereafter, France began to colonize Algeria in earnest, and European settlers poured into the country. To encourage settlement, the French confiscated or purchased lands at low prices from Muslim owners. Algeria became an overseas department of France, controlled for all practical purposes by the European minority, the colons (colonists). All colons shared a passionate belief in Alg?ie Fran?ise-a French Algeria. The Muslim population of Algeria remained a disadvantaged majority, subject to many restrictions. By French law they could not hold public meetings, carry firearms, or leave their homes or villages without permission. Legally, they were French subjects, but to become French citizens, with full rights, they had to renounce their faith.

Algerian nationalism began to surface immediately after the First World War. There were some attempts to set up an Algerian national assembly, but these were scuttled by stubborn resistance to reform on the part of the colons. After the Second World War, the Algerian Organic Statute (1947) set up Algeria's first parliamentary assembly, with an equal number of European and Muslim delegates, but this satisfied neither natives nor colons and proved ineffective.

In March of 1954, a revolutionary committee known as the Front de Liberation Nationale, or FLN was founded in Egypt. It had the goal of total independence for Algeria. In November of 1954, armed guerilla action began with coordinated attacks on public buildings, military and police posts, roads, bridges, and communications installations.

The initial uprising failed, and the French Army quickly pushed the rebels back. However, popular support for the FLN gradually grew. The uprising spread rapidly and soon forced the French to send in more troops. A series of bloody reprisals and counter-reprisals followed. Indiscriminate murders and kidnappings of Europeans and Muslims who did not actively support the FLN took place on a regular basis, and colon and French army units raided Muslim villages and numerous massacres of civilians took place.

It was decided that a couple of squadrons of B-26 Invaders were needed for the Algerian war, pending the availability of Vantour jet bombers then under development in France. In July 1956, an initial batch of 36 Invaders were allocated to MDAP project 6B541, followed by 12 more in August, and two more in September.

The Invaders were drawn from surplus stocks and overhauled in the USA before being ferried to France. The first Invader arrived at Oran in Algeria in August of 1956. Two bomber squadrons, Groupe de Bombardement 1/91 Gascogne and GB 2/91 Guyenne were set up at Oran to receive them. The two bomber squadrons became operational in early 1957. Most of the French B-26s retained their dorsal gun barbettes (which were fully armed), but only a few of the planes had the ventral barbette in place (without guns).

During the first year of combat in Algeria, the Invaders were used for level bombing as well as for dive bombing and strafing. When dive bombing or strafing, they usually operated under the direction of a forward air controller, which marked the target with white phosphorus. In addition, B-26s sometimes operated patrols over "free fire" zones, which were areas from which all civilians had previously been evacuated and where anything moving was assumed to be hostile.

By early 1958, the French armed forces had largely obtained the upper hand over the FLN. Collective punishment was meted out to entire villages suspected of harboring guerillas. Whole groups were deported to refugee camps. An electrified fence was installed along the Tunisian and Moroccan borders to cut off the FLN supply lines. However, despite their military successes the French were unable to achieve any sort of political settlement to the war. The armed suppression of the Algerian insurrection was increasingly being criticized internationally as a "dirty colonialist war", and France's NATO allies were worried its commitment of so many forces to an unpopular war.

In May of 1958, irritated at what they saw as vacillation, the colons and French army officers in Algeria conspired to overthrow the French government in Paris. The insurrection spread rapidly and threatened to bring civil war to France. A Committee of Public Safety was set up, which demanded the return to power of General Charles de Gaulle. The General was returned to power in June of 1958 to serve as premier, and the French National Assembly gave him the power to rule by decree for six months and to supervise the drafting of an new constitution. The Fifth Republic was approved by a referendum on September 28, 1958, and on December 21, 1958 General de Gaulle was elected as President. The General has as one of his important goals the defeat of the FLN and the maintenance of a French Algeria.

On July of 1959, the Armee de l'Air acquired an additional 26 Invaders from the USA. These planes had originally been authorized for reclamation at the Chateauroux Air Depot in central France. It is not clear whether the Invaders were provided under MAP. Since the war in Algeria was a politically-sensitive matter, it is probable that this transfer was actually done "off the record", with the French being told simply to walk into Chateauroux and help themselves to what ever they could find.

One of the more interesting missions of the Invader during the Algerian war was that of night fighter. In 1961, ECN.1/71 was equipped with eight Invaders that were specially modified as night fighters to intercept aircraft that were attempting to supply FLN guerillas from bases in Tunisia. These aircraft were B-26Cs with glass noses replaced by a British AI Mk. X radar taken from surplus Gloster Meteor NF.11s. They were armed with a twin 0.50-inch machine gun package underneath each wing. In addition, there were two Matra type 122 rocket pods, each containing nineteen SNEB air-to-air rockets. They were unofficially known as B-26N. However, by the time that the B-26Ns became operational, supply aircraft coming in from the Tunisian side of the border were increasingly rare, and only a few interceptions were made.

Throughout the late 1950s and early 1960s, the French forces were generally victorious in most of their battles with the FLN. President de Gaulle initially had the support and backing of the military, since he had given orders for the French armed forces to pursue the Algerian campaign to full victory. However, by 1959 President de Gaulle found himself looking at a seemingly endless conflict in Algeria that promised to consume a ever-increasing toll in lives and treasure, and was becoming increasingly willing to negotiate with the FLN for the creation of a semi-independent Algeria to bring the conflict to an end. He announced his intention to allow Algerians to choose between independence and continued association with France.

This made the military in Algeria extremely unhappy, and many officers who had initially backed de Gaulle's return to power now turned bitterly against him. An unsuccessful revolt against de Gaulle was staged in early 1960. Four generals carried out a coup in April of 1961 in Algeria and made plans to send a squadron of paratroopers to seize Paris and depose President de Gaulle. However, the Air Force and Navy remained loyal to de Gaulle, and all military operations by the B-26-equipped units were temporarily suspended. The coup collapsed within a few days, but some of the rebellious officers set up the Organisation Armee Secrete (OAS) to continue the struggle for a French Algeria. The OAS carried out a brutal campaign of terrorism against both the FLN and the French authorities in Algeria.

The operations of the B-26 combat units in Algeria were essentially halted by the military coup against President de Gaulle. A ceasefire was finally signed on March 18, 1962. The last operational use of the Invader in Algeria was actually against remnants of the OAS, being a flyover of the OAS stronghold at Bab el Oued in Algiers before it was stormed and taken by regular army units.

Algeria voted overwhelmingly for independence in July of 1962, the country officially being named the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria and the B-26-equipped units left for France shortly thereafter. Most of the French colons had left Algeria by the end of 1962.

The Armee de l'Air began to withdraw its B-26s from service in April of 1962, with some being scrapped and others being stored. Some ended up on the civilian market, and four were preserved in museums in France.

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Guatemalan Air Force

The Central American nation of Guatemala had throughout most of the 19th century been ruled by a series of repressive dictatorships. In the 20th century, it has alternated between reform and reaction.

Entering a liberalization cycle, Guatemala had begun a series of major reforms in 1944. Under the presidency of Juan Jose Arevalo (1944-1951) and later Jacobo Arbenz Guzman (1951-1954), the government began to give more attention to the problems of middle- and lower-class Guatemalans, which had been largely neglected and even suppressed under previous administrations. A land reform process introduced in June of 1952 transferred large areas of unused agricultural land from large owners to landless peasants. However, this program had aroused the irritation of the United Fruit Company, which had owned huge banana plantations and which had powerful friends and allies in high places in the United States government. The Arbenz government began to be perceived by Washington as pro-Communist, and plans were set in motion against it.

In 1954, the government of Jacobo Arbenz Guzman was overthrown by a group of Guatemalan exiles armed and trained by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and led by Colonel Carlos Castillo Armas. After the overthrow of Arbenz, Armas became president, and for the next 30 years thereafter military officers dominated Guatemala. Many of the reforms were reversed, much of the expropriated land was returned to the large property owners, labor groups, political parties, and rural organizations were banned or severely restricted. Marxist parties were outlawed altogether.

Because of the CIA-sponsored coup against Arbenz, there was a close relationship between the Guatemalan military and Washington. In March of 1958, the government of Guatemala requested B-26 Invaders to replace the fleet of aged Beech AT-11s serving with the Fuerza Aerea Guatemalteca (Guatemalan Air Force). Six B-26s were asked for in the initial request.

However, in February 1959 discussions with the US State Department over the B-26 order were suspended because of friction between Mexico and Guatemala over fishing rights, the US fearing that the sale of the planes to Guatemala might trigger an arms race in Central America.

That would ordinarily have been the end of the matter, but the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was at that time hatching a plan for a Cuban exile group to overthrow the new regime of Fidel Castro which had tilted sharply toward the Soviet Union. Since Guatemala was to play a key role in the invasion plan, all objections to the sale of B-26s to Guatemala were now suddenly brushed aside. In 1960, eight Invaders were withdrawn from storage, overhauled at Davis Monthan AFB and delivered to Guatemala.

Although the B-26s were marked in FAG insignia and were given FAG serials, at least six of these planes were actually sent to the remote airfield at Retalhuleu where they served as training aircraft for the Cuban exile elements of Brigada 2506, the CIA cover unit for the invasion and retaking of Cuba.

The Cubans trained on these aircraft until April of 1961, when the brigade's aircrews left for Puerto Cabezas in Nicaragua to stage the attack. The B-26 aircraft at Retalhuleu remained behind and were then turned over to the FAG.

Like most long-serving B-26s, the FAG Invaders suffered from wing spar fatigue problems, and the surviving FAG aircraft went through the Project Wing Spar program in the Canal Zone in 1964-65. By December 1966 five were still operational. However, by December 1967, the FAG B-26s were only rarely being flown due to personnel problems and lack of funds. By September 1968, although still listed as being on strength, the FAG B-26s were actually completely inactive and had not been flown for a year and were more or less standing derelict. They had become redundant for all practical purposes by the end of 1968. They were finally replaced by Cessna T-37Cs. I don't know if any still survive today.

Serial	c/no.	Prev. Identity	Delivered	Fate/Notes
400	n/a	n/a	7.1960	n/a
404	n/a	n/a	7.1960	n/a
408	n/a	n/a	7.1960	n/a
412	n/a	n/a	7.1960	w/o 1963
416	18864	43-22717	7.1960	w/o 1964
420	27955	n/a	7.1960	n/a, B-26C
424	n/a	n/a	7.1960	n/a
428	28585	n/a	7.1960	n/a
432	n/a	n/a	7.1960	n/a
436	n/a	n/a	7.1960	n/a
440	n/a	n/a	7.1960	n/a

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Honduran Air Force

"The last Latin American air arm to acquire a B-26, and place the type in active combat-configured service, Honduras also holds the distinction of being the very last air arm to operate the type anywhere."

Indonesian Air Force

During the Second World War, the former Dutch colony of the Netherlands East Indies was occupied by Japanese forces. Following the Japanese defeat, the Dutch attempeted to regain control of their former colony. However, after much fighting the independence of the East Indies was formally recognized on December 27, 1949, the country being renamed the Republic of the United States of Indonesia. The RUSI was made up of 16 entities: the Republic of Indonesia (Java and Sumatra) plus 15 states established by the Dutch. By May of 1950, all of the federal states had been absorbed into a single Republic of Indonesia, with Jakarta as the capital.

Achmad Sukarno (1901-1970) became the first president. He had been a leader of a radical nationalist movement founded in 1927 and had been jailed and exiled several times by the Dutch during the 1930s. During the war, Sukarno collaborated with the Japanese occupiers, while at the same time continuing to press for Indonesian independence.

Following Indonesian independence, the Military Aviation of the Royal Netherlands Indies Army (MK-KNIL) was disbanded and most of its installations and aircraft were handed over to the newly-formed Angkatan Udara Republik Indonesia (Air Force of the Republic of Indonesia, or AURI). The aircraft involved in the transfer included a batch of B-25C, D, and J Mitchells and F-51D and K Mustangs.

Relations between Indonesia and the United States were initially fairly good, and in 1951, the AURI expressed an interest in acquiring B-26 Invaders. This request was initially turned down since the Korean War was at that time in full swing and the USAF had no B-26s to spare. Nevertheless, some USAF instructors were allocated to help train AURI C-47 and B-25 crews.

Unfortunately, relations between the USA and Indonesian President Sukarno began to deteriorate soon thereafter, and most US Military Assistance and Advisory Groups had been expelled by 1954. By this time the surviving AURI Mitchells were suffering from corrosion and were often grounded for lack of spare parts.

Indonesia is an archipelago of many thousands of islands. There was little in the diverse cultures of Indonesia or their historical experience to prepare Indonesians for democracy, and the Dutch had done practically nothing to prepare the colony for self government. During the the Second World War, the Japanese occupation had imposed an authoritarian state, based on collectivist and ethnic nationalist ideas. Outside of a small number of urban areas, most people still lived in a cultural milieu that stressed status hierarchies, family connections, and obedience to authority. Powerful Islamic and leftist currents were also far from democratic. Conditions were exacerbated by economic disruption, the wartime and postwar devastation of vital industries, unabated population growth, and resultant food shortages. By the mid-1950s, the country's prospects for democratization were indeed grim.

Almost immediately after independence was established, the new government in Jakarta adopted a policy of putting the interests of Java ahead of those of other islands, and as a reaction various factions in some of the more remote areas began fighting against the central Indonesian government on Java. Another problem was within the Indonesian military itself. By 1952, Indonesia was in deep financial difficulty and had been forced to cut way back on armed forces spending. The lack of money often led to troops in the field being unpaid for long periods of time. In addition, many in the military felt that the central government was too soft on Communism and that it was not taking strong enough action against the rebel factions in remote areas.

Dissatisfaction within the ranks of the military reached a boiling point during the mid-1950s, and led to a series of coup attempts and revolts which rapidly spread out of control. In the eastern archipelago and Sumatra, military officers established their own satrapies, often reaping large profits from smuggling and other illegal operations. In an attempt to curtail these activities, Jakarta issued an order in 1955 transferring these officers out of their localities. The result was an attempted coup d'?at launched during October-November 1956. Although the coup failed, the instigators went underground, and military officers in some parts of Sumatra seized control of civilian governments in defiance of Jakarta. By 1956, the situation was so bad that some military commanders in some of the most remote areas on Sumatra and in the Celebes were completely free of central government control and had the status of virtual warlords.

On February 10, 1958, while Sukarno was out of the country on a tour of Asian nations, a group of Sumatran military officers, politicians, and others sent an ultimatum to Jakarta demanding Sukarno be downgraded to a figurehead role as president and the formation of an entirely new government. Five days later, the group proclaimed the Revolutionary Government of the Indonesian Republic (PRRI). On February 17, Permesta rebels in Sulawesi made common cause with them. At this time, some of the military rebels secretely contacted US officials with a request for assistance. By this time, the Sukarno regime was perceived by Washington as being essentially pro-Communist, and its overthrow was eagerly sought.

The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) began a clandestine operation to aid the rebel forces, and a dozen or so B-26s were acquired for the effort. These aircraft were part of a batch of Invaders that had been struck off charge at Clark AFB in 1955 as being obsolete. Some of them had been returned by the French after they left Indochina. Air crews were recruited from the ranks of pilots who had formerly flown with the Civil Air Transport on Taiwan and from the ranks of Eastern European exiles. Training took place in secret at bases in the Philippines. The operation was supposedly given the code name Haik. Care was taken so that the fingerprints of the CIA would never be found on the operation.

The first three B-26s left Clark AB for Sulawesi on April 12, with several B-26s being held in reserve at Clark. Beginning in April of 1958, several attacks were carried out by rebel B-26s against government airfields and installations. None of these attacks were sufficiently effective to do any lasting damage to government forces, but they did help to raise rebel morale.

The operation's cover was blown on May 18, 1958, when Allen Pope, a CIA contractor, was shot down in his B-26 during an attack on shipping near Ambon in the southern Moluccas and captured by Indonesian forces. This caused considerable embarrassment to the US government, which had heretofore denied all involvement in the Indonesian military rebellion. Thus exposed, the Americans hurriedly dismantled the CIA operation and withdrew their personnel from Indonesia. The debacle prompted Sukarno to develop even closer relations with the Soviet Union and, especially, the People's Republic of China.

What exactly happened to the surviving Invaders is still uncertain even to this day. At least one of the Invaders was damaged on the ground and was left there to be captured by Indonesian ground forces. Some may have been returned to the Philippines, but others may have been destroyed on the ground by the CIA personnel before they evacuated.

By August of 1958, the United States had lifted the embargo on arms deliveries to the Indonesian government and resumed regular deliveries of weapons to the Indonesian government. The CIA's use of Invaders in the Indonesian uprisings had the somewhat unexpected side effect of inspiring the AURI to acquire some Invaders for itself, and by 1959 relations with Washington had improved to the extent that Indonesia was allowed to purchase six B-26s from USAF surplus stocks. These were refurbished by a civilian firm in the USA and were delivered to the AURI by mid-1960.

The AURI Invaders were all solid-nosed B-26Bs, and bore serial numbers M-262 and M264/268. They operated alongside the B-25Js already serving with No 1 Squadron. They were used for tactical air support, interdiction, and long-range reconnaissance. AURI B-26s were used operationally in the final stage of the war against the military rebels. By the autumn of 1961, most of the rebels had surrendered, but some fighting continued until 1964 in some areas. This marked an example of the use of B-26s by both sides in a conflict, although they were not used simultaneously.

In the meantime, Sukarno had dissolved the constituent assembly and had assumed full dictatorial powers in July of 1959. Once the rebellions on Sumatra had been suppressed, President Sukarno turned his attention to Netherlands New Guinea. Netherlands New Guinea (or Irian Jaya as the Indonesians called it) had remained a Dutch colony following Indonesian independence, but the Indonesians always claimed that it should have been turned over to them along with the rest of the Dutch East Indies. In 1960, Indonesia threatened military action to seize Netherlands New Guinea, which forced the Dutch to reinforce their forces in the area. Continued Dutch occupation of West New Guinea led to a break in diplomatic relations between Jakarta and The Hague in 1960. Undeterred, on January 15, 1962, Indonesian forces launched an amphibious landing and paratroop drop which were covered by B-25s and B-26s of Skadron 1 and the F-51s of Skadron 2. Negotiations were quickly entered into by the Dutch and it was agreed that West New Guinea would be first turned over to the UN and then be turned over to Indonesian administration. Dutch military units began evacuating in the autumn of 1962, and Indonesian authority was established in May of 1963.

That very same year, Sukarno proclaimed himself "president for life", and began to increase his ties with the People's Republic of China and began to admit increasing numbers of Communists and pro-Communists into his government. Relations with the USA steadily got worse and worse. In 1963, after shouting repeatedly "To hell with your aid" (1950-65 total: U.S. $1,000,000,000), Sukarno all but broke with the United States. President Lyndon Johnson took Sukarno at his word, and formally ended US aid in December of that year.

Having successfully swallowed up West Irian, President Sukarno then turned his attention to the proposed union of Malaya, Singapore, Brunei, and the British colonies of Sabah and Sarawak (the latter three all located on northern Borneo) that was to be known as the Federation of Malaysia. Indonesia opposed the creation of Malaysia, because it had ambitions of incorporating the same territories into an Indonesian-led federation. This led to a series of actions that came to be known as the Malaysian Confrontation.

In order to disrupt the proposed Malaysian union, in December of 1962, Indonesia began to provide covert aid and support to a liberation movement which attempted to overthrow the Sultanate of Brunei. This revolt was quickly quelled by British troops called in by the Sultan. Undeterred, Indonesia began to sponsor sporadic attacks against targets in Sarawak by Indonesian "volunteers" posing as homegrown rebel groups. Nevertheless, the formation of the Federation of Malaysia went forward and was formally proclaimed on September 16, 1963, Brunei having earlier withdrawn from the scheme.

Very rapidly, the Malaysian Confrontation involved Britain, the United States, the Soviet Union, and the People's Republic of China. In desperation, Indonesia abandoned any pretext that local rebel units were responsible for the attacks in northern Borneo, and in early March of 1964, regular Indonesian forces entered the fighting. Although large military forces from both sides were committed to battle, most of the fighting was on a relatively small scale. Indonesian forces had little or no air support, and AURI B-25s and B-26s were generally restricted to attacking only isolated villages of relatively little military importance. None of the AURI bombers were intercepted by RAF jet fighters.

In December of 1964, Malaysia was formally admitted as a member of the Security Council of the UN in December 1964, forcing Sukarno to take Indonesia out of the UN.

All throughout this turbulent era, the Indonesian Communist party, known as the PKI, had been steadily growing in power as more and more of their members had been admitted to important government posts. The military was strongly split among factions supporting Sukarno and the PKI and those violently opposed. On September 30, 1965, a group of pro-Communist military officers attempted to seize power in Indonesia. Six top Army generals were murdered. General Mohamed Suharto was commander of the Jakarta garrison at the time, and he played a significant role in reversing the coup. Suharto was a veteran of the war for independence against the Dutch, and the next couple of years played out a contest for power between Suharto and Sukarno. A complex series of bloody battles began between pro- and anti-Communist elements. During the ensuing civil war, several hundred thousand people were killed. As a result of the war, the PKI was totally eliminated and the armed forces were completely purged of pro-Sukarno elements. Another effect of the bloody civil war was that Indonesia was forced to abandon its war against Malaysia, and on August 11, 1966, a peace treaty was signed, formally ending the Malaysian Confrontation. In September, Indonesia rejoined the United Nations.

On March 11, 1966, Sukarno was forced to delegate wide powers to Suharto. On March 12, 1967, Sukarno was stripped of all power and General Suharto was installed as acting president. He assumed key civilian cabinet offices in 1966, became acting president in 1967, and was elected president in 1968. Sukarno remained under house arrest until his death in 1970.

The Indonesian armed forces then turned to the suppression of the Communist rebels that had tried to overthrow the Sukarno government in 1965. AURI B-26s were active in the mopping up of pro-communist groups, first against guerrilla movements in western Borneo, and then again against insurgents in southern Blitar. The fighting continued until 1969 until the rebels were finally suppressed.

On October 5, 1971, the AURI was renamed Tentera Nasional Indonesia - Angkatan Udara, or Indonesian National Armed Forces - Air Force. The last operational use of the Invader by the TNI-AU was in late 1975 and early 1976 during the Indonesian invasion of the former Portuguese colony of East Timor. The B-26s were finally retired in 1977, and Skadron 1 was deactivated. One TNI-AU B-26 (serial number M-265) is now on display at the TNI-AU Museum at Yogyakarta.

 

Nicaraguan Air Force

The United States has an unhappy history of involvement in Nicaraguan internal affairs. In 1909, US Marines landed in Nicaragua to restore order after two American mercenaries had been killed by government forces, and the troops remained there more or less continuously until 1933, suppressing insurrections, training local military and National Guard forces, and propping up a succession of repressive regimes.

One of the people who became close to the American invervention forces was Anastasio Somosa Garcia. He had attended school in Philadelphia and been trained by United States marines. Somoza Garc?, who was fluent in English, had cultivated friends with military, economic, and political influence in the United States. Following the departure of the Marines in 1933, Somosa rapidly gained political influence, and he was elected president in 1936. He and his family ruled the country with an iron hand for the next 40 years. Members of the Somoza family either held the presidency directly, or ruled indirectly by having puppet presidents who could be trusted to do as they were told.

The Somoza regime derived its power from ownership and control of large parts of the Nicaraguan economy, from the military support of the National Guard, and from politcal and military support from the United States. Unfortunately, the Somoza regime was generally corrupt, incompetent, and abusive of the human rights of the Nicaraguan people. The Somoza family enriched themselves via large investments in land, agricultural exports, manufacturing, transport, and real estate. However, the regime was staunchly pro-US in its public stances and had allowed the CIA free rein to run its covert operations out of Nicaraguan facilities, first in 1954 against the government of Guatemala and then again in the Bay of Pigs operation of 1961. This cooperative attitude on the part of the Nicaraguan government often led the US government to look the other way whenever the excesses and brutalities of the Somoza regime became apparent.

The Nicaraguan air force, the Fuerza Aerea de Nicaragua, was originally formed as an arm of the Guardia Nacional and did not gain official permanent status until 1938. Throughout the late 1940s and 1950s, the FAN operated a collection of F-51D Mustangs, F-47N Thunderbolts, Douglas A-20 Havocs, P-38 Lightnings, and even a couple of B-24 Liberators. The FAN acquired its first Invaders in 1961 when it "inherited" four of the Bay of Pigs B-26Bs that were left behind in Nicaragua by the CIA after the Cuban invasion failed. They were incorporated into the FAN at Las Mercedes Airport at Managua. The planes were given the FAM serials of 400 through 403, but their original USAF serial numbers are unknown. In 1963, two more Invaders were purchased by Nicaragua from the MACO Corporation of Chicago. A third B-26 was delivered by MACO as a spare-parts source. It was upgraded to flying status after one of the Invaders crashed in March of 1967. During 1964-65, at least four of the Nicaraguan B-26s went through the Project Wing Spar upgrade program in Panama.

The Frente Sandinista de Liberacion Nacional (FSLN) was created in 1962 to oppose the Somoza dictatorship. The movement was named in honor of Augusto Cesar Sandino, who had led a guerilla band during the 1930s in a struggle against the Nicaraguan government and United States occupation forces. Due to the corruption and excesses of the Somoza regime, by the early 1970s the Sandinista movement had gained considerable popular support. The B-26s of the FAN flew numerous patrol missions and strikes against Sandinista targets, but these attacks were largely ineffective since the FAN found it extremely difficult to communicate with ground forces about exact target locations. By this time, the B-26s were beginning to show extensive signs of wear and tear and were becoming increasingly expensive to maintain and operate, and from 1974 onward most FAN combat missions were flown by T-28s, Cessna 337s, and T-33As.

By 1976, all the surviving FAN B-26s had been grounded. In 1977, the FAN decided to trade in its four B-26s for some Cessna 172 Skyhawks. This deal was brokered by David Tallichet of Kansas. However, one of the B-26s was found to be non-airworthy and was left behind in Managua.

On July 17, 1979, with fighting taking place in the streets of Managua itself, President Anastasio Somoza Debayle (son of Somoza Garcia) fled the country, and the Sandinista movement gained control of the nation. There is a report that at least one B-26 ended up in service with the Fuerza Aerea Sandinista. It was spotted in a junk heap at Managua in August of 1990.

Portuguese Air Force

During the latter part of the 19th century, the major powers of Europe went on a binge of colonialist expansion, and large regions of Africa and Asia were carved up into colonies, concessions, and zones of influence by England, Germany, France, Belgium, and Portugal. The colonization competition became so fierce that it became necessary to hold a conference in the 1880s in Berlin to partition Africa among the European powers. In the Berlin conference, Portugal was awarded Mozambique, Angola, and Guinea.

Armed resistance to the Portuguese colonial administration broke out in Angola in 1961 and had spread by 1964 to Mozambique and Guinea. By 1974 Portugal had committed approximately 140,000 troops, or 80 percent of its available military forces, to Africa.

At the time, Portugal was under the control of Antonio de Oliveira Salazar, who had come to power as Prime Minister in 1932 and who had an authoritarian, antiliberal, anticommunist view of the world. He personally exercised both executive and legislative functions, controlled local administration, police, and patronage, and was leader of the National Union (Uni? Nacional--UN), an umbrella group for supporters of the regime and the only legal political organization. The new constitution of 1933 embodied the corporatist theory fashionable at the time in Fascist Italy, under which government was to be formed of economic entities organized according to their function, rather than by individual representation. In reality, however, Salazar headed an autocratic dictatorship with the help of an efficient secret police. Strict censorship was introduced, the politically suspect were monitored, and the regime's opponents were jailed, sent into exile, and occasionally killed. For nearly forty years, Salazar completely dominated Portuguese government and politics. He suffered an incapacitating stroke in June 1968 after a freak accident and died, still in a coma, more than a year later.

In 1964, the Portuguese government attempted to purchase 29 surplus B-26 Invaders from the civilian market in the United States for use by the Forca Aerea Portuguesa (FAP) in fighting Portugual's African wars. However, by this time a storm of international protests had been raised against the Portuguese military campaigns in Africa, which had resulted in a United Nations embargo against arms deliveries to Portuguese colonies. Consequently, the US State Department refused to approve an export license for the planes.

Undeterred, Portugal was able to acquire seven Invaders in 1965 by a complicated series of subterfuges before US Customs got suspicious and shut off any further deliveries. FAP serials were 7101 to 7107. Following delivery, there was some nose-swapping, resulting in a final mix of six B-26Bs and one B-26C. These aircraft were not initially used in combat and were based at BA 3 Tancos in Portugal, where they were used in weapons trials.

In 1971, six of the FAP Invaders were deployed to Angola for use in the civil war in that colony. Most of the missions flown by the FAP B-26s in Angola were armed reconnaissance flights, with only a few close support and general interdiction missions being carried out. Only once was an Invader actually hit by ground fire, and this did not damage any vital parts of the aircraft and the plane landed safely.

The Angolan civil war dragged on until January of 1975, when Portugal finally threw in the towel and agreed to Angolan independence. By that time, the Portuguese had lost over 11,000 soldiers in Africa. However, the three liberation movements (FNLA, UNITA, and MPLA) that were fighting against the Portuguese colonial forces were not able to agree on the formation of a new government, and within only a few months after the granting of Angolan independence general civil war was raging throughout the country. The Portuguese soon realized the futility of the situation and in November quickly withdrew all their forces from the country, abandoning their B-26s. The planes seem not to have been flown very much by the new government that took over in Angola and remained derelict at Luanda for many years. Some of them may still be there.

All throughout the Angolan war, FAP serial number 7104 had stayed behind in Portugal. It had been struck off charge there due to corrosion. 7104 was transferred in pieces to the Museu do Air in 1976 and is still in storage there.

A B-26B on display in Cuba is probably a former FAP machine, acquired by Cuban air force personnel while whey were based in Angola during the 1980s, fighting in the series of Angolan civil wars.

United Kingdom performed evaluation test of 2 aircraft only.

Royal Air Force

One of the very early Invaders (A-26B-15-DL 41-39158) that had been sent to Britain for service with the USAAF was tested by the Royal Air Force's Aeroplane & Armament Experimental Establishment (A&AEE) at Boscombe Down beginning in July of 1944. Following these tests, the Royal Air Force was allocated an initial batch of 140 A-26C-DTs. They were designated Invader I and were assigned RAF serials KL690/KL829. They were to go to the Mediterranean with 2 Group and would replace the Bostons of No 88 Squadron RAF as well as those of 342 Squadron of the Free French Air Force.

The RAF was anxious to try out the Invader as soon as possible, and two 8th Air Force A-26Cs were diverted to the RAF in December of 1944 for trials. The RAF serials TW222 and TW224 were allocated to the aircraft, but these numbers were not taken up and the numbers KL690 and KL691 were used instead.

In February of 1945, work began at Douglas on the initial batch of Invaders for the RAF. However, in April of 1945, with the end of the war in Europe not far away, the RAF decided to cancel its order for the Invader. However, by the time that word of the cancellation reached Douglas, 33 of the RAF Invaders had already been built. These planes were handed over to the US Navy as JD-1s in August-September 1945. The two Invaders that had already been delivered to Britain were returned to the USA before entering RAF service. These two planes eventually were transferred to the US Navy as JD-1 BuNo 80621 and 80622.

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 United States

United States Army Air Force

United States Air Force

United States Navy

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