Douglas A/B-26 Invader

Al 'Batman' Shortt














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Martin,
 
I took the first three at England AFB while checking out in the '26. The ones from inside the cockpit and showing the gunsight are sort of different.
The next two are taken over the Pacific Ocean of my good friend Pete Peters when we ferried the two birds from California to NKP. As you can see in one photo, Pete had to feather #1. I forgot the reason.
Then there are some b&w shots. The flying photos were taken by 'someone' prior to my tour. The crash photos are well known to me since I was the pilot on that Sept. '68 mission. No one got injured! It was rainy, wet and slippery when we landed and when I went into reverse power, #2 engine quit, causing the left engine to make us go off the left side of the runway. I had it headed back toward the runway when the dreaded DITCH got in the way. We shut everything off to prevent any fire and stepped out. (Not very far to the ground!) End of story. The plane was fixed and put back into service.
 
Cheers,
Al 'Batman' Shortt

Thanks Al, your a star

 
 
 
 
Martin,
Thanks for responding. Here are some photos taken at NKP, Thailand in 1968-69. Glad to add to your excellent site.








































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Aircrew portrait, 1969.


 

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Our mission patch.
 
 
 

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Taxiing in.
 
 
 

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Our 'hi-tech' scheduling board.
 
 
 






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The bomb bay showing 2 "Funny Bombs" and frag bomb clusters
 
 
 

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This shows the relative size between me and the "Funny Bombs". They looked similar to a hot water heater and opened above ground to cover a large target area, There were two types: one with rags with napalm similar jelly for lots of fire coverage and the other contained thermite 'sticks' that were effective against hardened targets.
 
 
 
 

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Batman(r) and Robin with our Easter napalm presents.
 
 
 

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Flight line.
 
 
 

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Some battle damage.
 
 
 

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Napalm and RX. load.
 
 
 








































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