Douglas A/B-26 Invader
Production - Civil
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Douglas A/B-26 Invader Production - Civil |
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Since 1945, over 300 A-26s have been entered on to the
FAA US Civil Aircraft Register. Much early development of conversions was carried out by Grand
Central Aircraft, whose drawings and personnel were taken up by the On Mark Engineering Company of Van Nuys, California from
about 1955. By the 1960s, On Mark had obtained an exclusive licence from Douglas Aircraft Company for manufacture and sale
of parts for A-26s. The On Mark Executive, the On Mark Marketeer, and the more radical
pressurized On Mark Marksman, were products of this effort. The next most significant conversion was the Rock Island Monarch
26, while less numerous and more basic conversions were carried out by Wold Engineering, LB Smith Aircraft Corp., R. G. LeTourneau
Inc, Rhodes-Berry Company and Lockheed Aircraft Service Inc., utilizing the Invader’s wings and other appendages, mounted
to their own pressurized fuselage designs. Improvements developed considerably until the early 1960s, but then purpose-built
executive types saw the demise of the executive Invader and she saw out her final years, in air tanker duties. The executive invaders that were produced, came out of bespoke requirements
and requests by individual clients and companies that were targeted by the "On Mark or Rock Island" marketing teams.
That with only limited airframes at their disposal, manufacturers such as On
Mark, found it easy to sell this cheap and fast aircraft to its clients, without finished airframes sitting around the
hangar with nowhere to go. It must be said, that the task awarded by such companies as On Mark in producing
these executive Invaders was never going to be a job that could be seen as continuing at an enless rate, so the conversions,
re-conversions and refurbishment of these aircraft was the best they could hope for. Once these individual aircraft were delivered to their respective owners, these new
owners would then sign up for back up maintenance, supplied in addition to the original package, which in some cases
would net the executive aeroplane manufacturers more than the initial cost of the aircraft. Companies like On Mark, would also supply pilots to the new owners. As these aircraft eventually became available on the "second hand" market they
were snapped up by a variety of individuals and corporations at sometimes half the original cast of the original executive
aircraft because of the newer and purpose designs coming onto the market.
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