How A/B-26 production developed Douglas A-26B The production of the Invader began first at the Long Beach plant. The solid-nosed B was actually the first off the production line. The first of five A-26B-1-DL Invaders appeared in September of 1943. A new all-purpose nose was installed beginning with the A-26B-10-DL. Initially, the USAAF was undecided about what armament this version should carry. As originally planned, it was expected that the A-26B would be fitted with a variety of alternate solid nose sections, and that one deemed to be the best would be selected. At the end of 1944, the USAAF decided that the solid-nosed A-26B would have six machine guns with 400 rounds per gun. The guns in the two turrets had 500 rounds each. Beginning with the A-26B-15, the forward-firing armament could be supplemented by eight 0.50-inch guns mounted in four twin packages beneath the outer wing panels. The first 500 Invaders (up to A-26B-40-DL) were built at Long Beach. A parallel production line was established at Tulsa, Okla. for 500 aircraft ordered on March 17, 1943. The first Tulsa-built A-26B-DTs appeared in January of 1944. Of the Tulsa-built Invaders, 205 were delivered as A-26Bs with the rest being built as A-26Cs with glazed noses. Although both the Long Beach and Tulsa plants had started building both Invader versions, it was decided in late 1944 that this inefficient arrangement needed to be changed. It was decided that the Long Beach plant would build only A-26Bs and the Tulsa plant would build only C versions. The Long Beach plant stopped producing A-26Cs after only five were built. During production, a number of improvements were introduced on the line. The oil cooler inlets on the wing leading edge were redesigned. The dorsal turret was modified to eliminate empennage buffeting. Initial combat reports from the field had complained about poor visibility from the cockpit, especially to the side. In order to improve visibility, the original flat-topped cockpit canopy which opened upward on the right side of the cockpit was replaced by a bulbous raised canopy opening in clamshell-fashion in two frameless elements around hinges on both sides of the pilot's cockpit. The new canopy enabled the pilot to see over both engine nacelles and towards the tail surfaces as well as to check whether both main landing wheels were down. This new canopy was introduced as standard equipment beginning with the A-26B-30-DL block. Beginning with the A-26B-45-DL block, the engines were switched to Ford-built R-2800-79 with water injection, raising the war emergency power to 2350 hp. The forward-firing armament of the early A-26B was found to be insufficient, especially in the Pacific theatre. Beginning with the A-26B-50-DL production block, a new eight-gun nose was fitted, and six internally-mounted 0.50-inch guns were mounted in the outer wing panels so that bombs or rockets could be carried underneath the wings. However, the eight-gun nose and the internal wing guns were often retrofitted to earlier A-26B versions, so the presence of these features cannot be used as a positive identification feature. In aircraft destined for service in the Pacific (-51-DL, -56-DL, -61-DL, and -66-DL), the remotely-controlled ventral turret was replaced by a 125-US gallon auxiliary tank for extra range. A total of 1150 A-26Bs were built at Long Beach (A-26B-1-DL to A-26B-66-DL) and an additional 205 were built at Tulsa (A-26B-5-DT to A-26B-25-DT). Production of the A-26B ended at Long Beach in September 1945, when the end of the war resulted in the cancellation of further contracts. Production of the B at Tulsa had ceased at the end of 1944, when the decision was made that the Oklahoma plant would concentrate solely on the transparent-nosed A-26C version. Block numbers in Red ( The production blocks for the A-26C are identical to the blocks for the A-26B )   A-26B-1        Number built 5 A-26B-5        Number built 30 A-26B-10      Number built 55 A-26B-15      Number built 142 A-26B-16      Number built 2 A-26B-20      Number built 153 A-26B-25      Number built 63 A-26B-30      Number built 75 A-26B-35      Number built 75 A-26B-40      Number built 100 A-26B-45      Number built 120 A-26B-50      Number built 109 A-26B-51      Number built 6 A-26B-55      Number built 121 A-26B-56      Number built 19 A-26B-60      Number built 34 A-26B-61      Number built 110 A-26B-66      Number built 136   Douglas A-26C  The modifications introduced on the A-26B were also introduced on the A-26C line. The clamshell canopy appeared beginning with the A-26C-30-DT block. The water-injected R-2800-79 engines, wing panels with internally-mounted guns, increased tank capacity, and provision for underwing rockets were introduced on the production line with the A-26C-45-DT block. A total of 1091 A-26Cs were built, 1086 of them were built by Tulsa (A-26C-16-DT to A-26C-55-DT)  5 by Long Beach (A-26C-1-DL and A-26C-2-DL). Invader production ended at Tulsa in August 1945, with the cancellation of all A-26C contracts.   A-26C-1        Number built 1 A-26C-2        Number built 4 A-26C-5        Number built 30 A-26C-15      Number built 27 A-26C-16      Number built 10 A-26C-20      Number built 71 A-26C-25      Number built 187 A-26C-30      Number built 160 A-26C-35      Number built 200 A-26C-40      Number built 97 A-26C-45      Number built 127 A-26C-50      Number built 155 A-26C-55      Number built 52

	Douglas A-26 Invader production numbers Douglas El Segundo, California (DE) 41-19504  -  S/n 1004 41-19505  -  S/n 1005 41-19588  -  S/n 1006   Douglas Long Beach, California (DL) 41-39100 / 41-39151      S/n 6813 / 6864 41-39153 / 41-39192      S/n 6866 / 6905 41-39194                        S/n 6907      41-39196 / 41-39198      S/n 6909 / 6911 41-39201 / 41-39599      S/n 6914 / 7312 44-34098 / 44-34585      S/n 27377 / 27864 44-34587 / 44-34753      S/n 27866 / 28032 44-34754 / 44-34775      S/n 28033 / 28054  - Contract cancelled, many completed and sold on civil market. 44-34777 / 44-35197      S/n 28056 / 28476 - Contract cancelled, many completed and sold on civil market. 41-39152, 41-39193      S/n 6865, 6906 41-39195, 41-39199      S/n 6908, 6912 41-39200                       S/n 6913 44-34776                       S/n  28055 44-34586                       S/n 27865   Douglas Tulsa, Oklahoma (DT) 43-22252 / 43-22303      S/n 18399 / 18450 43-22305 / 43-22307      S/n 18452 / 18454 43-22313 / 43-22345      S/n 18460 / 18492 43-22350 / 43-22466      S/n 18497 / 18613 43-22304                        S/n 18451 43-22308 / 43-22312      S/n 18455 / 18459 43-22346 / 43-22349      S/n 18493 / 18496 43-22467 / 43-22751      S/n 18614 / 18898 44-35198 / 44-35562      S/n 28477 / 28841 44-35564 / 44-35947      S/n 28843 / 29226 44-35948 / 44-35952      S/n 29227 / 29231 - All completed and sold on the civil market. 44-35953                        S/n 29232 44-35954                        S/n 29233 - Cancelled before completion. 44-35955                        S/n 29234 44-35956                        S/n 29235 - Completed, sold on civil market. 44-35957 / 44-35996      S/n 29236 / 29275 44-35997 / 44-36797      S/n 29276 / 30076 - Contract cancelled, some aircraft completed then scrapped. 44-36798 / 44-37996      Contract cancelled. 44-35563                        S/n 28842

	Joe Baugher's pages Alternate source production list Appendix 1 Appendix 2

	Associated reading Appendix 1 Appendix 2 Appendix 3t

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