There were certain Ex Military A-26 Invaders
that were brand new and never AAF accepted.
These Invaders came direct from Douglas to Kingman,
to the RFC for disposal.
Charles Babb purchased several of these for
$2000 each...brand new airplanes with the cushions still wrapped in plastic.
One of these Invaders went to Milton Reynolds and was
registered with his company then, the Printasign Corp. of America. After his round-the-world 1947 flights with Bill Odom at
the controls, it went to Phillips Drilling in 1948. They had a large window installed in the aft fuselage and a cabin door
installed.
In 1954 it went to Earl Slick of Slick Airways, of Burbank, CA. Aviation Power Supply of Burbank installed
the tip tanks in January 1956, and also did some other fuel system work and other modifications. In July 1956 On Mark at Glendale
installed a weather radar unit with the radome on the nose. In October 1956, a company in Denver replaced the Bendix brakes
with new Goodyear brakes. In August 1957, On Mark did some aft fuselage mods, including lowering the aft floor. In July 1961,
On Mark did some more fuel tank work. In March 1967, the airplane went to the Ventura Division of Northrop, and pylons were
installed to handle "Horkey Moore launcher" rails to mount RP-78 targets. Not sure about these items but it appears the Invader
was used as a launcher of new target drones. Shortly afterwards, or maybe when the wing racks were added, the airplane went
to On Mark again to have fatigue straps added to the front wing spars and shear plates added to the rear spars, and the wing
structure and attach points were also inspected with the wings and engines off the fuselage.
