Quote:
Originally Posted by MRM
According to my son, who is a walking encyclopedia on WWII airplanes (at age 14) it is correct to call it a B-26 Invader (to diferentiate it from the B-26 Marauder) or an A-26. It was formally designated the B-26 through 1965 and now is usually called an A-26 to avoid confusion with the Marauder.
According to the little professor, the "A" designation indicates an "Attack" airplane, while a "B" Designation indicates a "Bomber". "P" indicates a "pursuit" plane, as in a P-51. The B-26 Invader was flown out of Thailand during the Viet Nam War, so from 1965 on it was formally changed to the A-26 designation. Aparently it was not permissible to operate bombers out of Thailand, but it was OK to operate attack aircraft out of there. So they changed the name.
The A-26 was used from WWII through Korea, the Bay of Pigs and throughout the entire Viet Nam War, retiring from use finally in the 1970s when the last Air Guard or Air Reserve unit discontinued it. It's quite a remarkable airplane and every bit as important as its better known brothers.
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Give the little genius a cookie !
History: The A-26, the last aircraft designated as an "attack bomber," was designed to replace the Douglas A-20 Havoc/Boston. It incorporated many improvements over the earlier Douglas designs. The first three XA-26 prototypes first flew in July 1942, and each was configured differently: Number One as a daylight bomber with a glass nose, Number Two as a gun-laden night-fighter, and Number Three as a ground-attack platform, with a 75-millimeter cannon in the nose. This final variant, eventually called the A-26B, was chosen for production.
Upon its delivery to the 9th Air Force in Europe in November 1944 (and the Pacific Theater shortly thereafter), the A-26 became the fastest US bomber of WWII. The A-26C, with slightly-modified armament, was introduced in 1945. The A-26s combat career was cut short by the end of the war, and because no other use could be found for them, many A-26s were converted to JD-1 target tugs for the US Navy.
A strange aircraft-designation swap occurred in 1948, when the Martin B-26 Marauder was deactivated and the Douglas A-26 was re-designated the B-26. (It kept this designation until 1962.) B-26s went on to serve extensively in both the Korean and Vietnam wars. In Vietnam, they were commonly used in the Counter-Insurgency (COIN) role, with very heavy armament and extra power. This version, the B-26K, was based in Thailand and was, to confuse things further, called the A-26 for political reasons. B-26s were also used for training, VIP transport, cargo, night reconnaissance, missile guidance and tracking, and as drone-control platforms.