About the Foundation

From Invader Historical Foundation
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Officially the Invader Historical Foundation was formed on October 20th, 2017. Unofficially, we’ve been working on researching these planes on and off for years. We've merely hit a point where we’ve exhausted every nook and cranny and we're hoping that public interest and “crowd-sourcing” can fill in the rest of the gaps.


Our hope is that the Invader Historical Foundation becomes this definitive Invader reference anywhere in the world. We already have more information than the largest invader websites around, it’s just a matter of converting all of the information I have over to the web. And we are adding new information all of the time.


We are interested in learning and recording as much as possible about all 2,503 Invaders that Douglas manufactured. We know what happened to most of them, but there are a few gaps in our notes. We’d also like to try to collect a picture of every single Invader ever made. At least one photo. We know that it might be an impossible task, but we’d like to try. We already have amassed a database of more than 561 unique planes identifiable by serial number, and counting. We're sure that there are more photos out there.


We’d like to collect information about the flight crew for these birds as well. We have a pretty complete list of KIA crewmen. We have some information about MIA, but wr're missing a lot of information about what happened post-mission or if they were ever found. We are also trying to get information about the pilots and crew who survived.


This information started out by building upon the impressive work of Joe Baugher and Martin J. Simpson. We cross-referenced that information against itself. Then, we also cross-referenced against historical photos, Air Force Accident Reports, the Missing Air Crew Report database, the Korean War Air Loss Database, Individual Aircraft Record Cards, Air Force Historical Archives, and Service Member Records (when available). All of these sources have allowed us to build, arguably, the most complete Invader database.


Of particular interest to us is the 13th Bombardment Squadron, 3rd Bombardment Group – The Grim Reapers. We're very interested in that unit. But, we are interested in all units that flew the Invaders.


If you have information about these planes, the men who flew them, or the missions they went on, please feel free to contact us and let us know. InvaderHistoricalFoundation @ Gmail.com


This research is currently conducted by:

  • Johnathan J. Clayborn, MS - Principal Researcher
  • Doyle Thomason, Historical Researcher
  • Ryan P. Rees, Historical Researcher
  • John Ryan - Archive Photo Specialist
  • James Parkins - Associate Historical Researcher

To read more about how we research the Invaders, you can read the write up here: Researching Invaders