Category:XJ-D1

In March of 1945, the US Navy acquired one USAAF A-26B (44-34217 and in May 1945 they acquired one A-26C 44-35467 for testing and evaluation purposes. They were both assigned the designation XJD-1, which was somewhat confusing due to their different USAAF designations, and they were given the Bureau of Aeronautics numbers of 57990 (for 44-34217) and 57991 (for 44-35467). The XJD-1s were painted all-over yellow with black engine nacelles and were assigned to VU-4 based out of Chincoteague NAS.

The Navy loved the plane and ultimately settled on the glass nosed version for adoption into the service. As the result of this testing, the Navy ordered 150 surplus A-26s for use by land-based utility squadrons as target tugs, test platforms, drone controllers, and other utility functions. Allegedly, some of the early deliveries were from a batch of Invaders that had been ordered by the Royal Air Force but never delivered, but I have not been able to verify this one way or the other yet. The majority of the planes that I have seen have come from USAF stocks.