41-39230

A-26B-20 Invader
Builders: Douglas Aircraft Company
Operators: United States Air Force
Number Built: 153 (99-DL, 54-DT)
First Built: Jul 1944
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS
Type: Light Attack Bomber
Wet Weight: 31,000 lbs
Length: 50' 9" (with guns) 49' 11" (without guns)
Height: 18' 6" (5.64 m)
Wingspan: 70' (21.34 m)
Wing Area: 540 Sq. Feet (50.17 m²)
Speed: 212 mph
Max Speed: 370 mph
Ceiling: 31,300 feet
Powerplant: 2x Pratt & Whitney R-2800-27
Horsepower: 2,000 each
Fuel Capacity: 1,600 US Gallons
Range:
Crew: 3
Passengers: 1
ARMAMENT
Nose Guns: 6x .50 Machine Guns
Dorsal Turret: 2x .50 Machine Guns
Ventral Turret: 2x .50 Machine Guns
Payload: 4,000 lbs internal 2,000 lbs wing points
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See also: List of Invaders by Serial Number

This plane was the 131st plane built at the Douglas Long Beach Factory and bore the number 131 on the nose during her early days.

This plane saw combat in WWII with the 9th Air Force in the European Theater of Operations, probably with the 410th Bombardment Group.

In the Civil air shows she flew as: Panhandle's Pride, Vegas Vixen, and Lady Liberty.

Operational History

19 Aug 1944 - Rolled out of Long Beach factory.
23 Aug 1944 - Accepted into USAF Inventory
24 Sep 1944 - Assigned to 410th Bombardment Group, 9th Air Force, Great Dunmow AB, England.
6 Aug 1945 - Returned to Hunter AFB, 485th Base Unit
8 Aug 1945 - Ferried to Grenada AFB by 4255th Base Unit
4 Feb 1946 - Delivered to Hobbs AFB
30 Apr 1946 - Reassigned to 4160th Base Unit, Hobbs AFB
31 Mar 1947 - Assigned to AMCSA
7 Jan 1948 - 4127th Base Unit, Hobbs AFB
7 Jan 1949 - 4160th Base Unit, McLellan AFB
3 Oct 1954 - Struck from USAF Record.

Sold to Civilian market.
H. R. Wells, 19??
- Registered as N9682C.

Flight Inc, Dallas TX, 1963-1966.

D & D Aero Spraying Inc., Rantoul, KS, 1969-1980.
- Flew as Tanker #105.
- Fitted with a glass nose, converted to A26C.
- Probably converted to TB-26C during this time.

Harley Wilke/Confederate Air Force, Harlingen, TX, 1980-1982.
- Flew as 13930/P/Panhandle's Pride.
CAF/Commemorative Air Force, Harlingen, TX, August21, 1982-1988.
- Flew as 13930/P/Panhandle's Pride.

CAF/Commemorative Air Force, Las Vegas, 1988-2003.
- Long term restoration, North Vegas, NV, 1988-1996.
- First Flight, June 10, 1996.
- Flew as 139230/N/Vegas Vixen.

CAF/Commemorative Air Force, Midland, TX, 2003-Present.
- Renamed Lady Liberty, 2003. blue dress nose art.
- Nose art updated to red dress.
- By 2007 the nose art had been updated to a white dress.
- sometime before Aug 2009 - glass nose broken, converted back to TB-26B
- June 2014 - Blew the #1 (left) engine while landing in Hutchinson, KS.
- 15 Mar 2015 - #1 Engine repaired, plane returned to Enid, OK - New nose art from Troy Muller of New Century Art Guild.
- 2020 6-gun nose restored.

Accidents

Unknown

Crew

David Huffman (Civilian) - Pilot
Dan Lawson (Civilian) - Pilot
Doug Martin (Civilian) - Pilot
Richard "Dick" Seabrook (Civilian) - Pilot
Anita Huffman (Civilian) - Pilot
Wes "Jammer" Smith (Civilian) - Pilot
Joe Ebacher (Civilian) - Pilot
Glen Baker (Civilian) - Pilot
Brandon "Scud" Lublin (Civilian) - Pilot
Mark Novak (Civilian) - Pilot
Gary Trice (Civilian) - Director of Maintenance
Henry "Monk" Kempan (Civilian) - Flight Engineer
Ken Girty (Civilian) - Flight Engineer
Gary Stein (Civilian) - Crew Chief
Charlie Howard (Civilian) - Crew Chief
Ivan Koehn (Civilian) - Crew Chief
David Smith (Civilian) - Crew Chief

Disposition

Airworthy - Operated by Commemorative Air Force out of Enid, OK.

Images

These photos show the plane in the mid 1970s when she was tanker #105 with D&D Aero Spraying.

The plane's modified Two-column cockpit, which we believe was installed in the 70s while she was with D&D Aero Spraying.

A close up of the nose art for Pandhandle's Pride in 1981.

This photo show the plane flying as Panhandle's Pride in Sep 1981.

This photo shows a closeup of the Vegas Vixen nose art. Two tiny traces of the P's from Panhandle's Pride can be seen in the bottom left.

This photo shows the plane flying as Vegas Vixen.

This photo shows Vegas Vixen getting an overhaul to the #2 engine. Note that this is not when the #2 was replaced in Oklahoma in 2014 as the plane had a hard nose and was already named Lady Liberty by then.

This photo from 2003 shows the plane immediately after being renamed to Lady Liberty. Note that the nose art shows "Lady Liberty", but the tail still reflects the state outline of Nevada from Vegas Vixen.

A couple of close ups of Lady Liberty nose art from 2003. It is not know if this was applied to both sides of the plane (see red dress below). The mission tally marks were applied at some point after 2003.

These photos show 41-39230 in flight as Lady Liberty with a blue dress.

These photos show Lady Liberty with the navigator side nose art now featuring a red dress. The only photos I have of the red dress woman are from this side of the plane. Most of the other nose art was applied to both sides of the plane, but I am not sure if the pilot's side is also a red dress or if she is still a blue dress. If anyone has any photos that could confirm this please let me know (IE: a photo of the pilot showing a red dress or a set of photos of both sides of the plane from the same time and location).

By at least September 2007 the Lady Liberty nose art was changed again, this time to a woman wearing a white dress.

By 2009 the glass nose for Lady Liberty had become broken and a hard nose was installed in its place. The oldest dated photo I could find was from the 2009 Oshkosh Airshow dated 1 Aug, so the change back to a B model happened at some point prior to that. I know that the this first photo is the oldest because eventually the white dress nose art was also applied to the Navigator side (below). The woman was also changed to a blonde when the dress became white.

In 2020 Lady Liberty received guns for her nose (Jan) and a completely new nose art drawn by Troy Muller of the New Century Art Guild (Mar).

Sources

Databases searched:

• AAIR -
• MACR -
• KORWALD -
• Baugher