Douglas A-26 and B-26 Invader
Overview
This book is a great addition to any Invader enthusiast's Library. This book is thorough and thoughtful and covers the Invader from its inception up through the last American use in Vietnam. It briefly covers some uses by foreign powers, civil aviation, and test bed projects. It does not dive as deeply into any one area as some other books, but instead covers the basics and highlights of most areas of use. As with any book, there are some errors which may hinder researchers, I have outlined those below.
Versions & Editions
I am only aware of one edition of this book, published in 2002 by Crowood Press. It comes in hardback and is 200 pages with some full color photos. The cover usually appears online with a purple top section, as shown below, but the physical book has a blue top.
Corrections
I will be going through the book in order by page. Many of the corrections are with the photo captions, and I will try to point these out specifically.
For ease of use, I have used the same section headers that the book uses.
Development & Production
Pg 29 - Bottom Photo - "Production got under way at Long Beach in the fall of 1943, though only seven aircraft were actually delivered that year. By mid-1944, however, the assembly line output had increased significantly. This view in August 1944 shows early A-26Bs being built on the line alongside Douglas-built B-17s. The early-style canopy hatch was not replaced on the Long Beach line until October 1944."
This is more of a clarification than an outright error. The Oct 1944 date was when the Gen 2 flip-up style replaced the Gen-1 flip up style. Many people don't realize that there were actually 3 variants of the canopy, so some readers assume that this date is the introduction of the Clamshell canopy, which is incorrect.
Pg 34 - Table - This book gives a total production count of 2,526 Invaders being built. However, Boeing[1] lists 2,503 Invaders built as part of their own historical snapshot. There is a discrepancy of 23 planes here. Going by USAF serial numbers, there are 2,487, although the book says that only 2,452 were delivered. It is known that Douglas built more planes than the Air Force accepted into Inventory, many of which were sold off to the civil market or scrapped. It is currently unclear whether or not Douglas' count of 2,503 is correct, or the books count of 2,526 is correct. I am currently going through all of the IARC cards in an attempt to reconcile this from primary sources.
Pg 38 - Top Photo - "To satisfy the requirements of the Fifth Air Force in the Pacific. the last production A-26Bs were delivered without lower turrets. replaced instead with additional 125gal (473Itr) fuel tanks....These aircraft could mass fourteen .50 calibre guns for strafing attacks and carried another two in turrets...."
The Pacific Invaders were not the last built, they were different versions of the regular Invaders beginning with Production Block 51. The text also says that the plane carried two more guns in turrets, but the plane carried both guns in a single dorsal turret, the ventral turret had been deleted and a fuel tank installed in its place.