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 - 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.

Pg 39 - Top Photo - "This view shows an interim step taken to improve cockpit visibility problems. The framing above the pilot has been removed and replaced by a piece of curved Plexiglas. However, the heavily-framed hatch remains in place. Beginning with fuselage number 84. these interim canopies were added to the assembly line."

This is not right. This is the Generation 2 canopy style. The Heavily Framed windows are Generation 1 Canopies and only the top section lifts up. In this photo you can clearly see that the navigator window has a curved section with 2 narrow bands and side window is also attached as one piece. This navigator window is an entirely different style from the earlier versions and provided much greater visibility.

Description in Detail

Pg 60 - Caption - "This excerpt from an A-26 pilot's manual depicts the various installations possible with the all-purpose nose. Only three installations were used operationally: the bombardier nose, the eight-gun nose and the six-gun nose."

Technically only 3 of these noses shown here were used operationally, however, there was a 4th arrangement that was used in Korea that is not pictured here.

Pg 61 - Top Photo - "This view shows the crawlspace between the right side of the forward cockpit and the bombardier's position on the A-26C. The canvas cover on the right side of the compartment covers the pair of .50 calibre guns installed. Some A-26Cs had dual controls; for these aircraft the rudder pedals and control yoke could be removed to allow access to the nose. Bombardiers were not supposed to ride in the nose for take-off or landings due to the unpredictable nose gear of the Invader."

It is true that Navigators were generally not permitted to ride in the nose during take-off and landing. And it is true that the secondary control yoke and pedals could be removed, but these could not be removed during flight as the text implies. The two column variants were TB-26 models and were reserved specifically for flight training and evaluations when in the 2-yoke mode and no one utilized the bombardier's nose during these training flights.

Pg 63 - Bottom Photo - "There was much variation in nose armament on the early A-26Bs. This version depicts a 37mm cannon installed on the left side of the nose, probably paired with four .50 calibre guns on the left side. The camouflage paint suggests this was one of first few production Invaders delivered at long Beach and probably retained for installation variations."

Although the caption surmises that this this one is a 37mm and .50 caliber variant, in truth it is a 37mm and 75mm variant. We know this by two reasons. 1st, the 2x .50s would be protruding past the end of the nose and would be visible in the photo, but they are not there. More importantly, there is a second photo from this set which shows the plane from the nose.

Pg 65 - Top Photo - "...Neither the 75mm nor the 37mm cannon were installed for combat A-26s."

This is really more of a clarification. The text makes it sound like the 75mm cannon were only installed on a test plane or two. However, all B-Model Blocks 1 & 5 were manufactured with the 75mm cannon installed. 35 planes in total left the factory with the 75mm nose as standard equipment, and these noses were not swappable. It was decided later that these planes would not be used in combat, but they could have been. It would be more accurate to say: "None of the installed 75mm cannons were used in combat."