The Hunt for a Dragon

Some people have asked why I have devoted so much time and attention to this plane, to this project in particular. That's a fair question, given the enormous complexity of the project. The answer is that it's personal to me. My maternal grandfather was a gunner on an Invader during the Korean War. He was attached to the 13th Bombardment Squadron, 3rd Bomb Group.

I didn't know my grandfather very well. There's a lot of family history stuff that I won't get into here. But, I did get to meet him before he passed away and he regaled us with several tales of his time over there. I know that he flew on the crew of pilot Captain Emil Pindzola. My grandfather said that the plane they flew the most was called the "Assam Dragon". From what I recall of our conversation, that plane had a mechanical issue and they had to switch planes. Then, the plane was repaired and a different crew took it out on a mission and got shot down in it.

After a hell of a lot of searching, I did find nose art on an Invader that shows "My Assam Dragon".

Based on this information, I wanted to put my research skills to the test and see if I could positively identify the Asam Dragon. I know right off the bat that I can exclude any plane that was shot down during World War 2, as they wouldn't have been available to fly in Korea. Similarly, I can also exclude any plane that was sold to the civilian market prior to 1951, as those planes would not be flying combat missions in Korea. I am looking at all planes that served in Korea, especially in the 3rd Bomb Group. I'm doing this in case my grandfather misremembered about it getting shot down.

The process is challenging because the records are spotty. A lot of the records are on microfilm. A lot of the other records are incomplete. The easiest way to identify the plane is with a photo. But many of the photos are bad quality. I can clean up photos with bad lighting or contrast, but photos that are blurry or low resolution don't help. Also, if the photo doesn't contain any useful information (like serial numbers or tail letters), then it is of limited use.

So far, I am certain that the Dragon was not any of the planes in the A-26B-1-DL block, nor the A-26B-5-DL block.