B-26K Counter-Invader Restoration ("Special K")

[airnutz]

Isn't this the Aircraft discussed in this post?

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=34145

Yup, have a look at the video under the photo in the article. Thanks for your post Akflier!

[Holedigger]

Nice Vid! How many of her kind on the circuit? That will be a real treat! But will it run with the WW2 birds, Korea Birds, or Nam Birds......guess all three works, just depends on her rebuild as to what era they peg her in.

[AKflier]

This aircraft has never been civilianized and will be restored to match it's current configuration as a Vietnam Counter Invader. Nearly all the original equipment is still in it.

[Merlin540]

Great post and a beautiful, rare aircraft! Thanks for posting (and for helping to save that B-26K).

[N3Njeff]

This aircraft has never been civilianized and will be restored to match it's current configuration as a Vietnam Counter Invader. Nearly all the original equipment is still in it.

Thanks for saving a piece of Nimrod history................even tho she never made it over to RVN. She will represent her sisters that did in fine fashion!!!!

[Ztex]

Got to see the airplane today..(thanks Jim) and WOW! Talk about a stock airplane! Radios, placards, paint etc...I can't wait to see this machine after they get finished with it.

[AKflier]

Here she is just after arrival in TX.

Patrick Mahaffey
B-17 "chuckie"
B-25 "Pacific Prowler"
B-26K

[Pat Carry]

Got to see the airplane today..(thanks Jim) and WOW! Talk about a stock airplane! Radios, placards, paint etc...I can't wait to see this machine after they get finished with it.

It does look great! I wasn't aware there were any B-26K's out there except for the 3 or 4 in museums.

[bluehawk15]

One of our copilots (Tim Black) for the Yellow Rose flew these machines in the Vietnam war. I sent him the link, thinking he might enjoy seeing a "real" -26. Here's what I got back from him.

"I think this is the same A-26 that our A-26 Legacy Foundation was trying to buy. Don't know for sure, but am trying to find out.
This tail no., 679, was either at NKP or at England AFB in our training squadron. I checked my log to see if I have flown her, but I didn't write down a/c tail numbers, just the date, flight time, mission number and target area we flew to. Tomorrow I will get in the attic and check out my form 5 from the AF as it might have tail numbers listed. I have a pretty strong feeling that I have flown 679.
She looks great. (miss the .50 cals though)
Tim"

[bluehawk15]

It's a small world indeed! See what Tim found out below! I might also add that Al Maxwell also is a pilot for the Yellow Rose.

"Here's one for the history books....
I looked up my AF form 5 records and found that I flew tail number 679 on my first A-26 training flight at England AFB on May 23, 1969. I flew for 1.1 hours and got 6 landings.
I knew there was a connection.

Tim"

[CrewDawg]

We can't wait to SQUEEZE her in the hangar! A little history on her: there were 40 A-26's converted in the '60's to the K configuration for interdiction missions along the Ho Chi Minh Trail. They were modified at On Mark Engineering in California and upon completion of the mods (tip tanks, spar reinforcement, pylons, deletion of the turret, addition of the gun nose) the airframes were zero timed - good as new basically, taking 20 years off of thier lives. 679 was the last one to be modified and never served in Vietnam. Here's what Warbird Registry says:
Serial #:
44-34198
64-17679
Construction #: 27477
Civil Register:
N269G
C-GXTG
N4988N
Model:
B-26K
A-26A
Name: None
Status: Airworthy
Last info: 2002
History:
Rebuilt as B-26K by On Mark,Apr. 15, 1965.
- Serial number 44-34198.
Delivered to USAF as 64-17679, Oct. 1969-1971.
State Of Georgia Forestry Commission, Macon, GA, 1971-1977.
- Registered as N269G.
- Stored unconverted, Macon, GA, 1972-1977.
Air Spray Ltd, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, 1977.
- Registered as C-GXTG.
- Not delivered.
- Damaged by heavy landing during test flight, Macon, GA, 1977.
Arnie Carnegie, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, 1978.
- Purchased damaged aircraft.
Denny Lynch/Lynch Flying Service, Billings, MT, Sept. 25, 1978-2001.
- Rebuilt, Macon, GA, 1978.
- Delivered to Billings, MT, 1978.
- Flew un USAF camoflage as IF 679.
- Withdrawn from use, Billings, MT, 1979-2001.
Denny Lynch/Lynch Air Tankers, Billings, MT, Sept. 7, 2001-2002.
- Restored to airworthy.
- Flown in USAF camoflage as IF 679.
And now owned by an anonimous owner in California undergoing restoration at the Vintage Flying Musuem Fort Worth, Texas.

Steve (AKflyer) said that when they turned power on, that the radio's in the back powered up! While this airplane was owned by a couple of air tanker companies, it was never modified. It doesn't get any more stock than this! The only civilian equipment added are a VHF com and a transponder.

If anyone has any history on her as A-26 44-34198 we would sure be interested, as of now, I don't believe we have that information.

Last edited by CrewDawg on Mon Jan 11, 2010 7:59 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[CraigQ]

The Billings Gazette put out a fantastic story about our ferry flight Saturday. Al Maxwell and I flew 64-17679 to it's new home in Texas this past Saturday with the help of Jim Terry, Rob Diver, and Randy and Leonard Lynch. It will be restored at the Vintage Flying Museum in Ft. Worth over the next year or so. She's due to have her paint stripped this week and will be ferried down to FTW next Saturday. Pat Mahaffey took some great shots of her the other night after we landed and I'm sure he'll be posting those soon.

More to come! I have pics and video from the flight I'll be posting in the next day or two.

http://billingsgazette.com/news/local/a ... =hottopics

AKflier, if you don't mind me asking, who do you fly for? I spent a couple of years turning wrenches at Pen Air, left in Aug of 08 for the Fighter factory here in Suffolk, VA. Sure miss seeing Denali and the Chugaks, I lived out in Eagle River.

Craig

[Neal Nurmi]

Denny was taking her around to airshows in 1988 -- a real pleasure to see in the air...

[Neal Nurmi]

Now you have me wondering. I was told at the time that Denny Lynch was the owner of this plane and that it was an authentic -K model, but an old friend who did a couple of tours in Nam as a F-100 crew chief expressed some doubts about it at the time because he thought the cowlings and props wrong for a -K model. So it may well have been a completely different machine. That was the only time I've ever seen that -26, and I did not meet anyone who was with the airplane or photograph it extensively as I was at the show for other purposes. This would not be the first time I've messed up on Invader identities -- I'm not much of a numbers and identification guy -- I'm just a photographer...

[b29flteng]

Here's a photo from NKP. The B-26s all have square tip props.