Warbird Information Exchange

My Invader raced at Reno in 1968 as RACE 76...
John Lear at the helm. Beat some of those 'little friends' thingies.

I'm sure someone can upload a pic off the web.

* Dwight Reimer raced B-26 "Cotton Jenny" as well many years later..

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..defeat is never an option!

Yes, I remember the "Cotton Jenny" one! Thanks for the info, Oscar Duck. As you recall, the race course back then was different and had more straight away portions on it, which required less G loading. After MA II's crash in '99, the layout was changed to make it basically one continuously turning course, with nearly constant banking, and consequently, nearly constant G loading. Do you think you could keep your A-26 on the current course without over-G ing it? What are the G limits on the A-26?

My Mary Lou, 44-35696 was Cotton Jenny. She was still silver with Race 26 on the tail when she came to Texas.

http://www.warbirdregistry.org/a26registry/a26-4435696.html
Roll an A-26 ? Been there, done that, have the video of the Mississippi River goin' 'round !

Unmodified means unaltered, original, Douglas design.

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"You cannot invade the mainland United States. There would be a rifle behind each blade of grass..."
Admiral Isoruku Yamamoto

Here is a link with some A-26 Racers including the aircraft now owned by O.D.


http://napoleon130.tripod.com/id398.html

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Fly Fast Make Noise!

Does anyone know the ID of the black or dark blue On Mark that resided in the Butler Aviation hangar at Friendship Field in the late 60's?

Tom-

Here's a couple from Mojave, Cotton Jenny in 79, Wally MacDonald in race #4 "Mojave Kid" Back in the days when we could park our RV next to a pylon and get blasted by the racers as they screamed by

Great pics of those Invaders. There are pics of my Race 76 on the web . As I'm the "analogue man", I can't upload them. Could someone please do it?

Race 76 was the first to race in 1968 I believe..

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..defeat is never an option!

here she is[/url]

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..defeat is never an option!

Thanks Oscar,

The A-26 is by far my favorite twin engine bomber.....beautiful

Good one RickH
Roll an A-26 ? Been there, done that, have the video of the Mississippi River goin' 'round !

Please read this>>>I'll call the SPCA [society for the prevention of cruelty to airplanes]. You may not kill yourself but it could be someone else.



Another "clown"

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..defeat is never an option!

Just because it "can be done' doesn't mean that it "should be done".

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Chris Henry
EAA Aviation Museum Manager

Wasn't the reason that the B-26 was pulled out of SEA by the USAF, due to fatigue cracks developing in the wings? I read that many pilots were pulling too many G's and overstressing the airframes, especially in light of how much ordinance they were carrying at the time.

Is it specified anywhere in the operations manual how many G's the A/B-26 can pull? How about the maintenance manual? Someone has to know this answer!

According to the hymnal (1B-26K-1), the symetrical load factor is 4.4G up to 33,000lbs, then it decreases linearly to 3.75 at 36,000lbs.
Rolling pullout load factor is 3.2G up to 33K and decreases linearly to 2.8G at 36K.

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Brad

Remember all of these aircraft are now 63+ years old..

only irresponsible clowns operate outside of the PFM limits..

http://napoleon130.tripod.com/id250.html


AN 01-40AJ-1
Pilot's Handbook for Army Models A-26B and A-26C airplanes.
Section II, NORMAL OPERATING INSTRUCTIONS
Page 39.
FLIGHT RESTRICTIONS.
a. MANEUVERS PROHIBITED.
(1) Loops
(2) Spins
(3) Rolls
(4) Inverted Flight

Page 53
Paragraph 15.
ACROBATICS
Acrobatics are stictly prohibited.

T.O. 1A-26A-1 (Formerly T.O. 1B-26K-1)
Section 5, Operating Limitations
Page 5-5
PROHIBITED MANEUVERS
Spins or acrobatic maneuver are prohibited.

MANEUVER LIMITATIONS

The symmetrical load factor capability is 4.4G from the minimum flying weight to 33,000 pounds, decreases linearly to 3.75G at 36,000 pounds, then is constant to the maximum gross weight. Etc. Etc.

The rolling pullout load factor capability is 3.2G from the minimum flying weight to 33,000 pounds, constant to the maximum gross weight.

Section VI, Flight Characteristics
Page 6-3
MANEUVERING FLIGHT

Acrobatics are prohibited in this aircraft.

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..defeat is never an option!

What is the normal flying weight of a modern day "airshow display" A-26?

3.75G X 36,000 pounds = 135,000 pounds
4.4G X 33,000 pounds = 145,200 pounds

That is how much lift the wings have to provide at those G-loadings. The reason the higher gross weight limits the lift may be due to gust load factors.

If the empty weight is 22,850 pounds, then add maybe 4,000 pounds for fuel, oil, beer coolers and crew:

145,200 pounds / 26,850 pounds = 5.4G

That is still likely conservative though as the military empty weight probably includes equipment like guns and vacuum tube radios that would have been removed.

P.S. I am not recommending or endorsing any G-limit greater than that indicated in the official documentation. This is presented as an algebraic exercise for discussion purposes only.