T J Johansen wrote:
According to this website, the aircraft at the Museo del Aire in Havana was moved to San Antonio de los Baños Air Base after the museum closed in 2010.
http://www.sbap.be/museum/cuba/cuba.htm As for the derelict A-26, here is a larger version of the photo zorro9 posted.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/elaref/8083277365/Here is the photo of the A-26 nose referred to in the above photo.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/elaref/8083272070/ Interesting anecdote about the Nicaraguan A-26. Hagedorn/ Hellström's Foreign Invaders book do note that the first four A-26s the FAN received were ex- Operation Pluto airframes. It also appear that several stayed behind when Dave Tallichet bought some ex- FAN airframes around 1977. I guess whether or not the derelict at the Museo del Aire in Havana is the one depends on when they got it from Nicaragua. The above photo is from May 1998.
That leaves the airframe you mention being at San Antonio. Was this claim made before or after the move of the Museo del Aire from Havana? If it is later, could it be a mix- up, as the Havana based 26 also has a six- gun nose? If not, there might just be another Invader present in Cuba!
T J
I am now convinced that the fuselage and nose section seen in these pictures are an original Brigade B-26B left behind in Nicaragua by the Brigade and donated to the Cubans. A Cuban source told me that some years ago he had a Brigade B-26 dismantled in Nicaragua and shipped to Cuba. This most likely is it. Ever since this museum was closed, there are chances that this aircraft no longer exists......
In the last page of his book "Operation Puma', Eduardo Ferrer, the author, has a couple pictures of him visiting a derelict Brigade B-26 abandoned in Nicaragua in 1971.
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