A-26B 44-34759 N956R in Tehran, Iran
Fri Aug 24, 2007 3:52 pm
This is hijacked from another thread but I think it deserves its own one.
I had done a bit of research on this airplane as I had the FAA file so I post this as part of the answer to the questions.
Reference to A-26B 44-34759 N67834/NN28W/NN956/N956R
This A-26 was one of the brand new, never AAF accepted Invaders that went direct from Douglas to Kingman, to the RFC for disposal. There is no AAF record card for the airplane since it was never accepted. Charles Babb purchased a bunch of them for $2000 each...brand new airplanes with the cushions still wrapped in plastic, or so I've heard. This A-26 went to Milton Reynolds and registered with his company then, the Printasign Corp. of America. After his round-the-world 1947 flights with Bill Odom at the controls, it went to Phillips Drilling in 1948. They had a large window installed in the aft fuselage and a cabin door installed.
In 1954 it went to Earl Slick of Slick Airways, of Burbank, CA. Aviation Power Supply of Burbank installed the tip tanks in January 1956, and also did some other fuel system work and other modifications. In July 1956 On Mark at Glendale installed a weather radar unit with the radome on the nose. In October 1956, a company in Denver replaced the Bendix brakes with new Goodyear brakes. In August 1957, On Mark did some aft fuselage mods, including lowering the aft floor. In July 1961, On Mark did some more fuel tank work. In March 1967, the airplane went to the Ventura Division of Northrop, and pylons were installed to handle "Horkey Moore launcher" rails to mount RP-78 targets. Not sure about these items but it appears the Invader was used as a launcher of new target drones. Shortly afterwards, or maybe when the wing racks were added, the airplane went to On Mark again to have fatigue straps added to the front wing spars and shear plates added to the rear spars, and the wing structure and attach points were also inspected with the wings and engines off the fuselage.
In 1973 the airplane was apparently in Tehran, Iran, for what purpose, who knows? It was sold by Northrop in March 1973 to three partners, Jerry Cornell, Lloyd Shipley, and Paul Warren, initial Bill of Sale shows the address as "c/o Iran Aircraft Industries, Tehran" and later, this is crossed out and shows "c/o Bell Helicopter Industries, Tehran".
In October 1974 it was sold by Cornell to five, apparently, USAF officers: a Maj. Patrick O'Donnell and Capts. Edward Hopkens, George Casares, Roger Reece, and Charles Miller, for $2000. Their address was the "Charle Morghi Airport" (spelling?). This included spares. This bill of sale was never processed by the new owners and the FAA contacted Cornell to determine why he hadn't responded to its routine request for information about the airplane. The FAA eventually revoked the registration.
It would be interesting to learn the real story of what it was doing in Iran and how five USAF officers, c/o Bell Helicopters, came to own the airplane. Was it just five guys who thought they could get an A-26 for cheap, or was more going on?
T J Johansen wrote:RickH wrote:The A-26 was probably the A-26 known as Reynolds Bombshell. It was on an Around the worl speed record attempt when it cracked a spar. It was abandoned and it's been in Tehran ever since.
Yes, it is the Reynolds Bombshell. However your info regarding the around the world speed attempt warrants further questions. This plane actually completed two around the world flights, setting records. It was then sold off, configured as an executive Invader, and operated by several owners prior to ending up in Iran. Are you saying the plane was on another record flight when it ended up in Tehran? Do you have any info regarding that as I would really love to see it. As far as I knew the a/c was operated as a business transport at the time.
T J
I had done a bit of research on this airplane as I had the FAA file so I post this as part of the answer to the questions.
Reference to A-26B 44-34759 N67834/NN28W/NN956/N956R
This A-26 was one of the brand new, never AAF accepted Invaders that went direct from Douglas to Kingman, to the RFC for disposal. There is no AAF record card for the airplane since it was never accepted. Charles Babb purchased a bunch of them for $2000 each...brand new airplanes with the cushions still wrapped in plastic, or so I've heard. This A-26 went to Milton Reynolds and registered with his company then, the Printasign Corp. of America. After his round-the-world 1947 flights with Bill Odom at the controls, it went to Phillips Drilling in 1948. They had a large window installed in the aft fuselage and a cabin door installed.
In 1954 it went to Earl Slick of Slick Airways, of Burbank, CA. Aviation Power Supply of Burbank installed the tip tanks in January 1956, and also did some other fuel system work and other modifications. In July 1956 On Mark at Glendale installed a weather radar unit with the radome on the nose. In October 1956, a company in Denver replaced the Bendix brakes with new Goodyear brakes. In August 1957, On Mark did some aft fuselage mods, including lowering the aft floor. In July 1961, On Mark did some more fuel tank work. In March 1967, the airplane went to the Ventura Division of Northrop, and pylons were installed to handle "Horkey Moore launcher" rails to mount RP-78 targets. Not sure about these items but it appears the Invader was used as a launcher of new target drones. Shortly afterwards, or maybe when the wing racks were added, the airplane went to On Mark again to have fatigue straps added to the front wing spars and shear plates added to the rear spars, and the wing structure and attach points were also inspected with the wings and engines off the fuselage.
In 1973 the airplane was apparently in Tehran, Iran, for what purpose, who knows? It was sold by Northrop in March 1973 to three partners, Jerry Cornell, Lloyd Shipley, and Paul Warren, initial Bill of Sale shows the address as "c/o Iran Aircraft Industries, Tehran" and later, this is crossed out and shows "c/o Bell Helicopter Industries, Tehran".
In October 1974 it was sold by Cornell to five, apparently, USAF officers: a Maj. Patrick O'Donnell and Capts. Edward Hopkens, George Casares, Roger Reece, and Charles Miller, for $2000. Their address was the "Charle Morghi Airport" (spelling?). This included spares. This bill of sale was never processed by the new owners and the FAA contacted Cornell to determine why he hadn't responded to its routine request for information about the airplane. The FAA eventually revoked the registration.
It would be interesting to learn the real story of what it was doing in Iran and how five USAF officers, c/o Bell Helicopters, came to own the airplane. Was it just five guys who thought they could get an A-26 for cheap, or was more going on?
Fri Aug 24, 2007 4:17 pm
Fascinating..the stories these old birds could tell...
I ran across these pics while doing some modeling research on the Invader. According to the captions they were taken in 2004/05, and list her as have last been used by Bell Helicopter in 1973. Poor girl has definately seen better days.
SN
I ran across these pics while doing some modeling research on the Invader. According to the captions they were taken in 2004/05, and list her as have last been used by Bell Helicopter in 1973. Poor girl has definately seen better days.
SN
Fri Aug 24, 2007 8:32 pm
pretty neat.
B
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