mystery A-26

chasd25 · **Posted:** Wed Feb 22, 2006 8:24 pm

I took this pic many, many years ago, at a Madera Gathering of warbirds. I can't recall the year, late 80s/early 90s.

Always wondered about this one. I recall also seeing it at the Salinas Airshow about the same time.

Also a pic of a nicely polished B-23......whatever happened to this one?

Sorry for the poor quality, I think these were taken with an old 110 camera.

Charlie

Ryan Keough · **Posted:** Wed Feb 22, 2006 9:38 pm

Isn't there a B-23 still flying (albit rarely) in the L.A. area currently? Polished silver with the speed nose and an exec interior (former Hughes airplane I believe). Could this be that one... based on the assumption it was 80's-90's when the photo was taken?

The USAFM bird has yellow cowls in pictures I have seen of it and looks to be in a bit worse shape than this bird... I would assume its a flyer based on the placement on an active flight line it looks like.

No idea on the A-26... though it looks a little like a photo I have seen on Airliners.net of an A-26 in the 60's at Rochester Int'l Airport (KROC). Might be worth a look there.

Ryan Keough

Roger Cain · **Posted:** Wed Feb 22, 2006 11:39 pm

Charlie,

I was at the same shows and the A-26B is N500MR, 44-34769. It was a regular at west coast shows with that worn paint scheme.

The B-23 (N747M) was flown regularly back in the 80's and 90's by Mr. Bogue and is currently parked at a private strip in Ione, Ca where I saw it this past summer.

PS. The A-26 pictures are from Watsonville Airport, CA

JohnH · **Posted:** Thu Feb 23, 2006 4:59 am

That was owned by George Rivera at the time. I have a photo of it from the Burbank airshow in 88.

John

mrhenniger · **Posted:** Thu Feb 23, 2006 8:13 am

Ryan Keough wrote:

The USAFM bird has yellow cowls in pictures I have seen of it and looks to be in a bit worse shape than this bird... I would assume its a flyer based on the placement on an active flight line it looks like.

These photos are a bit dated (1995) but might be of some help here...
http://community.webshots.com/photo/475 ... 2405gOPVzk
http://community.webshots.com/photo/475 ... 2405nujkiH
http://community.webshots.com/photo/475 ... 2405LNmaff

Mike

Robbie Stuart · **Posted:** Thu Feb 23, 2006 9:39 am

Sure would love to see a B-23 Dragon fly again. Got some great memories from our old CAF bird. :cry:

Robbie

T J Johansen · **Posted:** Thu Feb 23, 2006 9:48 am

JohnH wrote:

That was owned by George Rivera at the time. I have a photo of it from the Burbank airshow in 88.

John

John, Any chance of seeing that photo?
Unfortunately, after arriving in Greece this A-26 has probarbly flown less than 10 hours. The sinister camo has been replaced by a silver scheme with yellow flashes and a Tasmanian Devil nose-art.

T J

chasd25 · **Posted:** Thu Feb 23, 2006 10:45 am

Roger Cain wrote:

Charlie,

I was at the same shows and the A-26B is N500MR, 44-34769. It was a regular at west coast shows with that worn paint scheme.

The B-23 (N747M) was flown regularly back in the 80's and 90's by Mr. Bogue and is currently parked at a private strip in Ione, Ca where I saw it this past summer.

PS. The A-26 pictures are from Watsonville Airport, CA

Roger,

Thanks for the info! You are correct, my mistake, those are from Watsonville! Somehow they got mixed into my Madera Airshow pile of pics!

Charlie

Michel Lemieux · **Posted:** Thu Feb 23, 2006 12:28 pm

Talking about B23

B23 survivors
http://www.johnweeks.com/b23/

airnutz · **Posted:** Thu Feb 23, 2006 5:30 pm

Michel Lemieux wrote:

Talking about B23

B23 survivors
http://www.johnweeks.com/b23/

Wolverine, here on WIX, has gathered a more updated list for the B-23.
The JW list is a bit dated Michel.

JohnH · **Posted:** Thu Feb 23, 2006 9:09 pm

T J Johansen wrote:

JohnH wrote:

That was owned by George Rivera at the time. I have a photo of it from the Burbank airshow in 88.

John

John, Any chance of seeing that photo?
Unfortunately, after arriving in Greece this A-26 has probarbly flown less than 10 hours. The sinister camo has been replaced by a silver scheme with yellow flashes and a Tasmanian Devil nose-art.

T J

My photos are all in storage and tough to get to.I'm having computer problems.......My harddrive is about to melt down I think. But yes I could get to this one eventually.

John

Chris · **Posted:** Thu Feb 23, 2006 9:51 pm

Here are two pics of the B-23 at Pima. Sorry about the poor quality as I was busy with the B-36

Roger Cain · **Posted:** Fri Feb 24, 2006 8:46 pm

Minter Field/Shafter CA April 1989

Roger Cain · **Posted:** Fri Feb 24, 2006 9:00 pm

Charlie, your B-23 picture may have been at Madera. I have pictures of this plane polished up at the Livermore show in 1992.

1989 Madera Airport, Gathering of Warbirds. (N747M USAAC 39-33)

Information on the display card:

"This aircraft was delivered to General "Hap" Arnold, Commander of the United States Army Air Corps on 27 July 1939 at Clover Field, Santa Monica, California: Operated by Hughes _ool Company 1945-1951.

Present owner is World Airways, Inc. with Headquarters at the Oakland International Airport, California.

Displayed by Edward J Daly, President and Chairman of the Board, World Airways, Inc."

Warbirdnerd · **Joined:** Fri Apr 30, 2004 7:34 pm **Posts:** 2923

[quote="Robbie Stuart"]Sure would love to see a B-23 Dragon fly again. Got some great memories from our old CAF bird. :cry:

Robbie[/quote
Other than a stack of $$$ what would it take to make the CAF B-23 airworthy again?

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