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

[LadyO2Pilot]

I didn't know when it was taken but I knew the pilot's name......and that could have spanned several year period..........Yes Yes I know who it is.....and he has a beauty queen dotter......LOL

[A26 Special K]

I didn't know when it was taken but I knew the pilot's name......and that could have spanned several year period..........Yes Yes I know who it is.....and he has a beauty queen dotter......LOL

Ding Ding Ding Ding... we finally have a winner!!! Ta dah!!! Good job!!! Thanks!!! JR

[LadyO2Pilot]

After all that foolishness and "your rules" I deserve the pony !!!!!!! or a fudgsicle

[A26 Special K]

After all that foolishness and "your rules" I deserve the pony !!!!!!! or a fudgsicle

Hey, don't shoot the messenger. I am just the MC here. The judges determine the rules and the validity of answers. Au Contrare, on the pony. Fudgsicles are off your diet, but on mine incidentally!! Here, try this nice bag of popcorn. JR

[A26 Special K]

New question: It can be argued that the Douglas/OnMark B-26K aka A-26A was the forerunner of the A-10 Warthog. The last US combat mission for the Nimrods was flown in Nov 1969 from NKP, Thailand. Is there a direct ancestor to the A-10 between the A-26A and the 'Hog? The A-26A had 8 Fifties in the nose. The A-10 has a 30 mm cannon for a nose. The A-26A could carry 12,000 pounds of a variety of explosives plus about 24 to 2700 rounds of ammo for the 50's. The A-10's first flight was in May of 1972 and it can now carry approximately 16,000 lbs of ordnance. Anybody see a pattern here? The A-10 just does it a lot quicker with a bigger bang!!! OK, I will just say it. The A-26A is the granddaddy of the A-10. So who wants to take the other side?? Got a better candidate?? JR

[k5083]

I guess it depends how you look at the planes and their roles.

If you think of the A-10 as a plane built around one really big gun, maybe the B-25H is more of a direct ancestor.

But the GAU-8 is really more about number of rounds than calibre, so any of the gun nose A-20s, B-25s and A-26 could be thought of as progenitors.

In terms of tactical role maybe the Ju 87G or the Hs 129 is the closest.

It's also worth remembering that the A-10 is a (Fairchild-) Republic product and it wasn't called "Thunderbolt II" at first for nothing. The P-47 also had 8 50s and was bad news for a foe on the ground, even if it wasn't much of a bomb hauler.

August

Last edited by k5083 on Fri Jul 06, 2012 8:59 am, edited 1 time in total.

[CAPFlyer]

If you ask the guys at Fairchild, the A-10's lineage didn't include anything with 2 engines prior to the A-10. They traced its heritage to the P-47 (Thunderbolt "I"),F-84 Thunderjet, A-1 Skyraider (kinda from the side), and then the A-10. The A-1, especially the F and H models were really the first "Close Air Support" aircraft capable of carrying a significant payload droppable. The P-47, as good as it was, could only carry a couple of 500 pound bombs, 4 unguided rockets and it's .50 cal. MG's couldn't really damage German armor significantly. Some say the F-105 goes after the F-84, but I don't think it fits since it's primary job was as a "fast mover", not loiter and pound.

The A-26 was used as an interdictor and night attack and not really close air support. The A-37 is more of a logical "follow-on" to the A-26, but to be honest, the role of the A-26 was taken over by the A-7E "Sluff" and then by the F-16C and F-15E.

[A26 Special K]

With regards to the similarity between the A-26 and A-10, I was thinking more about how the A-26 was modfied to become the K model and the same armament ideas were carried on to the A-10. Yes the missions were somewhat different. While there was a variant of the A-26 that had a cannon nose like the B-25, neither were very satisfactory over the long haul due to the time it took to reload and perhaps get off 3 rounds per minute. Too long to be on a "safe" attack run with bad guys shooting back. Ground attack vrs interdiction... yes, I can see your point, however. the A-10 was originally designed to take on tanks and that mission was later changed to add other ground targets it could handle. The A-26 was modified to take on trucks and tanks, but it also served in ground support of troops in contact in Laos for part of its early career. When it became too unsurvivable to work during the daytime, close air support was avoided when possible. There were instances where Nimrods hit tanks as well as trucks on the HCM trail. It sort of blends the distinction between interdiction and ground support in my way of thinking. Certainly, the A-10 benefitted from the experiences of the A-26 crews in terms of seeing a greater need for armor around the pilot, engines and critical systems. Whether the Republic guys think they were more influenced by their own earlier airplanes, the request for proposals came with the technical goals that were derived by those in the AF who had been there, done that. It is after all a clean sheet design focused around the ground attack mission and to survive down in the weeds. Maybe the A-26 helped to point out the need is what I was really getting at in my statement. Anybody else have a viewpoint on this?? JR

[A26 Special K]

Whoo hoooooo!! Our brake overhaul is about done and ready at the shop. Ta dah. Want to thank the great guys over at Aviall for taking care of this for us!! When we first started talking to people about getting the overhaul done, everybody was frowning and rubbing heads like where did this come from?? After a lot of research by the real JR, we came up with the part numbers and chased them down. Yes, it can be done when you gotta. And we got enough parts to do the other side so this should go a lot faster next time around. This will be one of the few A-26's with anti skid brakes!! Thanks guys!! The Other JR

[A26 Special K]

The other big news today was that Santa Claus came early and brought us a brand new Cherry Max rivet gun. Actually it came from a donor at the A-26 Legacy Foundation that is helping us get the airplane airworthy again. Thanks Don and Tom!! Felipe, Joe T and JR had the privilege of unwrapping the present and start using it on the leading edge repairs. We found the right sized flush mounted Cherry rivets for the famous 42D patch and they got started on it today. The new gun will speed things up considerably vrs using a hand puller! Talk about priceless!! We are making this restoration of K work thru the generosity of donors and our volunteers! Many thanks everyone!! It is deeply appreciated. It will indeed be a huge privilege to honor our Viet Nam Vets when the airplane is ready for the tour and airshow circuit! The other JR

[A26 Special K]

Meet Inu, our new floor manager. Here he is giving some of the team their work assignments for today. He is Arnold's best friend so he doesn't push Arnold too hard, but the rest of us get our marching orders rather gruffly. We suspect he was a former Sgt during his earlier years! We did discover that he can be distracted from his duties with a carefully placed donut hole while we take a break from the heat. Our new water coolor worked overtime today!! Thanks Arnold for setting that up! It is a lifesaver! JR

[A26 Special K]

Ah ha... caught the new floor manager holding down the concrete floor as if anticipating the repeal of the Law of Gravity. Good boy, Inu!! The rest of us would have liked to stretch out on the floor, too, as hot as it was in the hangar. We had 14 folks working on the airplane today and quite a bit got done. Lots more to go. Need sheet metal help if anybody would like to come join us who has that skill! JR

[A26 Special K]

Some of our guys just lose their heads over their work!! Arnold and Tim have about finished replacing the hoses on the oil cooler side and have started replacing the hoses on the engine side. One of the flex hoses runs from the air intake for the oil cooler down to cool the generator. We are replacing all of the hoses on both engines. Many still have 1965 dates on the fittings. Might as well do it right while we got it apart. I hear that a lot around the airplane and that is a good thing!! JR

[A26 Special K]

When the light is just right, ghost images show up around the airplane of its Pre-VN paint job. Look for the 8 under the N number. Cool, huh? JR

[A26 Special K]

Dave is prepping the horizontal stabilizer attach fittings and surface for placement of the hollow bulb P seal around the edges so that the horizontals can be hung. Yes, we are adding things back to the airplane instead of taking them off now...well, mostly! JR