A-26 invader questions

A26 Special K · **Joined:** Wed Nov 16, 2011 8:27 pm **Posts:** 2559

napoleon wrote:

It looks like 44-34759 NX67834 Reynolds Bombshell

The man who sponsored the around the world flight in this A-26 made his money how?? Trivia question of the week. JR

Chris Brame · **Posted:** Thu Jul 23, 2015 10:10 pm

A26 Special K wrote:

napoleon wrote:

It looks like 44-34759 NX67834 Reynolds Bombshell

The man who sponsored the around the world flight in this A-26 made his money how?? Trivia question of the week. JR

This would have been great nose art.
(courtesy gentlemansgazette.com)

george · **Joined:** Wed Dec 15, 2004 10:20 pm **Posts:** 435

JR - Thanks for the status of 44-34555. Sounds like another Invader will be flying the Texas skies in hopefully the not-too-distant future. The more warbirds in Texas, the better.

whistlingdeath77 · **Posted:** Mon Jul 27, 2015 6:53 pm

Bring some a-26s to the northeast!

A26 Special K · **Joined:** Wed Nov 16, 2011 8:27 pm **Posts:** 2559

We are considering an East coast tour with Special Kay once we get her up and flying. We owe some very nice people in New Hampshire a visit so we thought we would work our way down the coast to FL hitting airshows and city tours where possible. Our hangar mate, the CAF A-26 is working on a Sept trip to MD, but nothing definite yet. While there are a lot of "be nice if" moments, the reality is that the beast burns nearly 200 gal of fuel an hour and enough oil to empty a 55 gal drum in no time. That's roughly $1000 per hour for fuel and $60 to 80 an hour for oil. Maintenance reserve comes on top of that. An R-2800 CB series cost about $60,000 to overhaul including freight. It might run 1000 hrs, 100 hrs or 5 hours. No guarantees, you just do it all over again. Oh yes, the props.. they take some reserve also for that 5 yr AD compliance. So if you figure that it costs 1 gal per mile to come see you and somebody sends us gas money, we would be happy to show up!!! :-)

Hopefully, we can get some airshows out that way so the check doesn't have to be that big!! More than likely, OSH 2016 will be our first appearance. JR

whistlingdeath77 · **Posted:** Wed Jul 29, 2015 11:43 am

Just curious about a-26b spirit of n.c 44-35911. Why is the .50 cals in the nose plated over? Obvious reasons come to my mind but I'd like to know the actual reason. And is she painted as the 13th bomb squadron, 3rd bomb group or the 37th bomb squadron, 17th bomb group?

Cubs2jets · **Joined:** Mon Jan 18, 2010 9:12 am **Posts:** 312

During the 80's this B-26 was home based at Opa Locka and owned by Bobby Wood. Does anyone know what happened to it? Thanks!

C2j

T J Johansen · **Posted:** Mon Aug 03, 2015 12:01 pm

This is 44-34555 N550. It is mentioned in an earlier post on this thread.

george wrote:

Two Invaders I find interesting are:

44-34526. Has been sitting out in the dirt at Santa Teresa, New Mexico airport for some time. Easily viewable from google earth. Was known as the Intimate Invader.

44-34555. Was at Las Cruces, New Mexico airport disassembled, eventually sold to someone in Houston. Seems to have dropped off the radar after that.

Anything you can tell me about the operation of this 26 would be appreciated.

T J

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

Info on the ongoing restoration of N26HK (exN550) can be found in this article:
http://www.sanbenitocountytoday.com/lif ... 56e68.html

Lon Moer · **Posted:** Thu Aug 06, 2015 11:50 am

george wrote:

Two Invaders I find interesting are:

44-34526. Has been sitting out in the dirt at Santa Teresa, New Mexico airport for some time. Easily viewable from google earth. Was known as the Intimate Invader.

<>

This one is actually an On Mark Marksman, with the DC-6 cockpit conversion allowing it to be fully pressurized.

4RG.I.'S · **Posted:** Thu Aug 06, 2015 11:56 am

Found an earlier post from here with some pics, she looks sad. It appears the registration is lapsed as well.

http://warbirdinformationexchange.org/p ... t=marksman

T J Johansen · **Posted:** Thu Aug 06, 2015 10:42 pm

Warbirdnerd wrote:

Info on the ongoing restoration of N26HK (exN550) can be found in this article:
http://www.sanbenitocountytoday.com/lif ... 56e68.html

Sounds like they are going to undo the On-Mark mod and restore it back it back to bomber status again...

T J

Rajay · **Posted:** Wed Mar 08, 2017 8:47 am

whistlingdeath77 wrote:

Just curious about a-26b spirit of n.c 44-35911. Why is the .50 cals in the nose plated over? Obvious reasons come to my mind but I'd like to know the actual reason. And is she painted as the 13th bomb squadron, 3rd bomb group or the 37th bomb squadron, 17th bomb group?

Bump!

I too am curious about the current status of The Spirit of NC, A-26 serial no. 44-35911. From what I have seen, its registration still has not been renewed.

Flightaware.com (https://flightaware.com/live/flight/N6840D) shows that it flew from Wilmington to Winston Salem in Sept. 2013 but of course that shows only IFR flight plans. Thing must have been really screaming too because it says the flight lasted only 9 minutes!

I also found another site with a photo of a supposedly "destroyed" R-2800 engine that the caption said came off of this aircraft - and claimed that both engines had been damaged by a faulty circuit breaker. Does that sound probable or even possible to any any B-26 or R-2800 experts?

Warbird Kid · **Posted:** Wed Mar 08, 2017 10:00 am

george wrote:

The more warbirds in Texas, the better.

I'd say compared to the rest of the country, you guys are good. Now, what we need are more warbirds flying in the North East!

Avnut · **Joined:** Sun Oct 23, 2011 12:14 pm **Posts:** 93

The MAPS Facebook page dated 2/19/17 has a picture of one of the wings from 43-22602 in the restoration hanger.

https://www.facebook.com/mapsairmuseum/ ... =3&theater

The MAPS website also has a history of 43-22602.

https://sites.google.com/a/mapsairmuseum.org/a-26/

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