Douglas A-26 Invader
The Douglas A-26 Invader is a twin-engine attack bomber built by the Douglas Aircraft Company — not the Martin B-26 Marauder, a different bomber whose retirement freed the B-26 designation that the Air Force gave the Invader in 1948, confusing the two types ever since. First flown on 10 July 1942 and in service from 1944, the Invader was, in Smithsonian Magazine's words, the fastest U.S. bomber of World War II, and it went on to fight in Korea and Vietnam, the last as the On Mark-rebuilt B-26K, renamed A-26A in 1966. Douglas built 2,503; surplus aircraft became executive transports and fire bombers, and examples still fly.
Why It Mattered
The Douglas A-26 Invader is the attack bomber renamed B-26 in 1948, once the unrelated Martin B-26 Marauder had been retired — a borrowed designation that has confused the two types ever since. Designed at Douglas under Ed Heinemann as a fast light bomber and ground-attack aircraft, it entered service in 1944. Smithsonian Magazine calls it the fastest U.S. bomber of the war. It later flew in Korea and Vietnam, becoming one of the few U.S. bombers to fight in three wars. Its career ran from the last year of World War II to 1969 in Southeast Asia, and its airframes worked on for decades as executive transports and fire bombers.
Design Notes
Douglas test pilot Benny Howard took the prototype XA-26 up for the first time on 10 July 1942, from Mines Field in El Segundo. Its wing used the innovative NACA 65-215 laminar-flow airfoil, the work of project aerodynamics expert A. M. O. Smith. Two Pratt & Whitney R-2800 Double Wasp radial engines, each rated at 2,000 horsepower, gave the A-26B a top speed of 359 mph. Production aircraft came in two forms: a solid "gun nose" mounting six or eight forward-firing .50-caliber machine guns, and a "glass nose" version with a bombardier's position. Its internal bomb bay carried 4,000 pounds of ordnance, and some variations mounted as many as 22 .50-caliber machine guns in total.
Operational History
The Invader entered service in 1944 and fought in Europe and the Pacific during the last year of World War II; the CAF's Lady Liberty, built in August 1944, served with the 9th Air Force in Europe. In 1948 the Air Force redesignated it B-26, reusing the designation of the retired Martin Marauder. When the Korean War began, B-26s of the 3rd Bombardment Group were among the first USAF aircraft engaged, and on 29 June 1950 they flew the first USAF bombing mission against North Korea. Through that war the type flew bombing and ground-attack missions, much of it aimed at disrupting North Korean supply lines. The CIA also used the type for covert operations, and B-26s flew in South Vietnam under Project Farm Gate. Those aircraft were withdrawn in February 1964 after two accidents traced to wing-spar fatigue. On Mark Engineering answered by rebuilding 40 Invaders to the B-26K Counter Invader standard, with remanufactured wings and wingtip fuel tanks. In May 1966 the B-26K was redesignated A-26A for political reasons, and the type flew ground-attack missions along the Ho Chi Minh Trail from Thailand. Frank Nelson flew 185 missions as a navigator with the 609th Air Commando Squadron in Vietnam.
Afterlife
Douglas built 2,503 Invaders in all — 1,355 solid-nose A-26Bs and 1,091 glass-nose A-26Cs among them. The last A-26 in active U.S. service, an Air National Guard aircraft, was retired in 1972 and donated to the National Air and Space Museum. Many surplus airframes became high-performance executive transports; On Mark's conversions ran from the Executive of 1956 and the Marketeer of 1957 to the pressurized Marksman of 1961. From the mid-1950s other Invaders worked as air tankers against forest fires; that use on USDA contracts ended in major regions by about 1973, and many of the tankers found buyers in Canada. A number of Invaders remain airworthy today, and others stand in museums. The CAF's flagship Lady Liberty flew at airshows for more than a decade, but after a November 2025 accident at Ponca City Regional Airport the CAF determined she would not return to flight, and approved her transfer to the Tulsa Air and Space Museum for display.