Douglas A-26 (B-26) Invader

[Jeffry Fontaine]

@Story - That image is from the Korean war, not the Vietnam war. 

[finsrin]

Hunch is aircraft showing between rudders is C-46.  Though might be C-47.

[GTX_Admin]

Random idea:

Indian Air Force A-26 in similar scheme to IAF B-24:

[elmayerle]

Interesting real-life whif, France apparaently put the radar from some Meteor night fighters in the nose of an Invader to go after slow flying smugglers in Algeria.

[GTX_Admin]

Interesting real-life whif, France apparaently put the radar from some Meteor night fighters in the nose of an Invader to go after slow flying smugglers in Algeria.

Indeed - see here: France Turned the B-26 Invader Into a Colonial Night Fighter 

[GTX_Admin]

[riggerrob]

How would either RR Darts or even T56 turbo props go for the A-26T?  Both would be theoretically available in the timeframe.  Besides, both are available in 1/48 scale.

Alternatively, does anyone do a S-2T Turbo Tracker conversion?  Maybe use the engines from this and then simply say that the engines are some undefined turboprop with enough power...



...or simply scratch build something...

The short answer is that On Mark did consider a turbo-prop conversion of USAF B-26 during the 1960s. They found corrosion problems which forced them to abandon the project.

We can learn a variety of things from Conair's Turbocat conversion program. When they started converting RCN surplus Grumman Trackers to fight forest fires, they removed thousands of pounds of naval-specific equipment, this combined with lighter weight turboprops considerably increased the amount of water and fire-retardant carried. Conair engineers started by removing the MAD boom and tail hook. Then they removed radar from under the rear fuselage along with hundreds of pounds of obsolete electronic gear. They installed P&WC PT6A engines capable of producing more than 1,000 horsepower per side and installed their propellers in exactly the same location as the original radial engines. Since the plane were still a bit heavy, Conair extended the nose cone by a foot or so. We suspect that they installed some lead ballast to fine tune balance.

As an aside, one of my greatest flying thrills was looking down on a Conair Convair tanker drop red fire-retardant on a budding forest fire above Westwood Plateau gold course. They killed the fire with one drop! The fire was visible from the Vancouver Harbour air traffic control tower and on the edge of their low altitude block of air space. The mountain top fire may have only been a handful of miles from an asphalt road, but lack of roads and steep terrain would have have required a ground crew most of a day to reach.

[The Big Gimper]

See attached photo of the Italeri A-26 firewall and a long RR Dart in resin.  A very nice fit.

[GTX_Admin]

Another view of the XA-26F:

[GTX_Admin]

Some real world A-26s with turboprops here:  https://napoleon130.tripod.com/id617.html

[GTX_Admin]

What about a ASW variant:

[GTX_Admin]

Random idea:  Dutch East Indies Air Force A-26 in scheme similar to below or at least with those classic ‘roundels’

[The Big Gimper]

Smith Tempo II, a stretched, pressurized Douglas B-26. One built.



Sources:

https://napoleon130.tripod.com/id770.html
https://napoleon130.tripod.com/id114.html

[apophenia]

Smith Tempo II, a stretched, pressurized Douglas B-26. One built.

Nice shot!  A bit of background on L.B. Smith and their Invader conversions:

-- https://napoleon130.tripod.com/id770.html

[finsrin]

Classy way to travel.  Thinking Seattle to Las Vegas.

[M.A.D]

I've always like the idea of the USAAF utilising it's new and advanced A-26 as the basis of it's first jet-powered attack bomber, by replacing its piston engines with two of the new and promising Nene turbojet. In a sense, such a straight forward swapping of engine types giving the USAAF a design not to unlike the IL-28 Beagle of sorts...

MAD