- 2 days ago
For educational purposes
The Invader first saw action as a bomber against the Japanese in 1943 but continued to serve in a variety of roles right up until 1969, including bombing in Korea and in secret missions for the CIA.
The Invader first saw action as a bomber against the Japanese in 1943 but continued to serve in a variety of roles right up until 1969, including bombing in Korea and in secret missions for the CIA.
Category
📚
LearningTranscript
00:05Advances in aviation history give way to legendary aircraft that become the most powerful and
00:11innovative weapons of our time.
00:16Each airframe is unique with limitless capabilities, but one thing remains the same.
00:25Underneath the surface, they are all simply great planes.
00:40In September 1944, Allied forces in Europe start flying a light, fast new bomber, the
00:46twin-engine A26, armed with two tons of bombs.
00:49The manufacturer, Douglas, christens it the Invader.
00:53I'm Paul Max Moga, and we're here at the Fighter Factory in Suffolk, Virginia.
00:58Join me as we tell the lifelong story of the A26 Invader.
01:1625 years after the war, Invaders still see combat with their final missions in Vietnam in November 1969.
01:23No other American combat aircraft matches this longevity.
01:28As late as 1961, Invaders fly in the air forces of 21 nations.
01:38Don Anklin, Chief Mechanic and Test Pilot for the Fighter Factory, is very knowledgeable about the A26.
01:46How about this particular A26 that we have behind us?
01:49Just give me the lowdown about where you guys got it from, how long you've had it.
01:53Well, we heard about this back in the late 90s, that it was down in Texas and just sitting there
01:58rotting.
01:58And so we tracked the owner down, who happened to be in Oklahoma, and it had a little ground-loop
02:05accident.
02:06One of the landing gear folded up on it, and it had been sitting in this dirt strip down there
02:10in Texas for a long time.
02:12The guy flew it over there to try to fix it for the owner, and they got in a little
02:16dispute.
02:16So it sat there and sat there, and it had been there for almost nine years.
02:20And we finally acquired it, and went down there.
02:23We're thinking a little bit ahead of ourselves to fly it out of there.
02:27And we decided we'd put it on a truck.
02:30So we put it on a truck.
02:32Cooler heads prevailed.
02:33Yeah.
02:33So we put it on a truck and took it apart, put it on a truck, and brought it up
02:37here.
02:37How long do you think it'll be until she gets back up?
02:40Well, we can get a couple of mechanics to work on it.
02:42We're probably six months from flying.
02:45Douglas Aircraft Company designed and built the A-26 as an attack-type aircraft, but with the features of an
02:52American light bomber.
02:57When the Air Force abandons the classification of attack aircraft, the A-26 temporarily becomes the B-26.
03:10During the Bay of Pigs, Castro's forces and the CIA-backed exiles both fly them.
03:20The French use them in Dien Bien Phu and Algeria.
03:25They operate in the Congo, in Biafra, in Korea, and in more wars than any other aircraft type.
03:34When the original aircraft begin to show signs of wear and tear, the United States Air Force completely rebuilds 41
03:42of their airframes.
03:46The A-26 makes its mark in the record books for close ground support and counterinsurgency air operations.
03:58The history of aerial bombing begins when unarmed World War I scout planes start carrying guns and grenades.
04:08Aerial bombs follow months later.
04:12In the meantime, aircraft design divides into specialized fighters and bombers.
04:21Early bombing runs are hit or miss.
04:24Designers struggle with how to drop the bomb out of the cockpit without hitting the plane.
04:33By war's end, enthusiastic air combat planners on both sides see a future dominated by air power and plan to
04:41build large, long-range bombers.
04:46Army planners have a different view.
04:50The traditional method of occupying territory, backed by ground attack support aircraft.
04:59To an extent, both camps have it right.
05:04Towards the end of the Second World War, aircraft get more specialized.
05:13Bombers, large and small, serve either tactical or strategic roles.
05:20Fighters, attack planes, and light bombers divvy up the ground attack work.
05:28This division of labor eventually makes attack planes irrelevant, and the Air Force drops the designation.
05:42In terms of size and capability, the A-26 most closely resembles the light bombers, the North American B-25,
05:51and the Martin B-26 Marauder.
05:56The B-25 Mitchell, the earliest and most conservative of the three, flies slower and carries the lightest bomb load.
06:11But pilots love the way it handles.
06:19Both the B-25 and the B-26 Marauder are pre-war designs, based on theories of what war would
06:26be like, rather than on actual combat.
06:31The Marauder reflects Martin aircraft's concept of light and fast bombers.
06:37With a plane that could top 300 miles an hour and evade enemies, Martin hopes the Marauder won't need an
06:43escort.
06:46But actual combat demands planes with more equipment, which means heavier weight and slower speeds.
06:55The Mitchells and the Marauders overshadow similar attack planes.
07:02The Douglas Company's A-20 Havoc, designed by Jack Northrup and first bought by the French, performs reasonably well in
07:10both Europe and the Pacific.
07:19Douglas turns out several thousand for most of the Allied Air Forces.
07:26The A-20, faster than both the B-25 and the B-26, has a shorter range and carries a
07:33smaller payload.
07:37But the British, who called the A-20 the Boston, prefer it, flying raids over Europe, as did the free
07:43French forces.
07:49Despite its small payload, the attack bomber's low-level accuracy makes it the plane of choice over the random carpet
07:56bombing of the high strategic flyers.
08:02In the lead-up to D-Day, low-level A-20s skim across the channel towards their targets.
08:09First flown in 1938, the Havoc reflects pre-war theory about air warfare.
08:15It bristles with six defensive machine guns and a small bomb load for a relatively limited range.
08:20But it's also the first American combat airplane with a tricycle landing gear.
08:32Along the way, the A-20's adaptable design gets extensively reworked into a series of very useful aircraft.
08:46In the early 1940s, the Douglas engineers, led by Edward Heinemann, designed a replacement for the Havoc, not based on
08:54the current plane.
08:57Instead, they draw from pre-war theory and real combat experience to formulate their design.
09:06The resulting A-26 immediately renders all other Allied light bombers obsolete, changing the course of aviation history.
09:28The letter immediately to the left of the dash and number designation indicates the basic mission purpose of that aircraft.
09:35A-26 stands for ground attack.
09:38B-26 stands for bomber.
09:42Douglas' new dual-designed A-26 Invader changes the course of aviation history in 1941.
09:51Even with a 3,000-pound bomb load, Douglas' new attack plane zooms over 350 miles per hour, beating the
09:59Mitchells and the Marauders by more than 70 miles per hour.
10:07The Invader is one of the very few designs begun, approved, produced and flown during the war.
10:18Only peace held it back.
10:23At war's end, only 2,453 Invaders have rolled off the assembly line, compared to over 10,000 Mitchells.
10:34The design team builds three prototypes on one airframe, differing mainly in the nose.
10:42The night fighter A-26A doesn't make the cut.
10:47The A-26B has a solid nose with six machine guns in it, while the A-26C has a class
10:55nose for a bombardier.
10:59The first flight takes place on the 10th of July, 1942.
11:03The plane gets accepted with very few modifications.
11:08Even with a few bugs, the Invaders rush into combat.
11:13The crews appreciate their maneuverability and speed.
11:18Although the position of the engines provides less visibility than the A-20, it's acceptable.
11:27The new bomber first sees action with the 5th Air Force in the South Pacific Theater on June 23, 1944.
11:37The 416th Bomb Group is the first to fully convert to the A-26 in Europe, seeing combat on November
11:4317.
11:49Braving lousy weather over Europe that day, the group is the only 9th Air Force unit to complete its mission.
12:02In the European theater, invaders fly more than 11,000 sorties in the remaining six months of the war.
12:10Along with other attack and tactical bombing aircraft, they support the invading armies and help liberate the continent.
12:19Bombing behind the enemy lines cripples the German combat unit's ability to organize and concentrate.
12:27Tanks, which should rush to the battlefield, have to detour around smashed bridges under constant aerial harassment.
12:37Not only do the Allies inflict heavy losses, but German troops arrive in combat already exhausted,
12:44and with no guarantee they'd receive enough fuel and ammunition to keep fighting.
12:52The destruction to their supply lines cripples their effectiveness.
12:59By February 1945, over 9,000 aircraft attacked the German transport system.
13:08Meanwhile, their strategic bombing forces pound the German fuel and aviation industries.
13:16The concentrated attack on German infrastructure brings results.
13:27The invaders' defensive armament consists of two remote-controlled twin-gun turrets, one above and one below the fuselage.
13:38Kind of run me through the gamut of what the A-26 had.
13:41Well, for defense, it had turrets in the back.
13:43And they were, we had one operator, and he kind of looked through a periscope that could direct it.
13:50A periscope type of gun sight.
13:52And he sat back there in a little seat and moved the thing all around, and he could look up
13:56or down and see where everything was and fire both guns at the same time.
13:59Or he could fire just the upper or the lower.
14:02Oh, so they got two up top and two on the bottom?
14:04Yeah, and he's got a turret on top, and there's no glass around it.
14:07And it's kind of a, they took that technology and put it in the B-29.
14:12So it's a gun sight type of a periscope type, and they stole it from the submarine, basically.
14:17And could those things, were they only, you know, backwards firing, or could they swivel 360?
14:22360 degrees, all the way around.
14:25Is that right back there, that's where the turret went?
14:28Yeah, there's a turret that goes back.
14:30Just as the fuselage goes curved up, there's another turret that goes there.
14:34Uh-huh.
14:34And it's identical to the one that's on top.
14:37The planes can also carry several machine guns and packs under the wings.
14:42With four of the twin gun packs, the invader can strafe with 18 blasting guns.
14:50For ground strafing, the airplane was a very, very good ground strafing airplane.
14:56You could take those two guns, spin them completely around, and the pilot could fire them, along with the eight
15:01guns that he has in his nose.
15:03Our version has eight guns.
15:05There's also some that had six guns.
15:06Yeah.
15:07So that's an awful lot of .50 cals.
15:09And if that wasn't enough, they designed gun pods to go underneath the wings, and you could have two guns
15:14in each pod, and you could have four pods.
15:17Two and four.
15:18So that's like almost 20 .50 cals just unleashing holy terror on somebody on the ground.
15:24Yeah, it could do a pretty good job on a tank or, you know, any kind of ground support.
15:31The crews discover that after releasing their ordnance, the bombers actually fly like fighters.
15:38At some altitudes, the A-26 would actually turn inside a Messerschmitt ME-109.
15:46The Invader is actually faster than the ME-109E, and only a few miles per hour slower than the F
15:53and G models.
15:57By the time the A-26s enter the conflict, the German air effort is in decline.
16:06Pilot training delays the Invader's entry into combat.
16:12The plane itself suffers from weak and collapsing nose gear, a difficult cockpit hatch, and a complicated cockpit layout.
16:23All problems that will have to be resolved while the aircraft is still in active combat.
16:36The average unit cost of an A-26 Invader in 1944 was $192,457.
16:47While the A-26 proves a worthy opponent against the German Messerschmitt ME-109s,
16:52the airframe design suffers from personnel training issues, a weakened collapsing nose gear, and a complicated cockpit layout.
17:03These faults get fixed as quickly as possible for combat deployment.
17:14Though fuel shortages and the destruction of their aircraft production facilities hamstring the German air effort,
17:20their anti-aircraft barrages continue.
17:25During their short European deployment, 67 A-26s are lost, but they chalk up seven confirmed air-to-air kills.
17:41Missions against heavily defended targets account for most of the Invader's combat losses.
17:51Pratt & Whitney 2,000 horsepower R-2800 engines power the first Invaders.
18:10Later, water injection provides an even bigger boost, pushing the top speed of the aircraft from 355 miles per hour
18:19to 373.
18:22About half of the Invaders had this upgraded power plant.
18:31So, how many horsepower did each engine have?
18:34Well, they started out with 2,000 horse.
18:36And then they later on could water inject them and he got them up to 2,200.
18:41And then later on in life, they put a little alcohol in them and a different water injection pump.
18:46And then 2,400.
18:47Keep it around for more horsepower.
18:48Yeah, 2,400.
18:49So, that's what they were pulling out of them.
18:51How much would one of these weigh if it was kind of a typical combat configuration?
18:58You know, got fuel, got bombs?
19:01Yeah, somewhere around between 26,000 and 32,000, somewhere in the neck of the woods.
19:05Yeah.
19:06And they could still turn inside of a Messerschmitt from what I hear.
19:10Yeah.
19:11It's an impressive, it's an impressive feat for a bomber.
19:14Yeah.
19:16Their experience in Europe serves them well during the post-war Air Force inventory.
19:24Statistical analysis of US light bombers in Europe seems to prove the A-26's superiority.
19:32But then again, the A-26 flew only as German fighter defenses crumbled.
19:40So fewer A-26 losses per 1,000 sorties might be skewed.
19:45But indisputably, invaders dropped more tonnage per mission than the A-20, the B-25 and the B-26.
19:57In size, the A-26 fits right between the Mitchell and Marauder light bombers.
20:02With a wingspan of 70 feet, a length of 50 feet, and an empty weight of around 22,000 pounds.
20:12The invader can carry a 4,000 pound bomb load up to 1,400 miles, and has a maximum takeoff
20:19weight of 37,000 pounds.
20:24So this thing could actually throw in a fairly decent bomb load, and then on the way home, do some
20:29good work on the ground, because the thing could haul the mail.
20:33They could do some real damage.
20:35Yeah.
20:35And the airplane is fast.
20:36I mean, it could keep up with a P-51 Mustang doing that.
20:40I've actually seen that.
20:41I've seen it.
20:41Two shipping of these things just tearing it up in the sky.
20:44Yeah.
20:44They're big, but man, they can move.
20:46They are.
20:46They're real agile, and it's a real pleasure to fly the airplane.
20:50It really is.
20:50How about, real quick, what about the air-to-ground hornets?
20:54What about the bomb load?
20:55The bomb load, you know, had two great big long Bombay doors, and you could put as, man, from recollection,
21:01I'm going, I'm a firefighter in one of these things, so we used to put 1,200 to 1,300
21:06gallons of Borat in them.
21:07So they could haul somewhere around 2,500 pounds of bombs in different variances of degrees, and they could be
21:14salvoed all at once, or a few here and a few there.
21:17This airplane was one of the first bombers that they set up for rockets.
21:24A few have radar and a black paint job for night bombing.
21:29The French re-equip some as night fighters, but in the European theater, A-26s serve as light attack bombers.
21:38In the Pacific, ground troops depend on the close support of their powerful gunnery, though they also use them as
21:45heavily armored bombing platforms.
21:54At war's end, the Air Force cancels almost all production contracts, including orders for another 5,254 invaders.
22:05But after assessing future needs, the Air Force decides to make the A-26 their standard light attack bomber.
22:16The plane's wing design, given a new low-drag laminar flow airfoil, contributes to its success.
22:26Cord-wise stiffeners strengthen the wings so they can carry an abundance of stores that round off the invader's operational
22:33force.
22:36Its square shape makes it almost unique, but unlike the cylindrical monocoque form, the invader's structure relies on material rather
22:45than shape.
22:48It's pretty much the same design as a North American Mustang, 851 Mustang.
22:52And we all know the good work that thing did.
22:54You know, it sounds like this plane was built for a fairly specific purpose, being a dual-role, fast, maneuverable
23:01light-to-slash-medium bomber.
23:03And what ended up happening was it just became great at so many different things.
23:07Sure.
23:07After the war, efforts are made to turn the A-26 into a three-engine aircraft by installing a jet
23:14engine in the fuselage.
23:18I heard a rumor once that they tried to turn the A-26 into a three-engine plane with a
23:26jet in addition to the two props.
23:29Have you ever?
23:30I've seen some pictures of it in a book.
23:33I mean, somebody said they put like a J-47 in the tail of this thing and tried to see
23:37if they could get it off the ground quicker, but I don't know.
23:40Begs the question, why?
23:41Yeah, I haven't figured that out.
23:42In June of 1946, a prototype reaches 413 miles an hour.
23:50The prototype is the only invader sample built after V-J day.
23:57The Air Force keeps the invaders as a stopgap measure until they develop jet-powered bombers.
24:05But then the Korean conflict begins.
24:09Despite the proximity of major jet-capable airfields in Japan, the war in Korea is essentially one of short distances
24:16and intense battlefields.
24:23That suits the invaders just fine, which could operate from rough strips or fly from Japan with fuel to spare.
24:32They assert air strength against the overpowering communist ground forces.
24:39So they wanted the invader to be a fast, maneuverable, multi-role, light-to-medium bomber.
24:47Let's talk about the fast portion.
24:49What kind of air speeds did the invaders typically operate at?
24:53Well, they were always over 200 knots, and somewhere between 200 and 250 knots that was their...
24:59How about when you just got the throttles firewalled?
25:03She'd go up in the mid-300s.
25:04That's pretty fast for a big plane.
25:07Yeah, and it'll move.
25:10I mean, the airplane will get up and go.
25:13As bridges go down and the UN forces pull out, the A-26s contain the attackers with bomb runs and
25:20machine gun fire.
25:25By now, they're called the B-26, filling the role of the marauders they replace.
25:32The Air Force had discontinued the attack classification and wanted to change the name as little as possible.
25:43It's still considered a plane whose days are numbered, but right now, the invader fills a niche no other plane
25:50can fill.
25:53In Korea, they prove it over and over.
25:58Don, tell me a little bit about the A-26's role in Korea and Vietnam.
26:04Was it similar to what it served in World War II?
26:08In the Korean War, it was used more as a short-range bomber for small, specific things that they could
26:17get into and get out of because it was so maneuverable for ground support.
26:21Even so, Korea is the last major campaign where they operate as medium bombers.
26:30Invaders carry out the last U.S. Air Force bombing mission of the conflict, 24 minutes before the ceasefire is
26:37signed on June 27, 1953.
26:45Korea changes world politics and warfare.
26:48China and the Soviet Union no longer act directly in combat, preferring to support other regimes indirectly with arms and
26:56cash.
27:04The Cold War is now played out across numerous localized battlefields.
27:13Once again, a new role for the A-26 is about to emerge.
27:19After Korea, the A-26 finds a new operational home fighting revolutionary forces in the Third World.
27:30In the near vacuum of outside support, revolutionary groups, particularly in South America, wage wars of attrition.
27:42The A-26, with its low-level speed and powerful, accurate armament, is recognized as an ideal counterinsurgency tool.
27:57Many of the revolutionaries in these campaigns are not communists, but nationalists, poorly equipped and desperate for outside help.
28:16While conventional military equipment proves useless against guerrilla warfare, the invaders provide an advantage.
28:27Their long range and slow speed capability allows for close observation.
28:41Their armor is impervious to all but the luckiest riflemen.
28:48A single invader can identify small-scale guerrilla activity and easily take it out.
28:58Without any modifications, the A-26 has the offensive power, speed and range for the job.
29:13Yeah.
29:14They would come right down the train track and just start at the very back of the engine and just
29:17rake it.
29:18And you know, from what I recall, that's normally a mission that was reserved for the fighters.
29:22Because you can't take a big, fat, slow bomber and strafe a train.
29:27Well, you can try it once, but then you ain't gonna be coming home.
29:32The B-26 invader next sees action on November 4th, 1950, in the First Indochina War.
29:40Alarmed by the spread of communism, the U.S. lends 120 of its precious invaders to the French and Indochina.
29:54The B-26 invaders go on to support the legionnaires throughout the doomed occupation of Dien Bien Phu, which falls
30:00in 1954.
30:10Perhaps most importantly, the French used the invaders to defeat the Viet Minh forces at Vinh Yen.
30:20With his front-line formation shattered by bombing and napalm raids, the North Vietnamese general, Bo Nguyen Giap, avoids any
30:30future set-piece battlefield.
30:39The United States and the Douglas invader continue in Vietnam long after the exasperated and defeated French depart.
30:52And it was so effective in that particular conflict that they brought it back for the Vietnam War.
30:57Because they really didn't have anything, except for the little Tweety Birds, you know, that they were trying to get
31:03up and running the A-37s.
31:06So talk about indecision, you know, they'd use it, they would do a great job, they'd put it in mothballs
31:11and then kind of get close to permanently decommissioned.
31:13And then they say, oh, wait a minute, we got something that we need to plan for, and guess what,
31:18the invader would be perfect for it.
31:20So then they bring it back.
31:21Exactly, yeah, you know, and they say, oh, we need this and that.
31:25And, you know, it's kind of got the similar type of a role as the old Sky Raider.
31:28Back in 1951, the Vietnamese have no Air Force, so the French created one.
31:35But when the French retreat, so go the best pilots and aircraft.
31:41They leave the Vietnamese Air Force with 28 nearly unserviceable Grumman Bearcats and an assortment of non-combat planes.
31:56On the 12th of February, 1955, the United States takes over the Vietnamese Air Force and its training.
32:07When armed conflict resumes in 1959, the United States helps the Vietnamese Air Force.
32:20America transfers its counterinsurgency units to South Vietnam in 1961.
32:30Because the U.S. isn't officially involved in the war, these aircraft fly with Vietnamese Air Force markings,
32:38officially there for training local air crews.
32:42By having at least one Vietnamese personnel on each plane, the U.S. artificially maintains its embargo on American combat
32:51involvement.
32:54In theory, only a Vietnamese observer could authorize and direct an attack.
33:01In truth, even by December 1961, several attack missions have been flown with no observer in sight.
33:12The B-26 aircraft begins to fall apart under the strain.
33:17In August 1963 and February 1964, wings fall off invaders in combat and training.
33:28The rest are grounded.
33:33Is this the last hurrah for the A-26?
33:46A-26 invaders were used as water bombers, carrying chemical retardants to battle forests and wildfires.
33:5920 years of combat flying have taken their toll on the A-26 airframes.
34:08In 1964, the Onmark Engineering Company rebuilds the airframes into virtually new planes called the B-26K.
34:23They're still invaders, but with extensive modifications, including the loss of the fuselage turrets.
34:32When Onmark did a mod to them, they called it a ring spar, but they still had issues with the
34:37spar.
34:38And it was basically because the airplane was so easy and maneuverable, they would out-maneuver the G envelope on
34:44the airplane and have some problems.
34:46I mean, unless you've got a limiter, which none of these planes did.
34:50If you're in the cockpit and you're the pilot and you've got to turn, guess what?
34:53You're going to pull back until you're turning the way you want to turn.
34:55And I want to make it happen.
34:56But she did it, though.
34:57Yeah, and she did.
34:58And it always pretty much responded like you wanted it to.
35:01Yeah.
35:01And, you know, I've heard guys that talk about the things, you know, they could hear the spar snap because
35:07it's right behind them.
35:08And then they fly the airplane home.
35:14Onmark reinforces the wings.
35:17They enlarge the tail and replace the engines.
35:39The K has eight underwing hard points and can carry a powerful assortment of weaponry.
35:56Onmark produces 40 of these highly modified invaders.
36:04Now, only a diplomatic glitch prevents the deployment of the B-26K.
36:11The Thai government refuses to have bombers stationed at its airfields for use against its neighbors.
36:18To accommodate their hosts, the U.S. Air Force redesignates the B-26K, the A-26A.
36:31An attack plane is not a bomber.
36:34Or so the story goes.
36:39The planes that land in Hawaii en route to the Indochinese jungles are once again A-26As.
36:50Whatever their designation, they're Douglas Invaders.
37:00Ex-Navy Sky Raiders temporarily take over operations until the rebuilt A-26As rejoin combat in June of 1966.
37:17Operating from the Nakh Khan Phanam Air Force Base in Thailand, the invaders fly trail interdiction missions against the Vietnamese
37:24guerrilla supply lines.
37:29By day and night, planes flush out targets among the maze of jungle tracks.
37:38The 606th and 609th air commando squadrons fly these planes.
37:45Even the excellent B-57s, which had replaced them as light bombers, lack the invaders' ability to loiter at low
37:52speed, waiting for a target.
37:58Operating over Laos, Cambodia, and both parts of Vietnam, the invaders hit everything from troops to supply areas.
38:15They specialize in truck busting on the Ho Chi Minh Trail.
38:23Under the callsign Nimrod, they dodge through the mountainous terrain to attack North Vietnamese road traffic.
38:32They are very effective, as they had been in Germany and Korea.
38:39The B-26Ks make full use of their upgraded engines and extended fuel storage, including permanently fixed wingtip tanks.
38:51These rebuilt planes can deliver over 6,000 pounds of napalm, high-explosive bombs, and fragmented clusters.
39:00The machine guns carry 1,600 rounds apiece.
39:06The invaders' counterinsurgency methods become a model for future anti-guerrilla air warfare, especially by night.
39:17You know, the convoys in Korea moved at night.
39:23They carried that same thing on into the Vietnam War, so these guys would go out at night with their
39:28bellies painted black, and they'd hear them up there, but wait for somebody to light a cigarette, and down they
39:35came.
39:36In those days, if you can't see, you can't shoot it.
39:38That's right.
39:38That's why everybody did it at night.
39:41There's a part of this war that's known to only a few.
39:45I'm talking about the night interdiction war.
39:48This war is being fought at night in some of the rugged mountainous terrain any place in the world.
39:55The terrain, and the weather, and the night create an environment that is special, and requires a special type of
40:05aircraft and a crew to be able to function in that environment.
40:19A-26s flown by CIA mercenary pilots are used against Simba rebels in the Congo in 1965.
40:30They are flown by the Portuguese Air Force in Portuguese Angola the same year.
40:40And they see combat in the Nigerian Civil War during 1967.
40:49The candlestick mission is merely the lighting of a target for strike aircraft.
40:54Although it is usually true that the strike aircraft carry their own flares, it's very difficult for the pilot to
41:00compute wind, locate the target, and also keep his eye on the surrounding terrain.
41:05This is the purpose for the candle, which is the mission of the C-123 section.
41:10There are probably three basic reasons why the A-26 is used for night missions against enemy supply vehicles.
41:16The third reason is that aircraft can carry a pretty respectful load of ordnance.
41:20The second reason is that the A-26 can remain in the target area for an effective period of time,
41:25which is something that jets don't generally do as a rule.
41:28The third reason is that this old bird is real rugged and can take an awful lot of damage and
41:34still make it back home safely.
41:36Invaders continue operations in Vietnam until late 1969.
41:44By then, spare parts grow scarce and attrition reduces their numbers.
41:51The squadron stands down, and the remaining planes go back to the United States.
41:58Considered not even worth mothballing, they get stripped and scrapped.
42:10You know, from what it sounds, the total package that this plane was, we could have used 50,000 of
42:15them for crying out loud.
42:16But there weren't really that many built compared to the other more popular, well-known bombers, you know, the B
42:22-24s, B-25s.
42:24But compared to the capabilities that this plane brought to three wars, it seemingly had a relatively low number built.
42:32I mean, it sounds like we could have used a whole lot more from them than we ended up getting.
42:39Rumors about the Air Commandos' Invader missions still circulate.
42:42Perhaps someday, the files will be open and the old stores will be substantiated.
42:47Until then, the final days of the A-26 remain the stuff of speculation.
42:52All that remains of the A-26 is its legacy of service, the innovative techniques it perfected, and the affection
42:59of its crews.
43:04Douglas built relatively few invaders.
43:07The planes were not widely recognized, but they worked until the wings fell off.
43:12Several times they were almost permanently decommissioned, but each time they were recalled because nothing else could do their job.
43:20Even at the close of their career, it wasn't that the A-26 grew obsolete, it's just that there were
43:25none left to fly.
43:27Very few military aircraft have worked so hard and served so long.
43:32The Douglas Invader deserves its reputation.
43:42The Daily Task Force?
43:42me
Comments