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Dan's 120" B-26 Douglas Invader
 The Douglas A-26/B-26 bomber was the only American bomber to fly missions in three wars. After World War II, it served as a first-line bomber during the Korean War and during the Vietnam War. Douglas started the A-26 in 1941 to follow the A-20/DB-7 Havoc bomber. Douglas built 2,503 A-26/B-26 Invaders. During production a number of modifications were progressively introduced so that by 1948, the A-26 was one of the few wartime aircraft types still in service with the post-war U.S. Air Force. When the famous Martin B-26 Marauder retired and the Air Force deleted the designation "A" (for attack category), the Douglas Invader took on the B-26 designation. Invader versions included the A-26D and A-26E light bombers, GA-26C ground training aircraft, and the KA-26A tanker. Some A/B-26s were equipped for photo reconnaissance, and during the 1960s, some surplus B-26s were used in the target-towing role. The last U.S. military Invader was retired in 1972 and donated to the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum.
To HSRCC - I started this build thread on RCScaleBuilder.com and will be transferring the postings (and adding additional info) to this page as time allows. March 16, 2005 As the title tells, I am building the 120" WS Douglas B-26 from Don Smith plans. The plans are for the A-26, but I intend to cut off the nose and make a glass one. Why this plan? Well, I am going to model it after the plane that my father flew in Korea. I have some old yellowing pictures of him but none were taken with the plane he flew. Dad's the little guy on the left, in the first picture, taken in front of "Moon Shine".  I purchased some books on the A-26 for scale references and was showing them to my mother (Dad passed away in 1999). She was looking through one and said "This is your father's plane!" The photo in the book was the same as the one on this site: 731ST BOMB SQUADRON  She also gave me some slides that I had forgotten about, one of which shows the same plane but with his name on the side. I scanned the slide (surprised it came out, though not too good) and found the following: 
Pilot 1/LT. R. J. Etcheto - my father Nav 1/LT. D. E. Wood Radar Obs 1/LT. W. A. Gifford Crew Chief S/SGT. C. A. Leighton Aircraft serial number 44-34322 A-26B-50-DL Invader c/n 27601 Dad flew over 50 missions while in Korea and put in 22 years in the Air Force Reserves. I just wish he was here to see this. Kinda miss the ol' man. I can find nothing else on the internet about this plane, but am still looking. A few weeks after my father returned from Korea, he saw this accident in the paper. Flight Line Accident "About noon December 16, 1952, there was a terrible accident on the 8th Bomb Squadron flight line. An 8th armament crew somehow dropped a 500 LB M1A2 frag cluster bomb and one of the frags detonated. This cut the armorer's legs off, although he survived. The aircraft was being loaded with 500 LB GPs, which were on the ground under the wing when the aircraft caught fire. These 500 LB GPs blew up. This caused significant damage to several adjacent 8th aircraft, and some to the 13th aircraft. M1A2 (20#) were flying through the air, lodging under the landing gear on the aircraft and damaging engine nacelles, etc. Since the 13th aircraft were parked next to the 8th squadron, our line chief had our aircraft towed or taxied out of the area to a distant location. The crew chiefs showed real bravery in as much as the fire from the aircraft burning and exploding ammunition presented periods of great hazard. I know it was very hairy because I started taxiing one of the aircraft. We were all very lucky. The fire could have gotten into the flight line Bomb Dump, which was within 50 or 60 yards of the fire and explosions. There were several Soldiers' Medals given out from events this day." -- Vincent La Berge Col. USAF, Ret. It is quite possible that the plane was destroyed. Anyone know about these people? Would they be able to help track the plane down? Air Force Historical Research Agency Anyway, this is the first time I have ever built a plane, so I have made plenty of mistakes. I now know that this plan is, how should we say,.... difficult......, for a newbie! I even had someone say this to me in an email: "Dan.. Unless you are an experience craftsman/engineer & model builder I would not recommend this endeavor. I've spent 3 & 1/2 years working on mine and it took a lot of improvising. The plans are good for scaling. The plane is fast and heavy. Wing loading is high. Not a bird I'd recommend for an intermediate flyer." What can I say? I'm stupid! I'm stubborn! I have cut all the parts myself. I think since the plans are hand drawn, scaled up, and copied, that there are a lot of distortions. But, you learn to swim fast when thrown in! Good thing you guys are here as my life savers! Here are some pics of my plane so far. I have not started on the wing yet. The top of the fuse will be cut off for the wing to sit in and them glued back down. 
 
 Plane was put into a jig to build the other side. Taken out for photo op then put back in for planking. 
 
And the engines:  YW-48B2I have test run one engine. Sweet! The plans call for up to a 2.1, but the person who said don't build it is running two BME 50's. This is what he said about it: "The flight test was conducted with 21x10 props. With this combination, The Invader has a lot of power. Static trust is about 40Lbs. and It climbs out at about 20 to 30 Deg. Very aggressive! You'd probably be OK with something smaller say, two G28's. Mine weighs about 60Lbs. With a lot of weight in the nose. Remember, AMA sanctioned events are limited to 55Lbs." Landing gear is Century Jet's and wheels are from Glennis. I have read on another thread that someone is having trouble with a scale tail wheel fitting on the gear. I am having the same problem with the nose gear. I ordered the CJ gear with their part number off their web site, since they said it would fit this plan. But when I got it all the struts were 1" too long. They were very good about taking them back and shortening them. Now however, when the Glennis wheels arrived, the nose wheel is too wide to fit. The Glennis wheels are scale (extremely nice scale I might add), the problem is that the yoke in the nose gear is too narrow. My fault, since instead of ordering a part number I should have copied the scale plans and asked CJ to make "this." But, it's that experience thing...... I guess I have two choices, either have a new yoke made or go with a different wheel/tire. One advantage of getting different wheels is that the Glennis wheels are very heavy for flying. I could do this and use the Glennis wheels for display. Besides, they are expensive and I don't what to ruin them on a bad landing. This winter was very cold. Too cold to work in the garage, so I did not get much further then the last pic. Just received an 84" Extra 300 from Wild Hare, which I'll use to break in the engines. It's going to be awhile before that is ready to fly also. Besides having a "history" with this plane (I flew with him in Korea as a "twinkle in his eye"), I think it is one of the best looking prop aircraft there is. I will try to update soon, with all the new things that I have purchased this winter, but after that, don't hold your breath 'cause I am really, really slow. Really! No..... Really! Page 1 Next Page |
