Douglas RB-26K Invader, 64-17653 / 7091, Pima Air & Space Museum
This picture is © Martin Laycock and may not be used or published without permission.
Registration: 64-17653
Construction Number: 7091
Code Number: TA
Model Douglas RB-26K Invader
Operator: Pima Air & Space Museum
Airport: Tucson - Pima Air and Space Museum, USA - Arizona
Photographer: Martin Laycock
Date Taken: 13/05/1993
Date Submitted: 10/07/2009
Developed from the World War II vintage A-26 Invader, the B-26K was the result of an upgrade program by the On Mark Engineering Company of Van Nuys, California to extensively re-engineer the A-26 to fulfil the counterinsurgency role in the skies over Vietnam. On Mark converted 40 Invaders to the B-26K standard known as the Counter-Invader. Featuring upgraded engines (two 2,500hp water-injected Pratt & Whitney R-2800-103Ws), with fully-reversible automatic feathering propellers, upgraded brakes, a re-manufactured wing and wing-tip fuel tanks the Counter-Invader made its first flight on the 30 May 1964 at Van Nuys. Used operationally by the 606th Air Commando Squadron, based at Nakhon Phanom Royal Thai Air Force Base in Thailand. The mission of the 606th was known as 'Lucky Tiger'. The aircraft had to be re-designated again in May 1966 for political reasons as the A-26A. The A-26A unit was officially known as Detachment 1 of the 603rd Air Commando Squadron, part of the 1st Air Commando Group on six months' temporary duty in Thailand. They were later operated by the 609th Special Operations Squadron. Their mission was to disrupt supplies moving into Vietnam along the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Many operations along the trail were conducted over Laos, these missions were highly 'black' and the national insignia on the aircraft were painted out to maintain some plausible deniability if an aircraft was forced down. The area of the Laotian panhandle along the North Vietnamese border became known as 'Steel Tiger', and it became the primary target of the A-26As. Two aircraft were further modified under project 'Lonesome Tiger' with a Forward Looking Infrared (FLIR) system as part of Operation 'Shed Light'. The operations of the Counter-Invader have a rather murky (but fascinating) history, having also been flown by CIA employed mercenary pilots on ground-attack missions against Simba rebels during the Congo Crisis. This particular B-26K began life as A-26B 41-39378, she was deployed to South-East Asia in 1968 and was operated by the 609th SOS based at Nakhon Phanom Royal Thai Air Force Base. She was finally retired to AMARC at Davis-Monthan AFB for storage in 1969. She is a rare survivor of this very powerful and purposeful looking aeroplane. She is displayed at Pima courtesy of National Museum of the United States Air Force, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio.
Picture ID:1182207