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HOW IT WAS!KUNSAN AIR BASE 3RD BOMB WINGB-26 Invader Specifications Page 3 of 3 |
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 The B-26 Douglas "Invaders" of the 13th Bomb Squadron dropping their bombs. Click on image to enlarge. (From the 13th BS Website, "Planes...Targets".) |  B-26 Douglas "Invaders" of the 90th Bomb Squadron are heading to North Korea with their guns pointed up "hot and ready". Click on the picture to enlarge. (Courtesy Marv Wiedner) |  B-26 "Nan" sitting on the Kunsan Air Base ramp. Click on image to enlarge. (From the 13th BS Website, "Planes...Targets".) |  B-26 "Nan" after it ran off the end of the runway at Kunsan Air Base. Click on image to enlarge. (From the 13th BS Website, "Planes...Targets".) |  Han River Bridges. Click on image to enlarge. (From the 13th BS Website, "Planes...Targets".) |  K8 Control Tower. Click on image to enlarge. (From the , Unofficial Homepage of the 13th BS.) |  B-26 taxiing. Click on image to enlarge. (From the , Unofficial Homepage of the 13th BS.) |  Radio Shack. Click on image to enlarge. (From the , Unofficial Homepage of the 13th BS.) |  Preparing for a mission. Click on image to enlarge. (From the , Unofficial Homepage of the 13th BS.) |  Cleaning Guns (1953) . Click on image to enlarge. (Courtesy Roy MacPherson) |  Loading Bombs (1953) . Click on image to enlarge. (Courtesy Roy MacPherson) | 
90th Flightline (1953) . Click on image to enlarge. (Courtesy Roy MacPherson) |
Douglas B-26 InvaderThe A-26 was developed from a 1940 Army Air Forces request for an attack aircraft to replace the A-20, B-25 and B-26 Marauder bombers then entering service. Drawing heavily from their A-20 Havoc design, Douglas built three Invader prototypes to fill the light bomber, night fighter and attack roles envisioned by the Army. The first of these, the XA-26 light bomber variant, flew on July 10, 1942.
The A-26A never made it to the production line. Although the flight trials were successful, the XA-26A was never put into production, since the Northrop P-61 Black Widow night fighter which had already been put into production had a similar performance and was deemed to be adequate to meet the USAAF's needs.
Two Invader models were built; the A-26B had a six- or eight-gun nose, while the A-26C used a glass nose for a bombardier or camera equipment. The first 500 A-26B models were built at the Douglas plant in Long Beach, California, while another plant in Tulsa, Oklahoma built most of the 1,091 A-26Cs delivered. Frustrating production delays due to a lack of tooling, project engineers, poor communications and numerous change orders prevented the plane from entering service in mid-1943, as had originally been planned.
Invaders entered World War II in mid-1944, when four were evaluated by the 5th Air Force in the South Pacific. With a top speed approaching 400 mph, the A-26 was the fastest U.S. bomber of the war. The A-26B flew into combat on November 19, 1944, with the 9th Air Force in Europe, and deliveries to Pacific-based units soon followed.
In June 1948 the A-26 was redesignated as the B-26, after the similarly-designated Marauder had been retired from service. Although obsolete, the Invader distinguished itself in the night interdiction role in Korea, and flew the first and last USAF bombing missions of the war. The highly versatile plane was used for bombing, reconnaissance, transport, and night interdiction, primarily with the USAF's 3rd Bombardment Wing.
The B-57 Canberra's arrival in 1954 resulted in the Invader's first phase-out, and the last ones were retired from Air National Guard (ANG) service in 1958. In 1961, B-26s were taken from storage and modified for counter-insurgency and reconnaissance service in Vietnam. Pulled out of combat in 1964, extensively modified B-26K Counter Invader variants again entered the war in 1966. Flying their last combat mission in November 1969, the last Invaders were again phased out of ANG service in 1972.
As a side note on the B-26K, Hans Petermann (who was with the 8th Bomb Squadron) added, "It so happens that I was the Hq Air Force Systems Command project officer on that airplane when it was being developed by On-Mark Engineering in Van Nuys, CA for the Air Force Logistics Command. After checking into the program at Van Nuys and Hill AFB and reporting back to HQ AFSC, it was determined that the modification to the B26 was extensive enough to warrant transfer of development responsibility to Systems Command. I also learned that the B26 had never been designed to be flown as we did in Korea, i.e. an attack bomber. Douglas had designed it as a "1g" airplane. We had lost several planes, especially in Nam, due to wing failure and one of the mods in the K was to beef up the wing." (Go to B-26K/A-26A on the Baugher site for further details.)
Technical Information:
The B-26s were redesignated A-26s from World War II. Besides the bombs (in the bomb bay and under the wings) and gun turrets with two 50-caliber machine guns, the B-26Bs were equipped with 14 forward-firing 50-caliber machine guns (8 in the nose and 6 on the wings). The B-26C replaced the nose guns with a bombadier and a Norden Bombsight. Many C-models also replaced the turrets and gunners compartment with a shoran/radar compartment.
The 3rd Bomb Group used both B-26Bs and B-26Cs. Both models carried a full bomb load, both internally and under the wings. Some specially modified aircraft were equipped with a wing-mounted searchlight early in the War. Others were specially equipped to drop propaganda leaflets or illumination flares.
(Most of the information above was excerpted from an exceptional site for info on the A-26/B-26. J. Baugher's site maintained by Mr. Carl Pettypiece.)
Marv Wiedner of Narrows, Virginia wrote about the B-26 Invaders in the Korean War, "The 731st Sqdn trained and flew the Douglas models to Japan where they became the 90th attached to the 3rd Bomb Group and later sent to K-8 after the runway was repaired. The 17th Bomb Group was at K-9 (Pusan) and a recon outfit was at K-14 (Kimpo). The recons had sealed bomb bay doors (Bombay held radar equipment, etc.) and other mods for recon and weather use. The 6th Sqdn was another outfit stationed at Johnson Air base Japan and was used as a tow target unit."
Of the 3rd Bomb Group, the 13th Squadron was mainly equipped with B-26B solid-nosed aircraft. The 8th and 90th Squadrons generally used the B-26C bombadier-nosed version. The 8th Bomb Squadron with yellow tail & wing tips/engine cowlings; the 13th Bomb Squadron with red tail & wing tips/engine cowlings; and the 90th Bomb Squadron with white tail & wing tips/engine cowlings.
In the book, Crimson Sky, The Air Battle for Korea, author John R. Bruning relates that the 3d Bomb Group experimented with different forms of munitions early in the war to find out what worked and what didn't. They "discovered that 260-pound M-81 fragmentation bombs made excellent antitruck weapons. Sometimes, the B-26s would go into action with these bombs double hung on their external racks so they could carry twice as many as a standard load out."
The book goes on to tell of six C-47s "Gooney Birds" attached to the wing early in the war used for flare drops. However, later the Navy Mark IV flares were modified for the B-26 and both the 3d BG and 452d BW "developed dedicated flare-dropping B-26s. By modifying the bomb bay, just over fifty flares could be carried by a single Invader. A crew member crawled into the bomb bay and tossed out flares on request."
Late in 1951, the 3d pioneered the use of searchlights aloft. Using a navy carbon-arc light, a B-26 could send out a six-foot-wide beam of more than seven million candlepower for almost a half mile.
The 13th BS Website section "Planes...Targets" talks about the B-26 Invader's mission in Korea. "The principal mission ... was summed up in the letters (LNI) - which stood for Light, Night Intruder. The B-26 was a light bomber, as opposed to the B-29 which was a heavy bomber. The heavy bombers took out the supposed strategic targets, the fighter bombers (F-80s/F-84s and Marine aircraft), did close air support during the day, along with rail cuts, bridge bombings and traffic interdiction, and the B-26s worked to halt the flow of supplies and men to the front lines during the night. From time to time the roles crossed, but that was the way it mostly worked after the earliest days. The targets for the B-26s were the three "T"s - trains, trucks and tracks. The targets included the bridges that the trains and trucks used."
8th BS B-26 Cockpit
(Courtesy Harold Locke)
(Click on thumbnails to enlarge)
 Infra-red aircraft "Mc" of the 13th Bomb Squadron (March 18, 1953). According to a report when the IR was turned on a string of truck lights, only one in ten showed up as trucks. (From the Redbird site. Click on photo to enlarge)
Excerpted from 13th Bomb Squadron Website. It was with this searchlight modification that Capt. James Walmsley of the 8th Bomb Squadron earned the Medal of Honor.   THAT CRAZY SEARCHLIGHT ON A B-26Reprinted from "U.S. Air Forces in Korea"
In the autumn of 1951, the Fifth Air Force Intruder wings also tested another one of their "wild ideas" -- this time U.S. Navy searchlights mounted on the wings of B-26 Intruders. In February 1951, while on a visit to the United States, Col. Zoller of the 3d Wing had first inspected an 80-million candlepower searchlight at Langley Air Force Base. Mounted on airships, the Navy had used the lights to seek out enemy submarines during World War II. It was a package unit that could be attached under a B-26's wing. In July, when the lights began to arrive in Korea, Colonel Nils 0. Ohman, who now commanded the 3rd Wing, ruled that only two aircraft in each bomber squadron would be equipped with searchlights. Each of the lights was as big as a napalm tank, and its drag promised to reduce the range of the plane that carried it. Colonel Ohman also thought that the lights would increase the vulnerability of the plane to ground fire. At the start both the 3d and 452d Wings had trouble getting the lights into action so that they could test them. Some snapped off the bracket which held them and others caught fire and had to be jettisoned. The first few searchlight missions flown by the 3d Group revealed the tactics that would be useful. The B-26 crew would first locate a convoy and mark its position with firebombs. Then the crew would switch on the searchlight -- which was limited to approximately fifty seconds burning at a time -- and prosecute low level attacks.
SPECIFICATIONS
The searchlight had a brilliance of 70,000,000 candlepower (that is 70 million) and had a range of 2 * miles. It weighed 154 pounds and operated on 72 * volts DC. The searchlight beam was directed by the navigator sitting beside the pilot, operating a joystick. It could be left on for not more than one minute and then needed 5 minutes of off time for cooling.
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONSThe Douglas A-26 was designed as a medium attack bomber replacement for the B-25's and Martin B-26's of pre World War II vintage. The Douglas A-26 saw combat in every theater of World War II, Korea and Vietnam. It was redesignated a Douglas B-26 in 1948 after the retiring of all Martin B-26 Marauders. There were 226 aircraft lost in the Korean War where the Invader performed night harassment missions. It was the last aircraft to bomb North Korea, dropping a bomb load just 3 minutes before the cease-fire was signed. Several A-26's were supplied to Cuban revolutionaries during the Bay of Pigs. The ground attack version mounted a 75mm cannon in the nose for tank busting.
Manufacturer: Douglas
Designation: B-26
Version: B & C
Nickname: Invader (Equivalent to: B-26B/C)
Type: Attack Bomber (Light)
Crew: 3 (or 4 depending on mission)
Specifications
Length: 51' 3" (16.62 M)
Height: 18' 6" (5.64 M)
Wingspan: 70' 0" (21.34 M)
Wingarea: 540.00 Sq Ft (50.17 Sq M)
Empty Weight: 22850.0 lbs (10365.0 Kg)
Gross Weight: 27600.0 lbs (12517.0 Kg)
Max Weight: 35000.0lbs (15876.0 Kg)
Propulsion
No. of Engines: 2
Powerplant: Pratt & Whitney R-2800-79 radial engines
Horsepower (each): 2000hp
Performance
Range: 1400 miles (2255.00 Km)
Cruise Speed: 284.00 mph (457.00 Km/H 247.03 Kt)
Max Speed: 355.00 Mph (571.00 Km/H 308.65 Kt)
Ceiling: 22100.0 Ft (6735.00 M)
Armament: Gun turrets with two 50-caliber machine guns.
B-model: 14 forward-firing 50-caliber machine guns (8 in the nose and 6 on the wings).C-model: 6 50-caliber machine guns on wings (Replaced the nose guns with a bombadier and a Norden Bombsight. Many C-models also replaced the turrets and gunners compartment with a shoran/radar compartment.)
Load: Maximum 6,000 lb bomb load; provision for wing mounted ordnance.
The article below tells how the Douglas Aircraft Corporation's A-26 Invader was renamed to a B-26 Invader, forever after causing confusion with the Martin Aircraft Corporation's B-26 Marauder, a nearly the same size and shape medium bomber. There is no such thing as a "Douglas B-26 Marauder." The article was written by MG John Moench who is also the author of Taking Command about Kunsan AB had degenerated into a low-class backwater hell-hole by 1959. The article was excerpted from the March Field Museum website.
"THE MARAUDER" VERSUS "THE INVADER"
By Major General John 0. Moench (August 1993)
I think it's about time the truth is known. I write this in appreciation of the fact most of the persons of the time of the decision to rename the A-26 as the B-26 have now "Gone west" or are disinclined to engage themselves in thoughtful process.
In retrospect, it was a most unfortunate quirk of history that caused the A-26 "Invader" to become the B-26 "Invader". How did this all happen? Was there a sinister plan behind the renaming --- a plot? Was it, as many have suggested, something "diabolical" --- or was it really an unfortunate event? Here is the story.
As I recall, the year was 1949. The new Air Force was still an organization not fettered with all the rules and regulations of the U.S. Army and the hierarchy was determined that it would never be so burdened. For anyone serving in today's Air Force, this resolution supporting "simplicity" may fall on very deaf ears. But, at the time, we operated mostly with blank sheets of paper to which, as needed, we applied a minimum of wordy, ironclad rules and regulations. Decisions were made by individuals --- many of them as junior as I --- and generally with minimum protocols, staff study and definition.
Following World War II, at the ripe age of twenty-four, I went directly to the Air Material Command at Wright-Patterson and took over the production control of all the United States Depots in the Continental United States and more. Then, after three years there, I found myself in charge of aircraft maintenance in Air Force Headquarters. Don't ask me how this all happened --- it just did.
In any event, we were then trying to overcome many of the problems that faced our Air Force in the growing international arena. As an example, our parachutes did not fit the Royal Air Force seats, our manufacturing systems were different, and in most cases we couldn't even service the aircraft of each other. We knew that a system of international standardization had to come about and we undertook this in the American-British-Canadian framework --- a framework that would eventually involve Australia and New Zealand --- later NATO, SEATO and more. The focal point of this activity was the contemporaries and myself. I was a Major.
One of the things that emerged in the national element of this larger standardization undertaking was a program to limit the number of aircraft designations in the United States Air Force, United States Navy and other systems. A reader might recall that we ended World War II with P=Pursuit; A=Attack; FI=Fighter Interceptor; and on and on. The decision that came from the Deputy Chief of Staff (DCS)/Plans and Operations was, from then on, the Air Force would have F=Fighters; B=Bombers; etc. And the result was that, among other things, the A=Attack designation had to fall out of the system. The new Air Force was to be Fighters and Bombers. The A=Attack designation especially had to go as it implied a linking with the ground forces that had to be broken. The new Air Force was an independent arm.
The powers-to-be had no trouble converting a P-51 to an F-51 or a P-80 to an F-80. But, when it come to the A-26, there was a dilemma. To preserve the Martin B-26 "Marauder" nomenclature, following my suggestion, the initial attempt by DCS/Material was to pick up a new number, e.g., the (Douglas) A-26 (Invader) might come out as the next numbered "B" in the sixty series. But DCS/Plans and Operations did not like this as it upset the progressive numbering attached to advancing design. And the Air Material Command stated that the cost of conversion to a new number would be out of the question. As a result, with a lot of reluctance and since there was no Martin B-26 "Marauder" left in the inventory, the inexpensive solution was taken and the (Douglas) "A-26" became the B-26. I resisted the idea as long as a Major could, but I never foresaw the extent to which later confusion would arise.
The B-26/A-26, Marauder/Invader confusion did not surface immediately. But, as attention turned to the exploits of the "new" B-26 and inexperienced writers fed the media and public, one soon began to read about the "Douglas B-26 Marauder." Eventually, some writers, discovering the issue, sought to set forth the confusion as being the result of a plot concocted by Douglas and its friends in concert with the established enemies of Martin and the Marauder to absorb the combat record of the Marauder into the framework of understanding surrounding the Invader. In the case of the World War II operation of the Ninth Air Force where the B-26 and the A-26 flew side by side, the revised terminology now held it as only B-26's --- but which one? The B-26 "Marauder" or the B-26 "Invader?"
For now well over twenty years, I have been writing letters and talking to authors to try to correct the still growing view that B-26 Marauders, as an example, flew in the Korean Conflict, in Southeast Asia , and in other operations long after there was no B-26 "Marauder" in the United States Air Force inventory. Just this past month, a major author called to question a book on his desk recently written by a four-star United States Army Air Forces officer of World War II and the Korean Conflict that talked about the B-26 "Marauder" attacking the North Korean and Chinese Communist forces.
Whether the A-26/B-26 nomenclature problem will be repeated again --- who knows? Historical considerations tend to rest on persons older than those often making the historical decisions. Certainly, at the ripe age of twenty-six I never thought about making a historical argument when the redesignation process was underway. And I never heard the historical argument raised by anyone else --- and I was surrounded by a lot of very senior and older Air Force officers. So now you know!
(Reprinted from "The Marauder Thunder," newsletter of the B-26 Marauder Historical Society, August 1993.)
KUNSAN AIR BASE:  Kunsan Aerodrome (1938-1945)
Camp Hillenmeyer (1945-1949)
Kunsan Aerodrome (1949-1951)
Kunsan Airbase (1951-1954)
Kunsan Airbase (1954-1974)
Kunsan Airbase (1974-Present)MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS: Douglas B-26 Invader Specifications -- The A-26 was redesignated the B-26 after the B-26 Marauders were taken out of service.
Republic F-84 Thunderjet Specifications -- The F84D was the first of the series to see action in Korea.
Vought F-4U-5NL Night Corsair Specifications - Night fighter variant of the famous Corsair
Grumman F7F-3N Tigercat Specifications - Fast powerful prop fighter that entered just as the jet age began
Douglas F3D-2/F-10B Skynight Specifications - Fighter that made the first night jet aircraft kill
McDonnell Douglas F-4D Phantom II Specifications
General Dynamics F-16C Falcon Specifications
Time Line of Korean War -- Tanner Publication Co.
RELATED PAGES: Camp Hillenmeyer & Kunsan City (1947)
Korean War Reference
Welcome Brochure for King Eight (K8) (1954) -- A comparison of 1954 and Now
Welcome to Kunsan City -- Facts of the city and a Pictorial History from 1947-Present
POW/MIA in Korea -- Current articles and links to POW/MIA issues
For inputs or comments, contact Kalani O'Sullivan.NOTICE/DISCLAIMER: The content of this page is unofficial and the views and opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of anyone associated with this page or any of those linked from this site. All opinions are those of the writer and are intended for entertainment purposes only. Links to other web pages are provided for convenience and do not, in any way, constitute an endorsement of the linked pages or any commercial or private issues or products presented there. None of this site has been endorsed by the DOD, the Air Force, the 8th Fighter Wing or Mickey Mouse. All Air Force links are publicly accessible through the world-wide web. When eye-witness accounts conflict with OFFICIAL DOD materials, this website opts to lend credence to the people who were there.
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