Plane indentification
Could someone tell me what type of plane was being flown in the final firefight with Holly flying? Thanks.
shareIt's a Martin B-26 Maurader. Great aircraft.
http://www.fiddlersgreen.net/AC/aircraft/Martin-B26/B-26.php
Nope , nope nope. I'm wrong. It's a Douglas A-26 Invader.. Ooopps.
It's actaully a Douglas A-26 Invader.
shareCorrect. here is the actual aircraft from the film:
http://www.airliners.net/open.file/1000781/M/
Damn, if you ain't right.
shareThe reason for the confusion is the change of designation. The plane in question was originally designated the A-26 Invader during world war two but afterwards (1948) it was re-designated the B-26 (even though there was a Martin B-26 Marauder during WWII)
shareAnd THEN, just because it wasn't quite confusing enough, it was redesignated *again* to A-26A. Doesn't help that both are smallish twin-engine bombers.
shareI worked for the man who owns and flew the planes in this movie, he(and all the other people we worked with) always called them B-26's. In the scenes where "Holly" was flying it was actually my boss with a wig on.
shareThe A-26 Invader was a twin engined attack aircraft in WW II. It is smaller than the B-25 Mitchell or B-26 Marauder which were it's contemporaries. It was redesignated the B-26, to everyone's confusion after WW II since the Marauder was not wanted in the post-war air force. The B-26 Marauder had a reputation as a "widow maker" due to it's being a somewhat difficult plane to fly due to it's high performance and high wing loading (i.e.: the amount of weight per square foot that a plane's wings carry while in flight). The Invader was redesignated A-26 during the early days of the Vietnam War since the Thai government was a bit sensitive about having "bombers" flying out of it's airspace to hit targets in Vietnam. This just added to the confusion. Hope this helps.
shareYour boss is really cute....
shareRight...my old man was a 25 skipper in WW2 and later taught low-level in the 26 for guys going to the Pacific. He simply loved the 25 for handling and trim charicterics(sp) however, (this came out in conversations with other 25/26 drivers)...they absolutely fregging loved the 26, although it could be a touchy thing to fly it was also, when empty, a damned 'hot rod' to fly. After hearing some of the stories about low-level training then taking a few little rides in both aircraft with him I do know one thing for sure.
The only reason most of them were alive was pure luck LOL. They were a bunch of fearless 'mothers'.
Unfortunetly the Douglas A/B 26 is no more, the FAA retired the airframe a while back because it had had too many cycles which is their way of saying that the airframe had been in use for too long and was no longer safe to fly. The only place to see one now is in an air museum.
Too bad, it was an awsome airplane.
In any event; this is a great movie
Some still fly as water bombers. There's some that fly with Air Spray in Red Deer Alberta.
"Shiny, lets be bad guys."
ps - self edit - I guess the Air Spray ones are 'no longer in use' and have been retired. Some have been taken apart but some have been sold.
Here's a link to some info. It's about 3 years old now so some updating is likely requred.
http://www.ruudleeuw.com/reddeer06-airspray.htm
bye
That's a shame and a little ironic since when the A/B-26 was reactivated during the '60's in Vietnam, they were temporarily grounded because of main spar failures. The upgrade program produced the B-26K which flew until 1969 when it was superseded by the B-57 among others. The Invader was one hell of an airplane.
shareUnfortunetly the Douglas A/B 26 is no more, the FAA retired the airframe a while back because it had had too many cycles which is their way of saying that the airframe had been in use for too long and was no longer safe to fly.
There is one AD in effect against the A26/B26, which provides an inspection/repair procedure for cracking spar caps. There is no AD grounding the aircraft.
The Air Force may have retired any that they were still operating but that has no effect on civilian use. share
In Ep. 7.1 of The Fugitive, "Smoke Screen," two aircraft make drops on a fire. The first is a B-17 and the second is a B-26 Maurauder/A-26 Invader with tail number 59. Without seeing the registration number, identification can not be certain. But, this was probably the same plane that appeared in Always.
Yes, the number was painted on the tail exactly the same. Just that there was no color as the first year of The Fugitive was in B&W.