{"id":569,"date":"2026-10-06T08:44:33","date_gmt":"2026-10-06T08:44:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jfmwebsie.xyz\/my_website2\/aircraft\/douglas-a-26-invader\/"},"modified":"2026-10-23T09:39:18","modified_gmt":"2026-10-23T09:39:18","slug":"douglas-a-26-invader","status":"publish","type":"aircraft","link":"https:\/\/jfmwebsie.xyz\/my_website2\/aircraft\/douglas-a-26-invader\/","title":{"rendered":"Douglas A-26 Invader"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Douglas A-26 Invader<\/strong> (designated B-26<\/strong> between 1948 and 1965) is an American twin-engined light bomber<\/a> and ground-attack<\/a> aircraft. Built by Douglas Aircraft Company<\/a> during World War II<\/a>, the Invader also saw service during the Korean<\/a> and Vietnam<\/a> wars. A limited number of highly modified United States Air Force<\/a> aircraft served in Southeast Asia<\/a> until 1969. It was a fast aircraft capable of carrying a large bomb load. A range of guns could be fitted to produce a formidable ground-attack aircraft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A redesignation of the type from A-26 to B-26 has led to confusion with the earlier and unrelated medium bomber Martin B-26 Marauder<\/a>,[3]<\/a><\/sup> which had already been withdrawn from service when the designation was reused.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Design and development<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a>
Douglas XA-26 AAC Ser. No. 41-19504 first flight, Mines Field, California, piloted by Benny Howard<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The A-26 was Douglas Aircraft’s successor to the A-20<\/a> (DB-7) Havoc, also known as Douglas Boston. Designed by Ed Heinemann<\/a>, Robert Donovan, and Ted R. Smith<\/a>, the innovative NACA 65-215 laminar-flow<\/a> airfoil<\/a> wing of the A-26 was the work of project aerodynamics expert A.M.O. Smith<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Douglas XA-26 prototype<\/a> (AAC Ser. No. 41-19504) first flew on 10 July 1942 at Mines Field<\/a>, El Segundo<\/a>, with test pilot Benny Howard<\/a> at the controls. Flight tests revealed excellent performance and handling, but engine-cooling problems led to cowling<\/a> changes and elimination of the propeller<\/a> spinners on production aircraft. During testing, the nose wheel was found to be structurally inadequate, so it was strengthened.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Douglas A-26 Invader (designated B-26 between 1948 and 1965) is an American twin-engined light bomber and ground-attack aircraft. Built by Douglas Aircraft Company during World War II, the Invader also saw service during the Korean and Vietnam wars. A limited number of highly modified United States Air Force aircraft served in Southeast Asia until […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acdb_brands_pos":"bottom","_acdb_special_pos":"after_links","footnotes":""},"aircraft_manufacturer":[133],"aircraft_category":[6,11,7],"aircraft_country":[54],"class_list":["post-569","aircraft","type-aircraft","status-publish","hentry","aircraft_manufacturer-douglas","aircraft_category-aircraft","aircraft_category-attack-aircraft","aircraft_category-bombers","aircraft_country-united-states"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jfmwebsie.xyz\/my_website2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/aircraft\/569","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jfmwebsie.xyz\/my_website2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/aircraft"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jfmwebsie.xyz\/my_website2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/aircraft"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/jfmwebsie.xyz\/my_website2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/aircraft\/569\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5978,"href":"https:\/\/jfmwebsie.xyz\/my_website2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/aircraft\/569\/revisions\/5978"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jfmwebsie.xyz\/my_website2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=569"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"aircraft_manufacturer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jfmwebsie.xyz\/my_website2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/aircraft_manufacturer?post=569"},{"taxonomy":"aircraft_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jfmwebsie.xyz\/my_website2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/aircraft_category?post=569"},{"taxonomy":"aircraft_country","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jfmwebsie.xyz\/my_website2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/aircraft_country?post=569"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}