Douglas B-26K/A-26B Counter Invader Tactical Support Aircraft (1961)
The B-26K Counter Invader was a highly modified A-26 Invader aircraft.
Externally, the Counter Invader retained much of the same appearance of her World War 2 counterpart. She sported high-mounted monoplane wing assemblies with noticeable dihedral. The engines were fitted to the leading wing edge and each system sported three-bladed propellers. Her undercarriage was of a conventional tricycle arrangement that featuring two single-wheeled main landing gear legs and a single wheeled nose landing gear. The cockpit remained just aft of the elongated nose assembly and the nose assembly itself housed the aircraft's primary armament. The fuselage was slab-sided and tapered off into a streamlined empennage. The tail section was made up of a single squared-off vertical tail fin and two horizontal planes, these with dihedral angles.
The B-26K/A-26B Counter Invader was fitted with an impressive forward-fixed nose armament mounting 8 x 12.7mm (.50 caliber) machine guns. Provisions for underwing stores were also featured to make the Counter Invader a true attack aircraft. These hardpoints could field a mixed ordnance load of up to 8,000lbs. Internal bomb load capacity added another 4,000lbs of available stores. Modifications to the aircraft were completed by On Mark Engineering and included wing-tip mounted fuel tanks, reversible propellers, reinforced wing structures, refined airframe improvements, new tail sections and improved powerplants.
While the original Douglas A-26 Invaders saw combat actions throughout World War 2 (1939-1945) and the upcoming Korean War (1950-1953), the revised B-26K/A-26B "Counter Invader" would see action beginning in 1966 over Southeast Asia. These aircraft would serve in the region up until 1969 by which time they were removed from frontline service due to the stress and rigors of war against these decades-old airframes. The designation of "Counter Invader" was related directly to the "counter insurgency" role that the aircraft would be called upon to play in the Vietnam War.
As per authoritative notes regarding the fine B-26K/A-26B, the pilots of Counter Invader aircraft were known as "Nimrods" and the alternating designation changes are as such - the original designation for the aircraft, known in the United States as the "B-26B", became the "A-26K" when stationed overseas in countries such as Thailand for Thai authorities would not allow "bombers" to be stationed on their soil during the war - hence the slight designation change in the aircraft's history and it often being referred interchangeably as the "B-26K" or "A-26B" ("B" for "Bomber" and "A" for "Attack"). Text ©2003-2013 www.MilitaryFactory.com • All Rights Reserved • No Reproduction Permitted
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Specifications for the
Douglas B-26K/A-26B Counter Invader
Tactical Support Aircraft
Country of Origin: United States
Manufacturer: Douglas Aircraft Company - USA
Initial Year of Service: 1961
Production: 40
Focus Model: Douglas B-26K Counter Invader
Crew: 3
Length: 51.71ft (15.76m)
Width: 71.52ft (21.80m)
Height: 19.00ft (5.79m)
Weight (Empty): 0lbs (0kg)
Weight (MTOW): 38,312lbs (17,378kg)
Powerplant: 2 x Pratt & Whitney R-2800-52W water-injected radial piston engines generating 2,500hp.
Maximum Speed: 322mph (519kmh; 280kts)
Maximum Range: 2,700miles (4,345km)
Service Ceiling: 30,000ft (9,144m; 5.7miles)
Rate-of-Climb: 0 feet per minute (0m/min)
Hardpoints: 8
Armament Suite:
STANDARD:
8 x 12.7mm (.50 caliber) forward-fixed heavy machine guns in nose.
OPTIONAL:
8 x External Hardpoints capable of up to 8,000lbs of mixed ordnance.
Up to 4,000lbs of mixed ordnance in internal bomb bay.
Variants:
B-26K "Counter Invader" - Original Designation; Tactical Strike Aircraft Model fitted with 8 x 12.7mm machine guns in nose assembly; turrets removed; provisions for external wing hardpoints (8x); reconfigured cockpit.
VB-26B - US National Guard Model Designation
A-26B "Counter Invader" - Vietnam Theater Designation.
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