The iconic Douglas A-26 Invader


The beautiful  Douglas A-26 Invader was a twin-engined light bomber and ground attack aircraft. An iconic plane that first flew in 1942 and was retired in 1980. It was faster in maneuver thean a Marauder or Mitchell, being perfect for strafing, skip bombing, high level bombimg, tank busting, pillbox busting, general attack, reconnaissance, smoke laying, etc.

It can mount anything from a 75-mm canon to 6 .50 cal machine guns in the nose with additional .50's in upper and loiwer turrets. The nose was designed to be modular, allowing 6 configurations of weaponry. Also .50 cal can be mounted under its wings. If need it could also be equipped with rockets under the wings. Yet it needed only two men to operate ot: pilot and gunner.

Below are a couple of images from 1945, taken at the Air Forces Tactical Center in Florida (Popular Sciene | my personal collection).