Lady Liberty, A-26B-20-DL, 41-39230

Ladt Liberty is the oldest flying Invader on the warbird stage today, It was the 130th one produced, being accepted on 18 Aug, 1944, at Long Beach, California. It was flown to Great Dunmow, England on 20 Sep, 1944. It was immediately assigned to the 9th Air Force.

41-39230 is the oldest flying Invader. It was the 130th one produced, being accepted on 18 Aug, 1944, at Long Beach, California. It was flown to Great Dunmow, England on 20 Sep, 1944. It was immediately assigned to the 9th Air Force. The USAF Historical Squadron at Maxwell AFB does not have specific unit history of the aircraft. We have a letter written by a Colonel that says this aircraft was assigned to the 410th Bomb Group and began combat operations in early 1945. The 410th was initially assigned 4 A-26's. Each squadron was given one aircraft. They were painted completely black and initially used as night interdiction aircraft ranging all over Germany.

Today the plane still has patches in the tail that were attributed to encounters with German night fighters.

After WWII it was flown to Hobbs, NM and stored. After some refurbishment it was assigned to an Air Force Reserve unit in Georgia for three years. The aircraft was declared surplus and sold in 1958. After serving as a radio research aircraft for Texas Instruments in Dallas it was sold to Bill Dempsey in Rantoul, Kansas and used as a fire bomber. Tanker 8 was rarely flown and was eventually sold. It was seized by DEA for drug running. The aircraft was purchased at auction and donated to the CAF. After some time with the Panhandle (Texas) Wing it was transferred to the Nevada wing in Las Vegas. After some restoration it was transferred to the A-26 Sponsorship Group and returned to flight status. In 1999 it was relocated to Oklahoma City. After additional maintenance it has been a regular on the airshow circuit.