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I was recently in
contact with David Lane, owner and operator of "19" as seen below.
Now for all you real Invader enthusiasts out there, this is
a rael opportunity to get involved in the preservation and maintenance of one of the great examples of its kind in the world
today.
Read the text below and if there are enough of us who get together........................Who
knows what we can achieve.
David Lane who was trained to fly the A-26 at Air Spray, has
owned and flown Invader 313 ( The first A-26 to be converted to an air tanker) since 1999 and since
the recent economic troubles of the U.S. airlines (passed on to its employees) this has unfortunately dictated that he
puts 313 out to pasture for a while. The operating costs just to fly ( In David's words ) the bloody thing, were
well over $2000. per hour, but he said, it was fun while it lasted let me assure you!!
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Serial #: 44-34313
Construction #:
27592
Civil Registration:
N5457V
C-GHLK
N119DR
Model: A-26B
Name:
None
Status: Airworthy
Last info: 2002
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History:
Aero Atlas Inc, Red Bluff, CA, 1959-1961.
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Registered as N5457V.
- Flew as tanker #27.
First A-26 converted to fire tanker, 1959.
Wilson Aviation Industries,
Lewiston, ID, 1963-1964
Butler Aircraft, Redmond, OR, 1966-1975
- Flown as tanker #A20 (later #16)
Conair Aviation
Ltd, Abbotsford, BC, Apr. 1975-1988
- Registered as C-GHLK
- Flown as tanker #23.
Reynolds Aviation Museum, Wetaskiwin,
Alberta, Apr. 1987-1988
Don Crowe, Victoria, BC, 1989-1990.
Canadian Warplane Heritage, Hamilton, Ontario, 1990-1999.
-
Flew as French AF 434313/K/BC-313.
Courtesy Aircraft Inc, Rockford, IL, July 1, 1999.
- Registered as N119DR.
David
R. Lane, Poway, CA, July 1999-2002.
- Flown as French AF/434313/K/BC-313.
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Darcy Hankins - Invader maintenance assistance
I recently asked David about the modified wingtips in his aircraft
when it was with Butler and he wrote back:
I have no information about the STOL (short takeoff and
landing) A-26 wing tip mod but I know someone who might. Darcy Hankins, pictured
above.
He is, in my opinion, the world's best authority on the
A-26 and its modification history having been one time maintenance supervisor
for Airspray's fleet of Invaders. He is pictured here installing the co-pilot flight controls in my A-26 in 2008.
The controls originally came out of one of the Viet Nam era K models which crash landed at Chino in the mid '70's after one of the
props went into reverse as it approached the runway. The controls
were later installed in Whistler's Mother in the early 1980's. Then after the purchase of Whistler's Motherits by
Kermit Weeks, the controls were removed as the aircraft
was being restored to factory specs. with its original single pilot controls plus these dual controls were not manufactured by Douglas rather by On Mark engineering Van Nuys for the B-26K.
Its a unique arrangement as the control column can be removed in
flight to allow access to the C model nose section.... an mod engineered at the request of the Brazillian Air Force during the 60's... so that their co-pilots could also function as bombadiers.
Best,
Dave Lane
Link to another shot of the above aircraft
Link to another shot of the above aircraft
The photo below is of 313 after it was sold at a government auction for
$1776. in 1957. It belonged to the 730th bomb squadron in Korea (The Rebels) and was known as the Magnet due to its
affinity to attract flying metal.
Repair patches are still all over the old gal.
313 was the first B-26 to be converted into a "Borate Bomber"
in 1960 and flew in this capacity for the next 26 years.... retired by Conair as Tanker 23. It ended up with the
Canadian RAF museum near Toronto from whom I purchased it in 1999. You have a photo of it under Misc. Military
when it was there.
Future plans for the Invader are to have a second set
of controls installed along with a top turret. Maybe then I can generate some interest in sponsors (ie. some rich, non-pilot,
dot-com types just dying to get their hands on the controls) so that the aircraft won't languish too long while on display
at the San Diego AeroSpace Museum at Gillespie Field.
......And what does it cost to run one ?
I can give you what it cost me in general to fly my Invader N119DR, 44-34313 over
the past four years and you can figure out the hourly costs depending on your flying per month estimate.
Insurance,
liability only for two seats (pilot-co-pilot )no hull insurance: $8,000. per year.
Annual
Inspection: My average is $25,000. per year. It is said it takes "seven men, seven
days" to complete an inspection of an very airworthy A-26 so this would be a conservative cost estimate of the labor
involved, and varies with the shop rate or A&P's hourly rate. Parts cost of course will vary depending how good
or bad the condition of the Invader and these airplanes always need a lot of something.
Fuel and oil per hour in California:
$450. based on 150 gallons per hour and a few gallons of oil.
Tie-down: $150.00
per month.
When you find someone wealthy who would like to fly an A-26 and share the operating expenses, point
him my way will ya?
David Lane, CAF World War II Flying Museum
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