Most warplanes are lucky to see one war. The Douglas A-26 Invader saw three — World War II, Korea and Vietnam — the only American bomber ever to do so. Now one of these remarkable survivors has a new home: the Stockton Field Aviation Museum in California’s Central Valley has added an A-26C Invader to its collection, and it is already turning heads at West Coast airshows.
It is exactly the kind of aircraft that deserves to be kept flying: fast, heavily armed, and stubbornly refusing to become obsolete across three decades of combat.
Quick Facts
- Aircraft: Douglas A-26C Invader, N126HK
- New home: Stockton Field Aviation Museum, California
- Came from: the Cactus Air Force, Carson City, Nevada
- Now wears: 386th Bomb Group markings
- The type’s claim to fame: the only US bomber to fight in three wars
- Engines: two Pratt & Whitney R-2800 Double Wasp radials, 2,000 hp each
- Next stop: Bomber Camp events and a planned AirVenture 2026 appearance
The bomber that wouldn’t retire
The Invader first flew as the XA-26 prototype in July 1942 and reached the front in 1944, meant to replace a whole generation of earlier attack aircraft. Two big Pratt & Whitney R-2800 Double Wasp radials made it fast for a bomber, and it came in two flavours: a solid gun-nose strafer bristling with up to fourteen forward-firing .50-calibre machine guns, and a glazed “glass nose” bombardier version like the museum’s new A-26C.
After the war it was redesignated the B-26, fought again over Korea, and was even recalled and rebuilt for Vietnam as the B-26K Counter Invader, hunting trucks along the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Few aircraft have had such a long and violent working life.
A new home in the Central Valley
The aircraft, an A-26C registered N126HK, came to the Stockton Field Aviation Museum from the Cactus Air Force in Carson City, Nevada, with the help of longtime enthusiast Jan Johnson. It has since been repainted in the markings of the 386th Bomb Group, connecting it to the Invader’s wartime roots.
Restoring the glass nose, aiming for Oshkosh
The museum plans to fly the Invader in its Bomber Camp experiences and is raising money to rebuild the aircraft’s intricate glazed nose. The goal is to bring it to EAA AirVenture Oshkosh in 2026, where organisers hope to gather several A-26s together to tell the story of a type that spanned three wars.
Worth keeping in the air
Every warbird saved is a piece of history kept alive for people who will never otherwise hear a pair of Double Wasps thunder overhead. For the Invader — a design that outlived its own era by decades — a new home and a run at Oshkosh is a fitting next chapter.
Sources: Vintage Aviation News; Stockton Field Aviation Museum; Hill Aerospace Museum; Wikipedia.
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