A-26C....

Depends, there were some OD over Gray Invaders in WWII, but most of them seemed to be natural metal. I dunno if there were any black A-26's then, I kinda doubt it. The night interdiction role really didn't come into it's own within the USAAF/USAF until the Korean War. But I'll look to see what I can find.


Fade to Black...

Well my plane is in black but i did it like a 5 years a go, now i want to update it i was thinking of painting it like this one but i dont know if that would be accurate for the second world war so please if you have some references i´ll appreciate it Thanks!

What you have is a Korean War vintage paint job on the Invader. I haven't found any all black WWII invader schemes; only bare metal finishes. Black didn't seem to appear until Korea. Hope this helps. - Ed

I've flown on a A-26C (then B-26C) in August 1954. It was bare metal and based out of Eglin AFB, FL. I know there were some C models in Korea that were still painted in olive drab. Most of the photos I've seen of A-26C in the ETO were bare metal.

The data I've collected on this great plane is that during the Korean war the AF changed the scheme to black for Night Bombing raids and for pathfinder missions, most of the WWII planes where bare metal but a few where the old standard O.D. & Neutral Grey before most of the units converted over to the A-26's from the A-20's, so it depend on what era you want to do Early WWII or Late WWII, Korean, or even Vietnam, a really good sorce for info is the Squadrons A-26 in action book they go over the plane very well

Roger that!, then what would you say if i try something like this? i think this would be appropiate for a WWII aircraft right? please tell me what you think



I wouldnt like to paint my A-26 in olive drab, i want something little different but if you get to see a pic of a A-26 in olive drab please share it with me, thank you for your time!

My very Best Regards
Hector Reymundo

The A-26... one of my faves....

The production machines during WWII were all bare metal. Only the A-26A (only one built), B and C prototypes were OD over Neutral Grey. Still, I'd have liked to see the A-26A go into production. It had the same 75mm gun in the nose that the B-25G/H models had. Some punch! As Cuda said, they switched to black in Korea, mainly because they operated primarily at night. The Squadron "in Action" book has got some great photos in it.

I just love the airplane because it had up to 16 .50 cals firing forward, flew at the speed of a fighter and could DOGFIGHT with FW-190s and WIN!

So then would it be right if i paint my A-26C in bare metal like the one in the pic? i want a WWII scheme and since i dont want to paint it in olive drab then i guess that is a good choice, but am i right? are those colors correct??

Hector,

Bare metal would be correct for a WWII combat machine. No USAF markings on it though. You'd want letter codes on the sides. I don't have any of my A-26 reference materials handy right now (they're packed up in NY) but there are decal sheets available for WWII Invaders. The anti-glare panels would most likely be OD though. Hope that helps a little.

Thank you Cobrahistorian, that is helpful, but what do you mean by letter codes on the sides? all the WW2 planes that i have seen has numbers instead of letters, thank you for the info an sorry for the delay, i have been working a lot and i havent been able to even check my mail!

hi mandrake i found some info aout a26c on "aeromaster decals"48-052
in short:o/all flat black a26c 43-22555 86bs,47bg 12th air force,italy/1945
old style canopy/no clam shell/ white 54 on tail,sqdrn badge under glass nose
ventral and dorsal gun turrets
have fun,invader

Just when you think you have everything in place............. I found this new release from Aeromaster at the local hobby shop
http://www.eaglestrikeproductions.com/cgi-bin/amddecals.pl?scale=48&setid=596&dbs=aeromaster&pgs=2&currpg=1&dclimg=ad48596
Paint that sucker black! It has some other Post-WWII schemes as well.

Hector,

The unit codes would usually be a letter and a number ahead of the star and bar denoting the squadron and then the individual aircraft letter aft of it. Good luck with the invader!