Douglas A-26   Invader  N4974N                  (c/n   27413)

                                             

                                                    This is the aircraft type which changed its designation after WW II from A-26 to B-26. 
                                                    Silly idea, since when reference to the B-26 is made to veterans, it always prompts the
                                                    question "The Maurader or the Invader?".  Just why it wasn't given a new "B" number
                                                    when they decided it was more of a bomber than an attack type is probably only known
                                                    to some obscure bloke at the Pentagon....now probably long decesased.    Anyway, they
                                                    served well in the Korean conflict and also in Viet Nam where, I believe, a motion was made
                                                    to re-instate the old nomenclature of A-26 back again, probably for some obtuse political
                                                    reason.   Anyway, this aircraft was built as a A-26B-45-DL,  with the USAAF serial number 
                                                    44-34134.  It was owned by R.G. Letourneau Inc who did the executive conversion seen
                                                    above.  My photograph was taken at Long Beach Municipal in 1965 shortly before the aircraft
                                                    was re-registered N115RG.  This aircraft was impounded in Brazil sometime in the1970s
                                                    when it was caught smuggling "controlled substances".   It was actually transferred to the
                                                    Brazilian Air Force (FAB) as FAB C-26B-5176, but wound up shortly afterward in the
                                                    Museu de Armes e Veiculos Motorizados Antigos in Bebedouro (San Paulo), Brazil.  I
                                                    have no idea whether it is still there..