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 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..