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The A-26 was the follow-on design to the A-20 and entered combat in late 1944. The type had early developmental difficulties, and it took 28 months to go from first flight to combat operations. After being redesignated as B-26 in 1948, it was the only attack airplane available when war broke out in Korea. Crews flew their first mission against North Korea on June 29, 1950, when they bombed an airfield at Pyongyang. Air Force B- 26s were credited with the destruction of 38,500 vehicles, 3,700 railway cars, 406 locomotives, and seven enemy aircraft on the ground in Korea. On September 14, 1951, while flying a night intruder mission, Capt. John S. Walmsley, Jr., attacked a North Korean supply train, but after his guns jammed he used his search light to light the way for his wingmen to finish destroying the train. Captain Walmsley was shot down, died, and was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor. On July 27, 1953, 24 minutes before the cease-fire was signed, a B-26 crew from the 3d Bomb Wing dropped the last bombs of the Korean War. Some holdover RB-26s were part of the initial cadre of aircraft sent to Vietnam as part of Operation Farm Gate. In the early 1960s, On-Mark Engineering converted approximately 40 aircraft into the B-26K Counter Invader for counterinsurgency missions in Vietnam. These aircraft were later redesignated A-26A because of an agreement with the Thai government that no bombers would be stationed there. This type was flown by more than a dozen other countries. A number of aircraft were converted into executive transports for the civilian market. The Navy version, designated JD-1, was used into the 1960s for target towing. Most Air National Guard planes were retired by 1957, but the last VB-26 was retired in 1972.

Jirka Wagner