Douglas A-26 Invader - Learning about her service as a tanker

As I write this I am still very much in the process of learning about the the Douglas A-26 Invader's long service as a air tanker in the United States and in Canada. I am enjoying the process of learning about her service as an air tanker, a process that I expect to be engaged in over the course of the next 2 to 4 weeks, perhaps a little longer depending on what is happening in the world of aerial wildland firefighting as we enter the spring fire season here in NJ in a few weeks. And of course fire season is already under way in other parts of the country, and I do try to keep an eye out of current wildland fire activity, thanks to my friends at Fire Publications Blog and Wildfire Today and other friends who send me articles of goings on in their part of the world. Oh, and I should not forget the good folk at the Wildland Fire Hotlist.

Anyway, I have learned something about the A-26 from reading Allan MacNutt's book, Altimeter Rising (2000) , where he writes about flying A-26 tankers for Conair and Air Spray. I know that Air Spray was still using the A-26 as a tanker in 1992 when Allan celebrated 50 years in aviation (Altimeter Rising, pp. 238-242). 

And of course, there is Linc Alexander's book, Fire Bombers into Hell (2010), some of you may recall that I interviewed Linc in November 2010 go here and you will need to scroll down to the bottom the bottom of the page to read the first article. Linc had some time in the A-26 and he also writes about in his book. 

I have learned from reading a book (with a video) called Fire Bombers in Action by Frederick A. Johnsen (2010) that the A-26 was first used as a tanker in the U.S. in the 1960s, but by the 1980s, there were not that many in service in the U.S (p.48).  Johnsen also has a listing of tanker call signs and registrations in his Appendix A (pp. 123-133).

Thanks to a friend who pointed me to a History of Aviation in the BC Forest Service (in three parts), go to this webpage of the BC Forest Service - Centenary Society for more information and links to download this three part series. Part 2 is on Air Tankers. I learned from reading Part 2 of the History of Aviation in the BC Forest Service that Conair first flew the A-26 as an air tanker in 1970 (p.12), in 1978 Conair had ten A-26 tankers (16), and Conair retired their A-26 tankers from fire bombing after the 1985 season (17).

As I said, I am still learning about this magnificent historic air tanker, and I have some old and new friends who are helping me as I continue to learn. I am having a blast! I'm not quite sure where this process will take me, but I promise that I will share the results in a series of articles in what I hope will about 4 to 6 weeks down the road. 

Thank-you so much for your patience.