In 1980, Tallmantz President Frank Pine sat back in his chair in his office and just shook his head when asked about the Invader. Afer a minute, he recalled the time in 1962 or 1963 when the new company was quite busy with numerous projects. Besides filmwork, they did much photography for Douglas Aircraft at nearby Long Beach and Santa Monica, shooting new DC-8s and DC-9s for customers and/or company advertisements. Pine remembered that it must have really irked someone at Douglas that Tallmantz was using a competitor's product, the North American B-25, to fly formation with their airplanes for the photo work. They suggested that Tallmantz convert an Invader for the filming. Patient conversation ensued, explaining that the A-26 wasn't suited for filmwork since it lacked a tail gun position for a camera mount, the waist positions were lacking, the fuselage was cramped, and access from the cockpit to the nose was limited. Nonetheless, Tallmantz ceded to the pressure and purchased N4815E in 1963. It had a custom-built Cinerama nose constructed to fit the Invader, and the airplane was fitted as best as possible as a camera plane.
Pine recalled that Tallmantz proudly flew their new camera ship on its first flight of air-to-air photography with a Douglas airliner, sure that Douglas would be very happy with them. After a few runs, the Douglas photographer noted that he needed tail shots and the Invader did not seem to have a tail position for him to shoot from. Lacking an alternative, N4815E turned back to Orange County and a B-25 was prepped for the mission. Fini.
That was about as much use as Tallmantz got out of the Invader. It did earn its keep a few times on some specialized military programs that didn't need the aft camera mounts, or could take advantage of the speed advantage offered by the A-26. As a personal note, in observing operations on the Tallmantz ramp from 1966 to 1976 (when the Invader was sold), I not once saw the Invader fly, nor even have its engines run. The only interest that I saw in the airplane was when someone stole an engine cowling off the airplane.
In 1976 Tallmantz sold the airplane. It first appeared to have been sold to Jim Ricketts, later of Aero Nostolgia fame, but that deal fell through. It was soon sold to Tallmantz employee Al Redick for a sum in the $10,000 range. Al Redick had the airplane moved over to Chino, no doubt the Tallmantz employees waving a fond farewell to their ex-ramp hog. It went through several more owners in the next few years, and reportedly was siezed by the government after a attempted drug run south of the border. According to one source the airplane ended up at the War Eagles Air Museum at Santa Teresa, New Mexico, but that has not been confirmed.
*Okay, for those purists out there, we are aware that this was actually, in USAF parlance, a B-26C. However, it was built as an A-26C so that is the terminology we shall use because this is our website.
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A long Cinerama camera nose was custom built for the Invader, shown here in this early 1960s view. Otherwise, the airplane was pretty much stock. The paint scheme was similar but did not match the Tallmantz B-25s. (Al Hansen) |
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The Tallmantz A-26 was under-utilized, as it lacked the versatile waist and tail camera positions. The airplane was "urged" on Tallmantz by Douglas Aircraft, which wanted a Douglas product used to photograph its new DC-8s and DC-9s for advertising and customers. Unfortunately, without a camera position in the tail, it was rarely used. (Norman P. Thompson) |
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Tallmantz wisely got rid of the Invader in 1976, and here it seen at Chino in June 1977. The airplane remains on the U.S. civil registry, shown as "registration pending." At one point, it was registered to "OnMark Aviation" of Knoxville, Tennessee. One report shows the airplane siezed after a drug run south of the border, and ending up with the War Eagles Air Museum at Santa Teresa, New Mexico. |