Col. Rohr wrote:
Good question I'm thinking it might be one of the South America one's he purchased, but his notes don't show much nor do they really list what was lost in the hangar fire.
Which leads to the question of which ex- FAN Invaders actually made it back to the US?
We all know 44-34104 N99420 did as it currently flies with Tim Savage.
Dan Hagedorn and Leif Hellström's excellent book "Foreign Invaders" note that in regard to the A-26s traded for Cessna 172s, that neither 43-22668 N99422 nor N99425 made it back! Due to 422 being basically an un- airworthy "hangar queen" which was left in Managua (having been that much since the day of delivery), and 425 was noted even later in Managua missing parts. Add to that the fourth A-26 (which never even got a US registration) which possibly is the one pictured in the book, still in Managua by 1990, very, very derelict.
As for the fire, Flypast quoted Stars and Stripes magazine (their story was also published in part by the LA Times) reporting that "the blaze destroyed two motorhomes, two motorcycles, two runway sweepers, various airport equipment, sixteen racing gliders, and a pair of WWII B-29 bombers". A local Flypast reader drove over to Barstow to check on this, and two of the locally based Daggett Aviation employees took him to inspect the victims. They turned out not to be B-29s, but an A-26 and a Cessna T-50. This along with a load of spares (for what is not mentioned). I have found elsewhere that the "racing gliders" were actually gliders supposed to have been used for a competition at Barstow.
george wrote:
Really interesting pictures, T J. When I visited Barstow in 1980 or 1981, there was only an A-26 hulk and the B-29, which was nosed up to the long wooden bay. I don't recall any parts of aircraft, or parts of any kind laying around, like are in your pictures. No one was at the airport. There was a small old worn sign that said Yesterdays Air Force.
I think the P-39 in your picture was moved over to March AFB.
Very interesting. Possibly the A-26 which succumbed to the fire then. You don't by any chance remember if it was a glass nosed or hard nose version? I just tried using Google Earth's historic view for Barstow, and it goes back to 1995. Not much in particular was visible outside the bays at that time, and it has remained like this until present. So, can we deduct from your report, and Google Earth's views that Barstow ceased being a major storage facility for MARC/ YAF that long ago (1980 ish)?
T J
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