B-26K Counter-Invader Restoration ("Special K")

[NImrodA26]

This may actually solve the mystery of what those two tubes are for that are sticking out of the nacelle tail cone. I've always wondered what their purpose was. Can't recall ever seeing anything come out of them.

[A26 Special K]

Well golly Randy, you may have brought up a whole nuther subject for the Mystery parts contest. So those little tubes in the back of the nacelle you think may be related to the tubes on the top of the wing?? Have you checked the IPC yet?? JR

[NImrodA26]

Yep, checked the book, but the only thing I saw that looked promising was some kind of oil vent, either from the engine or oil tank, couldn't figure out which. But, that wasn't my end of the plane. The only "Tubes" I worked on were on the front end, and I knew what came out of them!!!!!
BTW, this has been a great thread for those of us who are a tad too far away to drop in on the weekends to see the progress. Keep up the good work. Hope to get a peek of it about the 3rd week in May.

[A26 Special K]

Randy... thanks for the kind words. We will indeed keep the updates coming about our work on the K. We are very proud of the team and the airplane. It will be a great day when she flies again and the story can be told about the folks who so gallantly went to war with her. As for the little tubes coming from the back of the nacelle, you are very close... they are vents. Let's see if anybody else knows for what!!! JR

[A26 Special K]

Here is another difference between the stock A26 and the K. The air intake for the carb was moved aft and placed on top instead of being in the leading edge of the cowling. Anybody know why this was done? Hint: Jim Galluzzi knows. JR

[hawkeyepoole]

Cowling?

I know, I know, but I won't spoil the fun. It's not just because the sheetmetal guy was bored.
It is performance related. It relates to a deployment of the Ks before Vietnam...

[NImrodA26]

Would it have something to do with "propwash" affecting it?

[hahnej]

Didn't the K-model have R-2800-CBXX models vs the -71/79 models of the original models? Did the carb and/or carb location on the blower change? Maybe the different props and reversing feature might have messed up the original intakes' flow. Would love to see the engine differences on SpecK vs the old SofW. It was pretty room-wise tight to begin with...but I'm 6'5", so I had to work from the 'outside' anyway, couldn't get 'inside' with it.

[RickH]

Actually the carb intake was on top, center leading edge, the alternate air filters were inside the cowlings.

I would expect that the CB carb was mounted differently that the standard engines. Did they get rid of the alternate air filters from the Ks ?

[pjpahs]

Wasn't that part of the "congo mod" for hot weather deployment?

[CAPFlyer]

I was going to say, the standard CB location is on top of the engine, so I would suspect that the change had as much to do with any hot weather deployment as it was stupid to have to deal with all that duct work to feed the intake.

[A26 Special K]

This just in from CNN: What does the Polish Air Force, King Kong, the A.V.G., the USAAF 75th Fighter Squadron and the Air Raid on Pearl Harbor have to do with the On Mark B-26K Invader?
For the answers and the rest of the story, go to: http://napoleon130.tripod.com/id892.html

[A26 Special K]

For those of yoom who are anxiously awaiting the final answer on the two vents at the back of the nacelle, almost there. Very hot.... come on, just a little bit more info please!!

K was born with Ford built-79 engines with water injection and could give 2350 hp in war emergency. She now has R-2800 CB3's. These were not the same engines exactly that the military used. They called theirs the -52W for water injection and 2500 hp. In reality, JR has talked with a fella who was there at the time and said all of the engines came from Convairs that were being converted to turboprops. So there could have been CB3's or CB-16's. The difference is that the 16's had a two stage supercharger for high altitude work. The current CB-3 engines on K were obtained by Denny Lynch from a Martin 404 he purchased in Florida. He apparently had to substitute the engines from K to put on another of his tankers that was used in making the movie "Always". One of my faves, for sure!! The other JR

[NImrodA26]

As a short side note, years ago, when Lynch Air Tankers was still active, they would base one of his A-26's here at the local airport on a "Just in case" basis. When I would hear of a fire in the area, I would go to the airport when they were working the fire just to hear the sound of those engines again. On some occassions, they would only shut down one engine while they were reloading the tank. Trying to figure out how to take that youtube video of Special K starting up and making a ring tone out of it. So far, haven't figured that out yet!

[A26 Special K]

Randy... Hawkeye has some ring tones of the K engines running and maybe starting?? I will check with him to see and if he has it, will get him to send it to you. Thanks, JR