Hill AFB enjoyed a long relationship with the Douglas A-26 Invader (B-26 after 1949, not to be confused with the Martin B-26 Marauder – which was built and flown at the same time). Built by the Douglas Aircraft Company during World War II, the twin-engined light bomber proved itself invaluable for ground attack.
Two Pratt & Whitney R-2800 Double Wasp 18-cylinder, double-row radial engines powered the light aircraft, making it fast while capable of carrying a bomb load and a variety of guns.
By mid-1950, Hill AFB maintained an inventory of hundreds of B-26s in storage at the installation. As the country prepared for war in Korea, the Ogden Air Materiel Area (OOAMA) received the order to begin regenerating B-26 Invaders from storage and completing the modifications needed to prepare them for combat operations. These modifications included installing water-injection systems, turrets, guns, and long-range ferry tanks.
The OOAMA completed the modifications on 93 B-26s by the end of 1950. Support for the B-26 continued throughout the Korean War, contributing significantly to close air support operations. From 1951 through 1953, Hill AFB completed modifications on approximately 600 B-26s. The story for most World War II propeller-driven aircraft ends in the mid-1950s as jet aircraft began to dominate the air. This is not the case, however, for the B-26.
Hill AFB maintained the responsibility for supporting the B-26 after the modification line shut down in September 1953. After being removed from service in 1958, the Air Force recalled the aircraft for use in counter-insurgency operations in Southeast Asia.
In the early 1960s, the OOAMA supported the Air Defense Command and Air Research Development Command by again performing modifications on the B-26. The Air Force then once more removed it from service in 1964 before once again resurrecting it shortly after. At that time the Air Force authorized the modification of B-26s into the B-26K Counter Invader variant. The first of the 40 aircraft selected for the modification departed Hill AFB for Edwards AFB, California, on June 16, 1964.
In 1966 the improved B-26K Counter Invader returned to Southeast Asia for ground-attack missions along the Ho Chi Minh Trail. The B-26K had a rebuilt fuselage and tail, strengthened wings, improved engines, reversible propellers, wing-tip fuel tanks, and upgraded engines. Redesignated as A-26As, Counter Invaders remained in Southeast Asia until 1969, when the Air Force retired them from service.
Throughout the two decades Hill AFB supported the B-26, this stalwart aircraft contributed significantly to operations around the globe. The high-quality modification work performed by professionals at this installation kept the B-26 flying well pasted its expected life cycle.