Word: 26s
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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Probably the most accurate explanation of why they were there was offered last week by an Air Force colonel in Saigon: "We looked around for the first things we could lay hands on, and there was a bunch of stockpiled B-26s and T-28s, so we shipped them off to Viet Nam. After that, it was a combination of necessity to make do with what you've got and Pentagon lethargy...
...fact remains that the 28s and 26s, even though beefed-up for combat, were ill-prepared to take the beating of a drawn-out war in Viet Nam-and were kept too long. Many of the T-28s were flown 4,000 hours or more; a B-26 once returned riddled by 40 bullet holes, was back in the air two days later. When Viet Cong firepower increased, so did the stresses on the motley fleet's wings-already loaded down with armament-as pilots pulled up more abruptly from attack dives. Last week Air Force Secretary Eugene Zuckert...
Belated Beef-Up. Last week Pentagon sources revealed that around 50 sturdier Douglas Skyraider dive bombers have already been shipped to Viet Nam and that 75 more would arrive by the end of the summer-to replace both the B-26s and the remaining combat T-28s. Though also a prop-driven World War II craft, the Skyraider is a much more powerful warplane and almost twice as fast as the B26. Armed with 20-mm. cannon, Skyraiders distinguished themselves in Korea for their close support of the Marines. But the improvement is belated. As to the question...
...Double-Check Corp.-ostensibly an aviation procurement company (the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency last week was busily denying that it had anything to do with it). The Alabamans and at least 14 other recruits were given contracts to go to Central America and train Cuban exiles in flying B-26s. As it turned out, they were to do a job that a lot of U.S. citizens wish many more Americans had been involved...
...score of B-26s was indeed the only air cover contemplated for the invasion, then the U.S. planners, including the Joint Chiefs of Staff (who reportedly okayed the plan), stand convicted of incompetence. They knew that Castro had a force of T-33s, and they also knew that after the long flight from Puerto Cabezas the B-26s would have only enough fuel left to keep aloft for 40 minutes over the target area...