Reprinted with permission of Aviation History from May 2009
Reida Rae’s Rebirth
Long after being put out to pasture, an Old Warhorse comes in from the cold at the New England Air Museum
By Larry Smith
Reida Rae being readied for another mission with the Ninth Air Force’s 416th Bomb Group (Light) in 1945.
Lieutenant Jack Buskirk pushed the throttles forward, listening to the throaty roar of the Douglas A-26 Invader’s 2,000-hp Pratt & Whitney R-2800 radials. Flying along with Buskirk on the new Invader, dubbed Reida Rae, on March 18, 1945, was bombardier-navigator Lieutenant Robert Hanna and gunner Staff Sergeant Herman Fessler. They were headed for Worms, Germany, along with other aircraft of the 416th Bombardment Group (Light), Ninth Air Force.
It was the 239th such mission for the 416th BGL. The Invaders were about to join five other Ninth Air Force bomb groups flying Martin B-26 Marauders near Worms, where they would pave the way for General George Patton’s mechanized Third Army to cross the Rhine River. Between 0958 and 1130 hours, the skies over Worms were filled with 223 Ninth Air Force aircraft dropping 345 tons of bombs. The Luftwaffe kanoniers manning anti-aircraft batteries claimed their share of retribution, however, firing up to eight high-explosive 88mm rounds a minute. Four 416th BGL Invaders and several Marauders were lost in the devastating barrage.
Reida Rae somehow escaped unscathed. Buskirk flew the light bomber back to Laon-Athies aerodrome in France, then watched as it was refueled and bombed-up for mission 240, crewed by Lieutenants Claude Brown and Jim Kerns, to the marshaling yard at Kreutztal. Its engines had hardly cooled down after the first flight before the bomber was roaring down the runway once again.
The A-26 Invader was intended as a replacement for the war-weary Douglas A-20 Havocs and B-26 Marauders the Ninth Air Force had been flying into combat since early 1944. The A-26 prototype, designed in part by Ed Heinemann, first flew in July 1942. Heinemann’s contributions included its laminar-flow wing and double-slatted flaps, which helped increase its speed and gave it unusual flat takeoff and landing characteristics.
With its higher cruising speed, longer range, larger bomb-load and enhanced firepower from eight forward-facing .50-caliber machine guns, the Invader was a formidable weapon. Extra firepower could be added via machine gun pods placed under the wings or on the fuselage. In addition, eight 5-inch rockets could be mounted on the wings’ hard points. That meant that after the A-26s made their bomb runs, they could really chew up some real estate, strafing and rocketing targets of opportunity. Most important, the rugged Invader could take plenty of punishment. Pilots particularly appreciated its outstanding single-engine flying dynamics.
Peacetime would see combat survivors like Reida Rae and other Invaders summarily dispatched to the target range, smelting furnaces or, with luck, into commercial, firebombing or other use. Since the A-26 was still a relatively new design when the war ended, with a dependable, state-of-the-art airframe, many warbirds went on to second careers.
A-26C serial no. 43-22499 was built at the Douglas Aircraft Company’s Tulsa, Okla., plant in 1944. Ferried across the Atlantic that December to Melun-Villaroche, France, it was assigned to the 671st Squadron, 416th BGL. Squadron members flew it in combat until Germany surrendered on May 8, 1945.
In 1948, Reida Rae was re-designated as a B-26C. Many B-26Cs saw U.S. Air Force service in the Korean War, as well as in France’s air force during its war in Indochina. Reida Rae was transferred to Japan in 1952, then back to France, where it was assigned to the 126th Bomb Wing at Laon-Couvron Air Base. Stationed with the 60th Troop Carrier Wing in Germany in 1953, it was dropped from the Air Force inventory in 1958.
The National Metals Corporation saved Reida Rae from the scrap heap, refurbishing the bomber for use as a corporate aircraft. It flew for several companies over the next 10 years, but was eventually abandoned in Bridgeport, Conn. When a group from the New England Air Museum discovered the venerable bomber there in 1971, it had already been stripped of many of its instruments and parts. They trucked it to the nearby museum, where it languished on outdoor display for the next three decades.
In November 2003, the Invader was at last moved inside the museum’s restoration hangar, and a crew of enthusiastic volunteers began their work. At the start of the project, restoration crew chief Carl Sgamboti researched Reida Rae’s history—first at Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama, then in the civilian registry, where he uncovered the plane’s corporate history. Sgamboti came across the 416th BGL’s history and learned about its crew reunions. Meeting with group members, he heard about Jack Buskirk, Bob Hanna, Claude Brown, Jim Kerns, Herb Sunderland and Herb Fessler, all of whom had flown in Reida Rae. Three had participated in the March 18, 1945, mission to Worms.
The Invader is stripped bare during an early stage of the restoration process.
The restoration team members, who range in age from 68 to 79, quickly realized that much of the work on a warbird this size was heavy and strenuous, and also daunting because original parts were so scarce. Original dials and gauges have been particularly difficult to find. But the crew has persevered, even locating some hard-to-find components. Another problem was the high price of original parts. To keep costs down, the team began fabricating many items in the machine shop, using technical drawings as guides.
At the outset, the museum’s goal was to return the Invader’s Pratt & Whitney R-2800-79s to working order. But engine restorers found that corrosion had frozen the pistons inside the cylinder heads: Time and water seepage had done their worst. As a result, the team decided not to attempt a full restoration of the engines.
After hearing about the restoration during a 416th BGL reunion, Claude “Brownie” Brown, Jim Kerns and Sandy Brewster came to see their old plane. They met the volunteers who were working on Reida Rae, and shared with them their memories of wartime missions. The veterans were impressed with the work the crew had done; upon seeing the old warhorse, Brown commented, “I was reminded of those who didn’t survive.”
Two old veterans visit an old friend. Pilot Claude Brown (left) and bombardier-navigator James Kerns flew in the Reida Rae.
At this point the restoration work is roughly 65 percent finished, with its completion date very much dependent on the museum’s ongoing fundraising efforts. For the dedicated team members who have worked so hard on this project, there’s plenty of satisfaction in a job well done. But most of those volunteers would agree that their greatest rewards have come from talking with the bomber’s wartime crewmen.
The New England Air Museum is located midway between Hartford, Conn., and Springfield, Mass., at Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks, Conn. See neam.org for updates on Reida Rae and other museum restoration projects.
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For more information about the history of the Reida Rae and the 416th Bomb Group,
read the books
Darwin’s War
Science, Politics, Warfare, Faith, and Sacrifice
The 416th Bomb Group’s Sacrifices to Defeat Eugenics
By L.N. Smith, M.D.
Or
Attack Bombers We Need You!
A History of the 416th Bomb Group
By Ralph Conte
Both books are available through