To many of us, the A-26 (later B-26) Invader is one of the most purposeful looking medium bombers around. It just oozes speed with those huge engine pods and sleek outline. Designed to replace the A-20, B-25 and B-26 in WWII squadrons, it had a somewhat long gestation period so wasn't available for squadron service until the last year of the war, by which time it really wasn't needed. The result was a large cutback in orders.

Fortunately, enough were built to have the aircraft available for the Korean war where it proved to be invaluable against the North Koreans and Chinese supply lines. Even later on, it was called back into action in Vietnam performing similar intruder missions as it did in Korea fifteen years earlier.

Fred Johnsen's book is divided into several major sections:

----Design
----Development
----WWII use
----Korea and the Cold war
----Foreign use
----Southeast Asia
----Invader Color
----Civilian use
----Barnes Wallis 'Bouncing Bombs' experiments

There are also appendices on US Invader units and on the cost of civil alterations.

As with all Warbird Tech books, there are a huge number of images and sections from the tech manuals, items which are both of interest to modelers. A detailed operational history of the type is beyond the scope of this book, but if you want a great introduction to the type and can only afford one book on the type for your shelf, this would be a good one to buy. Highly recommended.

Editors Note: Now I know that many of you are wondering why all the 'Highly recommended' comments in many of these book reviews. Well, the fact is that I've not read a dog in a long time. It seems as if book publishers know that we will no longer accept warmed over collections of photos and previously published material. It is also a fact that the editors of what I've read have set some pretty high standards and expect authors to meet them. Frankly, it's a trend I'm glad to see.

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