rew how many Gs they were pulling. (G meters may have been fitted after 1962, however.) After a B 26 had lost a wing during a mission on 16 August 1963, strict limitations were imposed on the stressing allowed during missions. But when Captains Herman S. Moore and Lawrence L. Lively were killed in B 26B number 44 35665 on 11 February 1964, the decision was taken to withdraw the B 26 from combat altogether. Moore and Lively had been flying in a fire power demonstration at Eglin AFB range 52 when the left wing of their aircraft separated during pull out from a strafing run.
When news of this second accident reached Vietnam, one B 26 was airborne on a strike mission. The crew were given orders by radio to return immediately to Bien Hoa, making sure not to put any undue stress on the aircraft on their way back. From this day on, the Farm Gate B 26s were, for all practical purposes, grounded.
The conversion of B-26Bs into B 26Ks had commenced in November 1963, with the intention of replacing the Farm Gate B 26s during the second half of 1964, but there was no way the old, unconverted B 26s could be kept in service until then. The remaining thirteen aircraft were flown to Clark Field during the first week of April, where they were officially taken on charge by the Super Sabre-equipped 405th Tactical Fighter Wing. Four of them were to become involved in the Congo operations, and two RB 26s made it back to the USA to be reclaimed at Hill AFB, but the majority were scrapped in the Philippines in late 1964 or early 1965.
The T 28s of Farm Gate had also started suffering losses from structural failures by the spring of 1964, and as a consequence they, too, were withdrawn, temporarily putting the unit 'out of business.' Beginning in May 1964, an initial twenty-five Skyraiders were received as replacements for the B 26s and T 28s, and this type became the standard equipment of all the Air Commando squadrons in Vietnam for the next few years.
The training squadron at Hurlburt Field, by now known as the 602nd Fighter Squadron (Composite) of the 1st Air Commando Wing, had also had their old B 26s grounded in February. By the end of April most had gone to Davis Monthan for temporary storage or directly to On Mark for conversion to B 26Ks, with the last stragglers leaving Hurlburt in late June. This left only three B 26Bs (44 34350, 34596 and 35428) in squadron hands, with the 605th Air Commando Squadron at Howard in the Panama Canal Zone, but on 12 October 1964 the last of these also arrived at Davis Monthan for storage. Thus ended the twenty years of first line service of the B 26B/C and the RB 26 with the US armed forces.
Although really outside the scope of this book, it may be appropriate to give some details of the few B 26s, other than On Mark conversions, remaining on USAF strength after this date. Five former Air Commando B 26Bs remained in storage at Davis Monthan until October 1969, when they were authorized for reclaimation, together with JB 26C serial 44 35627 used for testing at Detroit until July 1965, and B 26C N800W (44 35725) employed by the Weather Bureau until February 1965. The three VB 26Bs of the Air National Guard Headquarters at Andrews AFB were struck off charge on 19 November 1969 (44 34665), 10 December 1970 (44 34360) and 12 October 1972 (44 34610), respectively.
But these were all outlived by B 26B serial 44 35232 used as an instructional airframe by the Inter American Air Forces Academy at Albrook in the Canal Zone since the 1950s. Admittedly, the aircraft had not flown for many years by the time it was terminated as 'obsolete' on 17 June 1974, but it had been kept in flyable condition and was not re designated as a GB 26B (meaning 'permanently grounded') until November 1973. It did, in fact, even outlive the last A 26A on USAF charge by more than a year.