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Description
For the past week and a half, 13th Bomb Squadron Korean War Veterans Charles Hinton, the historian for the 13th Bomb Squadron Association, Col John W. Harris, USAF Retired and myself have been researching this aircraft, known as "The Point" because of her tail marking "!". This was one of two 13th Bomb Squadron aircraft to carry this tail designation.

The 3rd Bomb Group began combat testing the A-26 Invader in June of 1944, it was determined by the test crews that although the A-26 was faster, carried a larger payload and had more armament than their B-25's and A-20's, the A-26 had some serious flaws that made difficult to fly in close formation. Because of the two huge 18 cylinder Wasp engines, the pilot's peripheral vision was severely restricted. Col John Henebry, 3rd Bomb Group CO and one of the A-26B test pilots said it was like being in a slit trench, you could only see ahead and up. 9th Air Force squadrons in Europe who also tested and flew the A-26B in combat, but didn't have the same problem with the A-26 that 5th Air Force Squadron had in the Pacific because of distinctly different bombing tactics. 3rd Bomb Group squadrons were accustom to flying tight wing tip to wing tip bombing and strafing formation and this was exceedingly difficult in the new A-26. The 3rd Bomb Group test crews came up with 32 suggested revisions to the design that Henebry delivered personally to the Pentagon. The suggestions were accepted and the revisions to the design were made, making the A-26 Invader the most advanced light bomber in the Air Force arsenal. The A-26 finished out the war and settle into the occupation of Japan. During this time period, the A-26 was redesignated B-26. From the end of WWII till the beginning of the Korean War, the 3rd Bomb Group was completely transition over to the revised A/B-26 Invaders with the new higher "Clam Shell" canopy, well almost...
When the Korean War broke out, the 3rd bomb group was the first to bomb the North Korean invasion. From bases in Japan, B-26 Squadrons of the 3rd Bomb group provided vital ground support and disrupted enemy supply lines. Through all this, one B-26 seemed to have been lost in time. For some reason Tulsa built A/B-26 Serial Number 322343, "the Point" never received the new cockpit upgrade that all the other A/B-26 Invaders received, leaving it with the distinct WWII "Flat Top" canopy. At some point it's 6-gun hard nose was replaced with a "C" model glass or soft nose and all her guns were removed, the "!" was relegated to administrative "Hack" duties, flying personnel to and from Japan as well as picking up and delivering spare parts and supplies.
Col John W. Harris of the 13th Bomb Squadron flew the "Point" several times and found it to be a smooth flying aircraft with good handling characteristics. He claims due to his inexperience, the "Flat Top" canopy wasn't a problem for him, that and the fact that he wasn't flying it in combat. Later on, photographic evidence in the 13th Bomb Squadron archives show that well into the Korean War, possibly in 1952 or 1953 the "Point" finally got the new cockpit upgraded, but still retained the glass soft nose and was eventually used in combat.
My illustration shows the point in her WWII days, a Tulsa built "Flat Top", with a 6-gun nose and dual rear gun turrets.

Adobe Illustrator 8.0, Apple Macintosh G4 Power Mac and G3 iMac, OS 9.2

Description
For the past week and a half, 13th Bomb Squadron Korean War Veterans Charles Hinton, the historian for the 13th Bomb Squadron Association, Col John W. Harris, USAF Retired and myself have been researching this aircraft, known as "The Point" because of her tail marking "!". This was one of two 13th Bomb Squadron aircraft to carry this tail designation.

The 3rd Bomb Group began combat testing the A-26 Invader in June of 1944, it was determined by the test crews that although the A-26 was faster, carried a larger payload and had more armament than their B-25's and A-20's, the A-26 had some serious flaws that made difficult to fly in close formation. Because of the two huge 18 cylinder Wasp engines, the pilot's peripheral vision was severely restricted. Col John Henebry, 3rd Bomb Group CO and one of the A-26B test pilots said it was like being in a slit trench, you could only see ahead and up. 9th Air Force squadrons in Europe who also tested and flew the A-26B in combat, but didn't have the same problem with the A-26 that 5th Air Force Squadron had in the Pacific because of distinctly different bombing tactics. 3rd Bomb Group squadrons were accustom to flying tight wing tip to wing tip bombing and strafing formation and this was exceedingly difficult in the new A-26. The 3rd Bomb Group test crews came up with 32 suggested revisions to the design that Henebry delivered personally to the Pentagon. The suggestions were accepted and the revisions to the design were made, making the A-26 Invader the most advanced light bomber in the Air Force arsenal. The A-26 finished out the war and settle into the occupation of Japan. During this time period, the A-26 was redesignated B-26. From the end of WWII till the beginning of the Korean War, the 3rd Bomb Group was completely transition over to the revised A/B-26 Invaders with the new higher "Clam Shell" canopy, well almost...
When the Korean War broke out, the 3rd bomb group was the first to bomb the North Korean invasion. From bases in Japan, B-26 Squadrons of the 3rd Bomb group provided vital ground support and disrupted enemy supply lines. Through all this, one B-26 seemed to have been lost in time. For some reason Tulsa built A/B-26 Serial Number 322343, "the Point" never received the new cockpit upgrade that all the other A/B-26 Invaders received, leaving it with the distinct WWII "Flat Top" canopy. At some point it's 6-gun hard nose was replaced with a "C" model glass or soft nose and all her guns were removed, the "!" was relegated to administrative "Hack" duties, flying personnel to and from Japan as well as picking up and delivering spare parts and supplies.
Col John W. Harris of the 13th Bomb Squadron flew the "Point" several times and found it to be a smooth flying aircraft with good handling characteristics. He claims due to his inexperience, the "Flat Top" canopy wasn't a problem for him, that and the fact that he wasn't flying it in combat. Later on, photographic evidence in the 13th Bomb Squadron archives show that well into the Korean War, possibly in 1952 or 1953 the "Point" finally got the new cockpit upgraded, but still retained the glass soft nose and was eventually used in combat.
My illustration shows the point in her WWII days, a Tulsa built "Flat Top", with a 6-gun nose and dual rear gun turrets.

Adobe Illustrator 8.0, Apple Macintosh G4 Power Mac and G3 iMac, OS 9.2