1945-50- Initially delivered to Hunter AAF, Savannah, Georgia then to storage at McClellan AAF, Sacramento, California.
1951 – To Douglas Aircraft, Long Beach to receive latest factory mods/upgrades.
1952 – February 1952- Invader 313 took a 40mm flak hit to its glass nose which destroyed its Norden bombsight and shattered the co-pilots canopy as well.
1953 – July 27, 1953, 313 flew a SHORAN mission over North Korea on this the last official day of the Korean conflict. Invader 313 had accumulated app. 1900 combat hours in two years.
1953-57 – To storage at McClellan AFB, Sacramento.
1957 – Invader 313 was sold at a government surplus auction for $1,776.00 and received its FAA civil registry of N5457V.
1958 – Modified for cloud seeding, Watsonville, California.
1959 – Sold to Aero Atlas, Red Bluff, California.
1960 – Invader 313 became the first B-26 Invader of its type to be modified as a “Borate Bomber” for firefighting operations. Became Tanker 27.
1961-65 – Sold to Wilson Aviation Industries, Lewiston, Idaho DBA. Hillcrest Aircraft. Invader 54V operated as Tanker 20 after being fitted with a hard “B model” nose.
1965-74 – Sold to Butler Aircraft, Redmond, Oregon. Became Tanker 16 and fitted with STOL wingtips.
1974-87 – Sold to ConAir, Abbotsford, BC (registered as C-GHLK) and became Tanker 23. Invader 313 accumulated app. 2000 total hours of fire fighting operations prior to being retired in 1986.
1987- 88 Invader 313 was donated by ConAir to the Reynolds Aviation Museum, Wetaskiwin, Alberta.
1988-90 C-GHLK was sold to Don Crowe, Victoria, BC. (causing high drama at ConAir who donated the aircraft.) Invader 313 was repainted in the WWII livery of the 319th Bomb Group A-26 Invaders based at Okinawa, Japan in 1945 with #13 on tail. It was also refitted with a “C model” glass nose.
1990-99 Sold to Dennis Hamilton/Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum, Mt. Hope, Ontario and Invader 313 was occasionally operated in the air show circuit on the East coast.
1999-2011 – Sold to David Lane, Poway, California. 313 flew with the San Diego Wing of the CAF at various Southern California air shows and then later displayed at the San Diego Air and Space Museum, Gillespie Field. Number “19” repainted on the tail.
2011- Present – Invader 313 was sold to Steve Penning and Phil Gattuso (Black Crow Aviation, LLC), Santa Rosa, CA in July 2011. Flown to Santa Rosa on July 26, 2011 after 8 years of being on the ground in El Cajon, CA
Airframe total time: 4045.0 Hours
Right engine since overhaul: 250 Hours
Left engine since overhaul: 650 Hours
Right and left prop since overhaul: 90.0 Hours (AD complied with July 2012).
Aircraft is going thru an in-depth IRAN right now, including recovering all flight controls, Repainting airframe to Korean War scheme, All new hoses, New tires, Annual inspection, etc.. plus much more.