Old Able, the Plane with Personality
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 "Able Bent" |
There are accident investigation photos of October 15th, 1951 of Able in a ditch with the right gear folded under. I was told she had a tire shot out and the pilot lost control of her in the landing. |
| 1st Lt Johnnie Grubbs was Pintail of the night in "Old Able" when he took a shapnel hit in the head, was blinded by the blood and let navigator 2nd Lt. Vince Alessi direct the plane home from the right seat. That must have been a nervous gunner, Sgt. Earl Brooks, in the back as Alessi talked Grubbs in for the landing. (Read Vince Alessi's recount "The Pilot is Hit!" in War Stories.) |  "Vince Alessi" |
 "An Able Cartoon" |
"Old Able" was so well known that she was the star of a series of mission cartoons by Sgt. Bryant, who wasn't even in the 13th. |
| I left K-8 on June 28th, 1952, and "Old Able" was still making
her trips. If she did as well the second year as the first she
would have had over 400 missions. |
| Capt. Reece Black took a picture of Able in August 1952 when she
climbed out of the traffic pattern of K-8 on her way home -- honorably
retired from battle. Reece said she was so tired and out of trim
she was hard to fly. I wondered what happened to her. I thought
she was probably broken up for scrap by an ungrateful Air Force. Not so! |
 "Old Able" |
| I recently discovered Able was brought home and refurbished. In
November 1956 she was given/sold to Colombia in a new life as
a "C" model with a glass nose -- designated as FAR #2508. A glass
nose. Oh, the embarrassment. She was sold to Colombia on a political deal on the pretext she would do anti-submarine work, but was eventually used in counter-insurgncy work. She was written off and abandoned at Cartagena airport in March 1963. Oh, the humiliation she must have felt. Of all the B-26 birds that deserved being dressed up in a museum, it was Able. She always brought her crews home! |
| -- Charles W. Hinton, 13th Navigator hanging on the nose guns of "Old Able" |
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