Lady Liberty is a surviving Douglas A-26B Invader with a story spanning World War II, experimental research, aerial firefighting, the Commemorative Air Force, and more than eight decades of American aviation history. Built by Douglas Aircraft in Long Beach in 1944 as U.S. Army Air Forces serial 41-39230, later registered N9682C, Lady Liberty eventually became Tanker 105, a working aerial fire tanker, before beginning another long career as a flying museum aircraft.
This documentary follows the remarkable history of the Douglas A-26 Invader Lady Liberty, from wartime production and service with the Ninth Air Force through her postwar civilian career, research and development work, firebomber conversion, and decades with the Commemorative Air Force. Using original government records, FAA aircraft files, wartime production documents, archival photographs and film, interviews, and original Wingspan Adventures & Flight footage.
A major part of Lady Liberty’s story leads through Rantoul, Kansas, and the aircraft operation of William “Bill” Dempsay. That connection became unexpectedly personal for me. Before I knew Lady Liberty had ever been based there, I had already spent time at the former Dempsay aircraft farm documenting the surviving aircraft, including the old C-54 Skymasters and the recovery and movement of a historic C-47 from the property. Only later, while researching Lady Liberty, did I discover that I had already been walking through a place deeply connected to her own history. During her years with D&D Aero, N9682C was configured for aerial firefighting and operated as Tanker 105.
Lady Liberty would later become something very different: a flying museum. Through the Commemorative Air Force, generations of veterans, families, aviation enthusiasts and young people were able to experience the sound and presence of an operational A-26 Invader. This documentary includes footage of her 2020 departure from Enid, Oklahoma, for the Independence Day flyover over Washington, D.C., along with my own footage of Lady Liberty still flying and appearing before the public in Hutchinson, Kansas, in May 2025.
Then, on November 1, 2025, an incident at Ponca City, Oklahoma changed the direction of her story. What followed became a completely different mission: disassembling an 80-year-old warbird, preparing it for highway transport, and moving Lady Liberty to the Tulsa Air and Space Museum & Planetarium, where another chapter in the preservation of this historic A-26 could begin.
And for sharp-eyed viewers: there is a very brief foreshadowing Easter egg hidden earlier in the documentary. During one transition, something connected to Lady Liberty’s eventual destination appears for only a fraction of a second. It began as an accidental edit, but once I noticed what it had become, I decided it belonged in the film.
ARCHIVAL MEDIA & CONTRIBUTORS
City of Enid, Oklahoma
Lady Liberty 2020
Video Producer: Dane Tate
Museum of Tulsa History
Douglas A-26 Plant, Tulsa — September 11, 1945
Catalog No. 2012.086.424
British Columbia Aviation Museum
Archival Tanker footage and photographs
James Mickley – MickFly Aerial
Contributed photography
Kenn Womack
Contributed photography
Tanker 105 Photograph
Photographer: Unknown
Digital scan contributed by Eric Bannwarth
Jonathan Clayborn – Invader Historical Foundation
Historical research and archival assistance
Firebomber fleet photos - Conair Group Inc.
Additional historical material and research derived from records of the Federal Aviation Administration, U.S. Army Air Forces, National Archives and Records Administration, U.S. Department of Agriculture / U.S. Forest Service, War Production Board, Defense Visual Information Distribution Service (DVIDS), Commemorative Air Force, Invader Historical Foundation, and Goodall Aviation History.
SPECIAL THANKS
Tulsa Air and Space Museum & Planetarium
Commemorative Air Force
Lady Liberty Squadron – Enid, Oklahoma
Henry Klempan
Jonathan Clayborn
Dane Tate
City of Enid, Oklahoma
British Columbia Aviation Museum
Museum of Tulsa History
James Mickley – MickFly Aerial
Kenn Womack
Eric Bannwarth
COPYRIGHT / FAIR USE
Original Wingspan Adventures & Flight footage, photography, narration, editing and graphics are protected by copyright except where otherwise credited.
Certain brief third-party historical images, motion-picture excerpts or other media may be presented for purposes of historical commentary, criticism, education, analysis and documentary context.
0:00 A Legacy of Three Wars
0:45 The Unheralded Invader
2:07 Secrets of Production
4:43 From Combat to Civilian Life
6:21 The Dangerous Second Life
8:21 Delivering History Through Flight
10:34 Disassembling a Legend
15:34 The Final Journey
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Douglas A-26B Invader 41-39230 | N9682C | Lady Liberty
#A26Invader #LadyLiberty #Warbirds #AviationHistory #WWIIAircraft #CommemorativeAirForce 
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