Martin B-26B Marauder
In response to a specification issued by the US Army Air Corps in 1939, Martin Aircraft designed and submitted the Model 179. Martin had a longstanding reputation as a designer of superb medium bombers, and the Model 179 showed much the same promise. It was very revolutionary: the aircraft used a circular fuselage to maximize payload and aerodynamics simultaneously. A twin-gun powered dorsal turret was added, a design so good that it would become the standard turret design for USAAC/USAAF bombers for the entire World War II period. Despite being half the size of the B-17 Flying Fortress, it could carry a similar bombload at three times the speed.
To further enhance the Model 179’s performance, Martin intended to “bake” the fuselage in a heating process designed to smooth out any wrinkles that occurred during construction. In fact, the latter was the only problem the USAAC had with the aircraft: the Model 179, shortly designated B-26 Marauder, would be very expensive and time-consuming to build. Nonetheless, the USAAC placed an order for 201 aircraft, with the runner-up in the competition, the North American B-25 Mitchell, being selected to supplement Martin’s design due to lower cost and quicker manufacturer. The first B-26A flew in November 1940, and deliveries began immediately.
Also immediately, the B-26 began to run into problems. It was not necessarily a fault of the aircraft: the Marauder was simply too “hot” an aircraft for pilots experienced in slower, more docile designs, much less pilots fresh out of flight school. The B-26 had to be flown carefully at all times, especially takeoff and landing, due to a comparatively small wing for its size. The landing speed was 105 mph, equal to that of many modern jet fighters. Landing too hard would inevitably collapse the nose landing gear. At MacDill Field in Tampa, Florida, 28 B-26s were lost in less than a year, 15 in a single month, leading to the phrase “One a day in Tampa Bay” and new monikers for the bomber: the “Martin Murderer,” the “Widowmaker,” “Baltimore Whore,” and the “Flying Prostitute” (as it had no visible means of support). Accident rates were so high that cancelling the B-26 entirely in favor of the B-25 was considered.
Martin attempted to alleviate the problem with the B-26B, with longer wings, but some pilots flatly refused to pilot the Marauder. Martin asked two famous test pilots—James Doolittle and Jacqueline Cochran—to fly it. Doolittle successfully looped the B-26 on one engine, while Cochran said that anyone who was afraid to fly the B-26 was a “sissy.”
Slowly, the B-26 began to shed its murderous reputation. Its combat debuts in the Pacific and Europe had not gone well. Nonetheless, despite these initial failures, the B-26 proved itself in the tactical bomber role in the Italian theater from late 1943 on, and over Europe after the Normandy landings. The B-26’s high speed allowed it to attack from low-level and high speed, which could surprise the enemy defenders, and its crews gained a reputation for precision strike rivaled only by British Royal Air Force Mosquito units. It was especially effective in destroying bridges in northern Italy, denying German forces supplies, and in Operation Crossbow attacks against V-1 launching sites. With refined tactics, the B-26 was to post the lowest loss rate of any bomber in Europe.
Despite its advanced design and enviable war record, the B-26 could never quite get rid of its initial poor reputation, and the advent of the Douglas A-26 Invader gave the USAAF a bomber with all the capability of the B-26 with half the cost. As a result, at the end of World War II, the Marauder fleet was rapidly withdrawn and nearly all the 5288 B-26s met the scrapper’s torch. Only two flyable aircraft would see the 1950s, both serving as crew trainers and engine testbeds with Air France. Both of these aircraft survived and are among the only seven Marauders known to exist today.
I built this 1/144 scale Academy B-26B out of the box. B-26s arrived in theater in bare metal by 1944, but as they tended to operate a lot level, most Marauder units painted the upper fuselage, tail and wings olive drab. This aircraft carries D-Day invasion stripes, which many units carried until the end of the war. 42-107812 KS-J served with the 387th Bombardment Group (Medium), based at RAF Chipping Ongar, UK.
Martin B-26B Marauder
In response to a specification issued by the US Army Air Corps in 1939, Martin Aircraft designed and submitted the Model 179. Martin had a longstanding reputation as a designer of superb medium bombers, and the Model 179 showed much the same promise. It was very revolutionary: the aircraft used a circular fuselage to maximize payload and aerodynamics simultaneously. A twin-gun powered dorsal turret was added, a design so good that it would become the standard turret design for USAAC/USAAF bombers for the entire World War II period. Despite being half the size of the B-17 Flying Fortress, it could carry a similar bombload at three times the speed.
To further enhance the Model 179’s performance, Martin intended to “bake” the fuselage in a heating process designed to smooth out any wrinkles that occurred during construction. In fact, the latter was the only problem the USAAC had with the aircraft: the Model 179, shortly designated B-26 Marauder, would be very expensive and time-consuming to build. Nonetheless, the USAAC placed an order for 201 aircraft, with the runner-up in the competition, the North American B-25 Mitchell, being selected to supplement Martin’s design due to lower cost and quicker manufacturer. The first B-26A flew in November 1940, and deliveries began immediately.
Also immediately, the B-26 began to run into problems. It was not necessarily a fault of the aircraft: the Marauder was simply too “hot” an aircraft for pilots experienced in slower, more docile designs, much less pilots fresh out of flight school. The B-26 had to be flown carefully at all times, especially takeoff and landing, due to a comparatively small wing for its size. The landing speed was 105 mph, equal to that of many modern jet fighters. Landing too hard would inevitably collapse the nose landing gear. At MacDill Field in Tampa, Florida, 28 B-26s were lost in less than a year, 15 in a single month, leading to the phrase “One a day in Tampa Bay” and new monikers for the bomber: the “Martin Murderer,” the “Widowmaker,” “Baltimore Whore,” and the “Flying Prostitute” (as it had no visible means of support). Accident rates were so high that cancelling the B-26 entirely in favor of the B-25 was considered.
Martin attempted to alleviate the problem with the B-26B, with longer wings, but some pilots flatly refused to pilot the Marauder. Martin asked two famous test pilots—James Doolittle and Jacqueline Cochran—to fly it. Doolittle successfully looped the B-26 on one engine, while Cochran said that anyone who was afraid to fly the B-26 was a “sissy.”
Slowly, the B-26 began to shed its murderous reputation. Its combat debuts in the Pacific and Europe had not gone well. Nonetheless, despite these initial failures, the B-26 proved itself in the tactical bomber role in the Italian theater from late 1943 on, and over Europe after the Normandy landings. The B-26’s high speed allowed it to attack from low-level and high speed, which could surprise the enemy defenders, and its crews gained a reputation for precision strike rivaled only by British Royal Air Force Mosquito units. It was especially effective in destroying bridges in northern Italy, denying German forces supplies, and in Operation Crossbow attacks against V-1 launching sites. With refined tactics, the B-26 was to post the lowest loss rate of any bomber in Europe.
Despite its advanced design and enviable war record, the B-26 could never quite get rid of its initial poor reputation, and the advent of the Douglas A-26 Invader gave the USAAF a bomber with all the capability of the B-26 with half the cost. As a result, at the end of World War II, the Marauder fleet was rapidly withdrawn and nearly all the 5288 B-26s met the scrapper’s torch. Only two flyable aircraft would see the 1950s, both serving as crew trainers and engine testbeds with Air France. Both of these aircraft survived and are among the only seven Marauders known to exist today.
I built this 1/144 scale Academy B-26B out of the box. B-26s arrived in theater in bare metal by 1944, but as they tended to operate a lot level, most Marauder units painted the upper fuselage, tail and wings olive drab. This aircraft carries D-Day invasion stripes, which many units carried until the end of the war. 42-107812 KS-J served with the 387th Bombardment Group (Medium), based at RAF Chipping Ongar, UK.