Martin B-26: The Widowmaker

[Wuzak]

The Martin B-26 Marauder earned the reputation as a widwomaker early in its career, mainly owing to its high landing speed and wing loading, which required good training to be able to control and master (more so than the B-25).

However, its in service record is quite remarkable. It's loss rate was amazingly low:

The Marauder survived all attempts to remove it from service, and by 1944, the B-26s of the US 9th Air Force had the lowest loss rate on operational missions of any American aircraft in the European theatre, reaching a point less than one half of one percent.

http://home.att.net/~jbaugher2/b26_1.html

That is much less than the heavies, and less than the Mossie loss rate.

So why would that be?

It can't be speed, as the B-26 wasn't overly fast (especially the later versions).

It had armament, often including four forward firing 0.5" mgs, but with tail and upper turret, and beam gun positions. But not as much as the heavies.

Bomb load was decent - 4000lbs - 4 X 1000lb or 2 X 2000lb, with earlier models apparently capable of carrying 4800lbs of smaller bombs.

Range was a bit short - around 1100 miles with 3000lbs of bombs.

Could it be that they operated when the Luftwaffe was busy (ie, trying to shoot down B-17s and B-24s)?

Or that the targets they were used for weren't as heavily defended?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B-26_Marauder

[Wuzak]

Given the record of the B-26 do you think that it was rude of the USAAF/USAF to withdraw it from service and give its designation to the A-26?

[Red Admiral]

I think the short range and low bombload restricted it to more tactical targets. The much lower altitude meant that it didn't interfere with the heavies operations either. I think the Luftwaffe just concentrated on the much larger amounts of heavy bombers instead.

[Ricky]

I think the short range and low bombload restricted it to more tactical targets. The much lower altitude meant that it didn't interfere with the heavies operations either. I think the Luftwaffe just concentrated on the much larger amounts of heavy bombers instead.

Why swat the mosquito when you are being attacked by a swarm of hornets...


edit - pun not intended, but I'm still quite proud of it!

[Lightning]

Hi Guys,

Given the record of the B-26 do you think that it was rude of the USAAF/USAF to withdraw it from service and give its designation to the A-26?

The Martin B-26 was already out of service when the Douglas A-26 was redesignated B-26. the "Attack" category had just been done away with, and the "B-26" designation was no longer being used, so they juat exchanged "A" for "B." I, personally, never liked it that this was done.

I think the short range and low bombload restricted it to more tactical targets. The much lower altitude meant that it didn't interfere with the heavies operations either. I think the Luftwaffe just concentrated on the much larger amounts of heavy bombers instead.

But the medium altitudes at which the B-26 bombed made it much easier for flak to bring them down. Very high and very low altitudes make for harder targets, but medium altitudes are made-to-order for AA guns--especially those that were radar aimed.

Regards,
Lightning

[PMN1]

To me the Marauder is one of the best looking aircraft of WW2.

[Double T]

I have to agree with PMN1--I think the Marin B-26 Marauder was also one of the most handsome bomber aircraft of the war. I especially loved those 4-bladed props with the air-intakes on the cowls.
My uncle Harry served in the USAAF with a B-26 Marauder outfit. They were based in Belgium and he was a public relations officer IIRC. I remember he only rarely spoke about his days "over there" but he did mention that quite a few of those boys never made it back home.
I built the 1/48 Monogram B-26 Marauder and presented it to Harry when I learned he had brain cancer. When I sat it down on a card-table in front of him, he got down at eye-level and looked it over very closely. I modeled it with some minor flak damage, and I could tell he was reliving memories he hadn't thought of in 40 plus years.
That was all the payment I needed.

Tim