The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia
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Martin B-26A Maurader
| Crew | 5 to 7 |
| Dimensions | 65’ x 56’ x 19’10” 19.81m by 17.07m by 6.05m |
| Wing area | 602 square feet 55.9 square meters |
| Weights | 23,000-37,000 lbs 10,200-16,800 kg |
| Maximum speed | 313 mph 504 km/h |
| Cruising speed | 243 mph 391 km/h |
| Climb rate | 17 feet per second 5.2 m/s |
| Service ceiling | 23,500 feet 7163 m |
| Power plant | 2 1850 hp (1379 kW) Pratt and Whitney R-2800-5 engines |
| Armament | 1 flexible 0.50
machine gun in nose 1 twin 0.50 machine gun dorsal turret 2 waist 0.50 machine guns 1 tunnel 0.50 machine gun 1 twin 0.50 machine gun tail turret 4 fixed nose 0.50 machine guns |
| Bomb load | 5,200 lb (2359 kg) max internal or 1 21.7” external torpedo |
| Range | 1000 miles (1610 km) with 3000 lb (1360 kg) load 2600 miles (4180 km) max |
| Fuel | 962 gallons (1462 gallons with aft bomb bay tanks) 3640 liters (5534 liters with aft bomb bay tanks) |
| Production | 4683 of all models at Glenn L. Martin Co., Baltimore MD
and Omaha, NE, from 1941-2 to 1945-4. 201 B-26 139 B-26A 1883 B-26B 1210 B-26C 300 B-26F 893 B-26G 57 TB-26G |
| Variants |
The B-26B replaced the rear bomb bay
with a fuel tank to increase the range at the expense
of bomb load. It also increased the wing span and tail
area to increase stability. |
The Marauder was an extremely “hot” bomber, with very
high wing loading and touchy handling. Some crews dubbed it the
“Flying Prostitute” because, with its stubby wings, it had no
visible means of support. However, it won the support of Doolittle, and with its
heavy armament and great structural strength, it proved a fine
combat aircraft in the European and Mediterranean theaters, once pilots learned to give
it proper respect. It was less successful in the Pacific, where
the Army Air Forces tended to favor the longer-ranged B-25 Mitchell.
The design team under Peyton Magruder emphasized
streamlining and produced a bomber that was nearly as fast as
contemporary fighters.
The prototype first flew on 25 November 1940. The first units were
deployed to the Pacific and entered combat over Rabaul in April 1942, and a
small number were employed as land-based torpedo bombers at Midway. However, the type was
subsequently earmarked for Europe, and only about 10% of all B-26
squadrons were sent to the Pacific. Improved tactics based on
combat experience, and tweaks to the design, including a slight
tilt to the wings to improve handling, brought the loss rate down,
and by 1945 the Marauder had the lowest loss rate of any U.S.
bomber in Europe. However, the aircraft was very expensive to
build at 40,000 man-hours per plane, the Army Air Forces had
become increasingly disenchanted with Martin, and the decision to
phase out production beginning in 1944 had already been made by
mid-1943.
About 521 were allocated to Britain and other
Commonwealth countries and served mostly in the Mediterranean.
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References
Gunston
(1986)
Sharpe et al.
(1999)
The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia © 2007, 2009, 2011, 2016 by Kent G. Budge. Index
