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 Pratt and Whitney R-2800-5 engines, 1850 hp (1380 kW) takeoff, 1500 hp (1119 kW) at 14,000 feet (4267 m). |
| 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 | 465-962 gallons (1462 gallons max) 1760-3640 liters (5534 liters max) |
| Production | 4683 of all models at Glenn L. Martin Co., Baltimore
MD and Omaha,
NE. 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. Only about 10% of B-26s were allocated to the Pacific.
The aircraft was very expensive to build at 40,000 man-hours per plane.
References
The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia (c) 2007 by Kent G. Budge. Index
