Martin B-26 Marauder - USA: Books - History and Deployment

Martin B-26 Marauder - The Ultimate Look: from Drawing Board to Widow Maker Vindicated

In his fifth book in The Ultimate Look series, Dr. Wolf again brings the same degree of meticulous research to describe this unappreciated and misunderstood B-26 medium bomber. This massive, comprehensive volume is the first to give the reader a definitive description of this neglected bomber, its development, testing, and manufacture.

The role of the enigmatic aviation icon Glenn L. Martin is described in the development of the American aviation industry and the Marauder. The author made extensive use of the massive document and photo collections of the Marauder Archives at Akron and Tucson, and the Air Force collection at the NMUSAF.
Martin Company design and production information and flight and test evaluations, along with original Company Flight, Parts, and Maintenance Manuals, and rare archival microfilm of original material were also used.

The author was given unprecedented access to the family records of B-26 designer Peyton Magruder. The text is complemented by archival photos and drawings, and new color photos of the Marauders at the NMUSAF, Fantasy of Flight, and MAPS Museum.

B-26 Marauder - Martin's Medium Bomber in World War II

Even today the Martin B-26 Marauder continues to look sleek and streamlined. Although receiving less wartime publicity than America's other medium of WWII, the B-25, in the European theater the B-26 delivered twice the tonnage of bombs and had a lower loss rate. This volume explores the history of this oft-overlooked but widely used aircraft.

The story of this historic medium bomber is told through carefully researched archival photos, as well as photographs of preserved examples, illuminated through detailed captions, thereby illustrating not only the use of the Marauder, but also the details of its construction.
Large, clear photos, coupled with descriptive and informative captions, put the reader on the airfield and in the sky with this historic aircraft. Part of the Legends of Warfare series.

Martin B-26 Marauder

One of the most underrated medium bombers of the Second World War, the Martin B-26 Marauder never fully managed to shake off an underserved early reputation as a dangerous aircraft to fly. Deemed superior to all other designs on the table at the time, almost a 1,000 had been ordered before the aircraft first took to the air November 1940.
From late 1941 the first B-26s became operational in the Pacific, followed by the Mediterranean, but it is in the European theatre that the type was most prolific. It was particularly during the Normandy Landings and later the advance beyond 'the bulge' into Germany, were the B-26s medium level tactical ability shone through.
The Marauder also served with the RAF, SAAF and Free French Air Force in the Mediterranean and also as part of the little credited Balkan Air Force in support of Tito's Partisans in Yugoslavia.
Sadly the B-26 was unfairly treated at the beginning of its career and even more so at the end as many of the 5,200+ aircraft built were scrapped only days after the end of the war. A great aircraft in many respects the B-26 deserves to be in a better place.

Contents: Introduction - Design and Development - Technical Specifications and Variants - Operational History - Conclusion - Bibliography and Further Reading.

B-26 Marauder Units of the Eighth and Ninth Air Forces

The medium bomber 'workhorse' of the Ninth Air Force, Martin's much-maligned B-26 Marauder recovered from its poor start with the Eighth Air Force to go on and equip no less than eight bomber groups in the ETO. Although initially dubbed 'the widow maker', a change of tactics from low- to medium-level bombing for the Marauder soon improved the crews' chances of survival - indeed, by war's end it boasted a lower loss-per-sortie ratio than any other twin-engined bomber in the USAAF.
This volume covers all aspects of Marauder operations in Western Europe, featuring first hand accounts from surviving B-26 crews, plus an analysis of the tactics employed.

Contents: Author's Introduction - A Phoenix Rising- Honing the Technique - The New Ninth - D-Day to the Ardennes - Battle of the bulge - Deadly Adversaries - Appendices.

B-26 Marauder Units of the MTO

The revolutionary design of the B-26, with its seemingly impossibly short and dangerous wingspan initially gained it a reputation as a 'widow maker'. However, improvements to the design and the development of effective combat tactics enabled these units to make the B-26 a very effective and safe combat aircraft which went on to play a major role in the defeat of Axis forces in North Africa, Italy, France and Germany.

Packed with first-hand accounts and rare previously unpublished photographs, this book examines how hastily trained crews proved the B-26 to be a highly reliable, effective medium bomber, establishing the Marauder as one of the truly great aircraft of World War II.

Contents:
1) Training and Combat Debut, July 1942-May 1943
2) Targeting Italy, June-October 1943
3) Re-organisation and Consolidation, October 1943-February 1944
4) Marauder Operations March-August 1944
5) Operations from Corsica September 1944-November 1944
6) Into Germany, November 1944-May 1945
7) Marauder Markings
Appendices