thumb|[[Army Air Forces recruiting poster featuring B-26 Marauders]]
The Martin B-26 Marauder is an American twin-engined medium bomber that saw extensive service during World War II. First used in the Pacific Theater of World War II in early 1942, it also saw service in the Mediterranean Theater and in the European Theater from bases in England and, following D-Day, on the European continent providing tactical support to advancing Allied troops.
After entering service with the United States Army aviation units, the aircraft quickly received the reputation of a "widowmaker" due to the early models' high accident rate during takeoffs and landings. This was because the Marauder had to be flown at precise airspeeds, particularly on final runway approach or when one engine was out. The unusually high speed on short final runway approach was intimidating to many pilots who were used to much slower approach speeds, and when they slowed to speeds below those stipulated in the manual, the aircraft would often stall and crash.
The B-26 became a safer aircraft once crews were retrained, and after aerodynamic modifications (an increase of wingspan and wing angle-of-incidence to give better takeoff performance, and a larger vertical stabilizer and rudder). The Marauder ended World War II with the lowest loss rate of any U.S. Army Air Forces bomber.
The B-26 was built at two locations: Baltimore, Maryland, and Omaha, Nebraska, by the Glenn L. Martin Company. In total, 5,288 were produced between February 1941 and March 1945; 522 of these were flown by the Royal Air Force and the South African Air Force. By the time the United States Air Force was created as an independent military service separate from the United States Army in 1947, all Martin B-26s had been retired from U.S. service. After the Marauder was retired, the unrelated ground attack aircraft Douglas A-26 Invader assumed the "B-26" designation, which led to confusion between the two aircraft.
Design and development
In March 1939, the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) issued Circular Proposal 39-640, a specification for a twin-engined medium bomber with a maximum speed of , a range of , and a bomb load of . On 5 July 1939, the Glenn L. Martin Company submitted its design, produced by a team led by Peyton M. Magruder, to meet the requirement, the Martin Model 179. Martin's design was evaluated as superior to the other proposals and was awarded a contract for 201 aircraft, to be designated B-26. The B-26 went from paper concept to an operational bomber in roughly two years. Additional orders for a further 930 B-26s followed in September 1940, still prior to the first flight of the type.
thumb|Closeup view of a B-26 in flight
The B-26 was a shoulder-winged monoplane of all-metal construction, fitted with a tricycle landing gear. It had a streamlined, circular-section fuselage housing the crew, consisting of a bombardier in the nose, armed with a machine gun, a pilot and co-pilot sitting side by side, with positions for the radio operator and navigator behind the pilots. A gunner manned a dorsal turret armed with two machine guns (the first powered dorsal turret to be fitted to a U.S. bomber), and an additional machine gun was fitted in the tail.