Warbird Information Exchange

The Marauder Men and their aircraft got the job done with honor in the Pacific and Europe.

James P. Muri is one of the great Marauder pilots. He is still with us, if I'm not mistaken.

That forward fuselage needs to be indoors at least. Susie-Q would look just fine on there.

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Dave

just curious, what problems did/does NASM have with assembling the He-219? I thought the fuselage restoration was done before the wings hence displaying the aircraft minus wings

I have great respect for the men and the b-26 an the mission they did. Wasn't the B-26 nicknamed " Widowmaker?" The B-26 had the lowest loss rate of any bomber i know but i guess we should call everybody morons if we have different opinions huh? Childish....

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" I am a nobody in aviation, but somebody to my family."

This was at the MARC compound at Chino in '83; note the numbers:

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All right, Mister Dorfmann, start pullin'!
Pilot: "Flap switch works hard in down position."
Mechanic: "Flap switch checked OK. Pilot needs more P.T." - Flight report, TB-17G 42-102875 (Hobbs AAF)

I think that aft fuselage with the Japanese "meatball" ended up at Pima.

Here are some snapshots I took of the MAPS B-26 last summer. AFAIK, it'll be strictly static. Progress is slow, as they're having to make a lot of missing parts from scratch. I don't think they have anything forward of the firewalls.

SN

















SN

thank you for the nice pictures

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" I am a nobody in aviation, but somebody to my family."

This is everything else I have of the Marauder. All the pics were taken last August when my wife and I went to MAPS while visiting friends in Akron. The shop isn't really open to the general public, but when I mentioned I was really interested in the B-26, one of the volunteers was nice enough to show us around. The shop space is really tight and the lighting dim, so it's hard to get decent pics (that's not a complaint..it's a working shop, not a display space.)

SN

My grandfather was one of the designers on the B-26, PBM and MARS among other planes. and worked at Glenn L Martins In Middle River MD from the 30's until 1975 when he retired from Martin's. I remember him taking me there when I was 10 or 12 and pointing out where he worked and where the various planes were built (and crashed). He always said the 26 was unforgiving, like a big block corvette, you had to respect it, and know how to control it.

I am no Martin historian but I have spoken to enough people involved in building it and testing it when I was younger. There were a lot of crashes because the kids coming out of trainers were getting a fast, aggressive and hot plane. The wings were short and it had a high landing speed. And pray to god you don't lose an engine on take off.

I would love to get a chance to work on that nose section. If anyone wants to talk them into sending it to CT, please let me know.

So my opinion my be jaded as to weather she was a good plane or not but IMHO She was and is a beautiful bird. Until 2 months ago I had never seen a complete airframe, only Flak Bait's nose in DC. Not that anyone cares but my wife snapped this photo of me, I had been crying. Silly as it was my granddad died in '95, and for a second there in Dayton I felt like I was 12 again with him standing beside me.


I hand painted the jacket if anyone is wondering.

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Andrew King
Air Museum Director with no Museum to Direct
Open to Suggestions

Now that is a great photo..thanks for sharing! It brings home the fact that while the airplanes are cool, it's the people around them that really give them meaning.

Hopefully "Flak Bait" will be back in one piece and on display at Udvar-Hazy before too much longer.

SN

Friends,

Here is a photo of a very tired looking B-26, probably of the same unit as the Hill AFB nose section. The markings are typical of late war AAF Central Flying Training Command, which field I don’t know. The ship could be a transition trainer or a target tow ship.



All the best to you all,

Tom

i'm very sorry you lost your grandfather. god bless him for helping with winning the war

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" I am a nobody in aviation, but somebody to my family."

ok since im stopping in the area i went to the musuem and met a friend who volunteers there.. my third trip to the museum but first with family. so i walked out with him and look at the 26 and here they are. i made them clickable thumbnails because they are 3648X2736 in original form at 10 megapixel

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http://www.fighterfactory.com/
http://www.militaryaviationmuseum.org/



Jon

Cherrybomber13,

My father was also at Martin in Middle River from 1942 to 1957, then moved to Orlando when that plant opened, retiring from there in 1974. He also worked on the B-26 as an engineering draftsman. He passed away in 2002. Maybe they knew each other.

Walt

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If God had intended airplane engines to have horizontally-opposed cylinders, Pratt & Whitney would have built them that way.

those are all of the -26, i did see the -24D is that what ya want photos of? if so i can either send them at same res and size as the 24.... not alot though or i can post em here without trying to highjack the thread. they changed up the inside of the museum.. one side of the plane is depicted as a assembly line and the other side is like an air base after mission. with an engine that looks like it was part of the recovery from alaska? im glad the pics came out its a new camera that i got before i came on this trip, which has gone from tx - nm - az - ca - or - nv - ut - and ending with - co and tx. a nice lil drive.

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http://www.fighterfactory.com/
http://www.militaryaviationmuseum.org/



Jon