B-26 Carolyn wreckage

[retroaviation]

I can't speak for him, but I'd venture to say that the airplane would only be good for bits and pieces for a future project. You know, a hinge here or a bracket there. There's really nothing substantial left.

[ZeamerB17]

Did Carolyn have combat history? I can't seem to find anything on that.

Dave

[JohnH]

Did Carolyn have combat history? I can't seem to find anything on that.

Dave

No it was a stateside training aircraft.

JH

[ZeamerB17]

Thank you.

Dave

[Aircraft Mech Paul]

I can't speak for him, but I'd venture to say that the airplane would only be good for bits and pieces for a future project. You know, a hinge here or a bracket there. There's really nothing substantial left.

With that being said...who, if anyone, could use the bits and pieces ? MAPS perhaps ?? Or who else ??

Paul

[george]

I thought the tail section, with tail turret, had survived through the crash. Is this not the case?

[HELLDIVERS]

Hi does this pile now belong to Kermit Weeks?If the location is correct I would have to say that Aero Trader used what they could in the rebuild of the Million Dollar Valley B-26.I do remember photos of the crash and seeing a large section of the rear fusalage and tail surviving.The posted photo shows the fusalage star n bar sitting in the pile.Its a shame that the other 2 B-26s recovered from the same sight have not made much progress over the years.Does anyone have photos of the B-26 under restoration for the Hill A.F.B. museum?Where was it recovered from?Isnt there a few nose sections floating around ? I remember a photo of 2 fwd fuselages bolted together and made into a camper,also a complete nose section recovered from the movie lot.The C.A.F. a/c was modified into a high speed business a/c complete with air stair door, baggage compartment,radar nose,three blade props,and extended tail stinger.The C.A.F. never had much luck operating the a/c I recall a few gear problems resulting in excessive damage then the final blow.Thanks Mike

[bdk]

Actually I think that Tallichet's MARC did most of the restoration over a twenty-some year period and Aero Trader just did a little remediation to get the aircraft in ferriable condition for delivery to Weeks.

Hi does this pile now belong to Kermit Weeks?If the location is correct I would have to say that Aero Trader used what they could in the rebuild of the Million Dollar Valley B-26.

[Jase]

Bdk is correct in that MARC did most of the basic resto. Aero Trader did do a bunch of work "fine tuning" the resto though.

I do not believe that any of the Carolyn parts have been used in any other a/c as of yet. And yea, I know of the Pacific Palisades bomber/camper, plus the MGM (I think) nose section. I think they are in the same place.

The Hill AFB B-26, 40-1370, which was the tenth B-26 off the line, was recovered in 2000 from Neknek, Alaska where it had crashed during landing in 1942.

MAPS actually is making pretty good progress on the B-26 they are restoring, considering that they rely on volunteer labour rather than paid shop labour.

And yes, Carolyn was an AiResearch exec aircraft for Tennesee Gas Transmission Co. I have a short writeup on her history, with some scans of old CAF pics etc on my site.

[ww2John]

Helldivers & Jase, a bit more B26 information...

Hill AFB B-26 40-1370

The information I have indicates this a/c "crashed - King Salmon, Alaska" August 16th, 1942 and was recovered by Aerospace Heritage Foundation of Utah (museum at Hill AFB) in 2000.

This is the 7th known surviving complete Martin B-26.

The other 6

40-1459 in restoration at MAPS Air Museum (North Canton, OH)
40-1501 in restoration at Pima Air & Space Museum (Tucson, AZ)
40-1464 maintained in flying status at Fantasy of Flight (Polk City, FL)
41-31773 Flak Bait - a distinguished combat veteran - part on display (forward Fuselage/nose at the NASM Museum on the Mall in Washinton, DC) and the rest in storage at NASM's Garber facility (Silver Hill, MD)
44-34481 Shootin In on display at NMUSAF (Dayton, OH)
44-68219 on display at MAE (Le Bourget, France)

Hope this helps.

John

[12XU2A3X3]

i just wanted to chime in (uninvited several years later) in the event that anyone doing research happens to be reading it:

actual facts:

the following three:
40-1459 MAPS
40-1501 PASM
40-1464 FOF

are sometime referred to as the "million dollar valley" marauders. they are from a three ship flight that went down in Canada with IFR conditions. -1459 and -1501 are both being restored, not to flying, but rather static condition and are still owned by MARC. -1464 IS currently being worked on and should be ready for flight soon (i have that on reasonably good authority).

my own thoughts:

those curious about whether another marauder (it's always rather vaguely stated in the "gee wouldn't it be nice" fashion, and well, it would be) should look to a possible recovery of 40-1426 from PNG. it would be great to see the recovery of this aircraft, the mating of it with one of they several b-26 noses extant, and maybe some parts from caroyln as a tribute to her and her lost crew as well as to the crew of -1426. just my thoughts.

[gary1954]

Hi does this pile now belong to Kermit Weeks?If the location is correct I would have to say that Aero Trader used what they could in the rebuild of the Million Dollar Valley B-26.I do remember photos of the crash and seeing a large section of the rear fusalage and tail surviving.The posted photo shows the fusalage star n bar sitting in the pile.Its a shame that the other 2 B-26s recovered from the same sight have not made much progress over the years.Does anyone have photos of the B-26 under restoration for the Hill A.F.B. museum?Where was it recovered from?Isnt there a few nose sections floating around ? I remember a photo of 2 fwd fuselages bolted together and made into a camper,also a complete nose section recovered from the movie lot.The C.A.F. a/c was modified into a high speed business a/c complete with air stair door, baggage compartment,radar nose,three blade props,and extended tail stinger.The C.A.F. never had much luck operating the a/c I recall a few gear problems resulting in excessive damage then the final blow.Thanks Mike

If I recall correctly, back in the day after the CAF picked her up, they were doing a run-up on her and the starboard gear folded resulting in substancial damag to the main spar. It has been many years since I believe I read that in a magazine I no longer buy.

[12XU2A3X3]

carolyn had, as i recall, two gear folding incidents prior to her destruction. there was discussion about her structural integrity prior to the crash. it should be noted that spar condition was not a factor in the crash.

[Pogo]

The accident report link originally posted in this thread no longer seems viable, can somebody refresh? I was familiar with the a/c once upon a time, but never delved into what happened other than there was a smoking hole. Now I think I'm ready to know. Thanks.

[12XU2A3X3]

i'll look for the link to the NTSB report. the gist of it as i remember:

water in the fuel tanks not drained in preflight.
both engines quit.
long slow approach (big NO in the B-26)
stall, depart, crash.