"One A Day In Tampa Bay" B-26 training crashes

[12XU2A3X3]

this was hyperbole, as there weren't quite that many but...anything left? anyone dive the area?

-Christian

[CraigQ]

this was hyperbole, as there weren't quite that many but...anything left? anyone dive the area?

-Christian

They were also referred to as "the widow maker" and
"the Baltimore Whore (no visible means of support)
that is until Doolittle went up in one and flew it around on one engine. There is a picture of that one engined flight in an old book titled 'Martins Maligned Marauder'

[PinecastleAAF]

this was hyperbole, as there weren't quite that many but...anything left?

Nada. Shallow water, fast currents, wartime salvage crews and time have taken care of it all.

[tom d. friedman]

excellent question!!! i would think at that early stage of the war & with the situation of desperation of the time, that the usaaf would have made a concerted effort to retrieve any of it's assets if feasible, or at least explore the possibility. on the other hand...... for a la la land dream, there could be a nice cache of marauders in the drink ripe for recovery. it took jimmy doolittle to take the fear out of the bomber by flying it / landing on 1 engine a number of times.

[Steve Nelson]

Didn't somebody fish out a Marauder landing gear or prop or something a couple years ago?

SN

[ALOHADAVE]

A review of the accident data reveals that the actual number at the peak was more like 2 per week.
DaveT

[TonyM]

CraigQ

They were also referred to as "the widow maker" and
"the Baltimore Whore (no visible means of support)
that is until Doolittle went up in one and flew it around on one engine. There is a picture of that one engined flight in an old book titled 'Martins Maligned Marauder'

Actually the B-26 was tamed by a larger wing surface and taller vertical fin; this made the airplane a little more forgiving.

TM

[John Dupre]

CraigQ

They were also referred to as "the widow maker" and
"the Baltimore Whore (no visible means of support)
that is until Doolittle went up in one and flew it around on one engine. There is a picture of that one engined flight in an old book titled 'Martins Maligned Marauder'

Actually the B-26 was tamed by a larger wing surface and taller vertical fin; this made the airplane a little more forgiving.

TM

True but there was also the development of procedures and standardized training for the B-26. If you flew it by the numbers it was not that dangerous. The problem early on was no one really knew what the numbers were or how to impart them in training. Training procedures for individual aircraft was something that really got going during WW2. Prior to that it was almost as if any pilot was considered competent to fly any aircraft.

[TonyM]

A review of the accident data reveals that the actual number at the peak was more like 2 per week.
DaveT

Dave,

After a detailed review of the AAF accident reports from WWII, there were seven fatal B-26 accidents in Tampa Bay proper during the war.

21 July 1942
2 Sept 1942
5 Sept 1942
8 Dec 1942
13 March 1943
10 April 1943
8 Oct 1943

There were certainly non-fatal B-26 accidents in Tampa Bay proper as well, but I don't have those numbers at hand.
There were many fatal and non-fatal B-26 accidents in around the Tampa area during the early part of the war.
Detailed summaries of the fatal accidents in the Tampa area can be found in my book.

Also, a B-29 crashed into Tampa Bay on 20 June 1945. This was also a fatal accident.

You might want to find a guy named Bob Widner. He has done a lot of research in this area.

TM.