B-26 for Chuter by Buffalo1
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Description
Chuter's comment about the B-26 in the background of my "Razorback Thunderbolt" picture got me to go through the files and pull out this photo I took at an airshow circa 1990. "CAROLYN" was the CAF's B-26C - the famous Martin Marauder of WWII. The B-26 was a demanding aircraft to fly and many accidents during crew training gave it a bad reputation. However, it proved a sturdy and reliable bomber in combat. B-26s served in the Pacific, Alaska, and made a great name for themselves in the North African and European Theaters where they were the principal USAAF medium bombers.
Unfortunately, "CAROLYN" crashed while on a training flight near Odessa, Texas on Sept. 28, 1995 with the tragic loss of all five crew.
Comments (7)
erlandpil
Well capture again erland
dcarvell
Yup, this plane is full of nasty surprises. In its day it was known variously as "the Martin Murderer", the "Baltimore Whore", or "the Flying Prostitute". The latter two nicknames refer to its stubby wings - no visible means of support. Because flight training in Florida proved so deadly the saying was "a Marauder a day in Tampa Bay". Thanks for great shot. Did you get the nose art?
artroland
Very cool, and some personal history to boot. I guess the snakebite came back on this bird.
chuter
The safest American Combat plane to be in ONCE you made it through training. Too bad this one went in with the crew. Kermit Weeks' Marauder is flying so we still have that. Nice picture, I like the lighting.
busi2ness
Very sad to know, good you could have captured her in all her glory and keep her for posterity.
Vik9740
they did a super restoration on this girl... thanks for the history of it
junge1
Great capture of this bird Rog! What I have never officially heard is that these aircraft were used in Southeast Asia, But when I first got to Clark AB, PI in the middle of June 1966 I saw a row of these birds on the flight line, all painted black. I didn't know at the time what they were, but I knew they weren't B-25, because those have twin vertical stabilizers, the B-26 only had one vertical stabilizer, but two engines just as the B-25. A day or two later they were gone, and the entire time I spent in the SEA (Philippines both Clark and Mactan on Cebu), at various places in Thailand including Ubon AB, Korat AB and Udorn AB and in Vietnam I never saw them again. I heard through the grapevine years later that they were used covertly along the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Again, through the grapevine they operated out of Nakhon Phanom close to the Laos border. There was much shady stuff going on in this war, but we didn't know much and didn't ask ed question. BTW, i have never seen one at any of the various airshows we have gone to!