during World War II The B-26 Marauder was used mostly in Europe, but also saw action in the Mediterranean and the Pacific. In early combat, the aircraft took heavy losses, but was still one of the most successful medium-range bombers used by the USAAF. The B-26 was initially deployed on combat missions in the
South West Pacific in early 1942, but most of the B-26s subsequently assigned to operational theaters were sent to England and the Mediterranean area. By the end of World War II, it had flown more than 110,000 sorties, dropped 150,000 tons (136,078 tonnes) of bombs, and had been used in combat by British, Free French, and South African forces in addition to US units. In 1945, when B-26 production was halted, 5,266 had been built.
Pacific Theater The B-26 began to equip the
22nd Bombardment Group at
Langley Field,
Virginia, in February 1941, replacing the
Douglas B-18 Bolo, with a further two groups, the 38th and 28th, beginning to equip with the B-26 by December 1941. Immediately following the Japanese
Attack on Pearl Harbor, the 22nd BG was deployed to the
South West Pacific, first by ship to
Hawaii, then its air echelon flew the planes to Australia. The 22nd BG flew its first combat mission, an attack on
Rabaul, which required an intermediate stop at
Port Moresby,
New Guinea, on 5 April 1942. were detached to
Midway Island in the buildup to the
Battle of Midway, and two of them, along with two B-26s detached from the 22nd BG, carried out torpedo attacks against the Japanese Fleet on 4 June 1942. Two were shot down and the other two were so badly damaged that they were written off after the mission. Their torpedoes failed to hit any Japanese ships, although they did shoot down one
Mitsubishi A6M Zero fighter and killed two seamen aboard the aircraft carrier
Akagi with machine-gun fire. The crew of one B-26,
Susie Q, after dropping their torpedo, were pursued by fighters; seeking an escape route, they flew directly along the length of the
Akagi, braving
antiaircraft fire – to the point the pursuing Japanese fighters had to hold fire temporarily, to avoid hitting the flagship. Another B-26, seriously damaged by antiaircraft fire, did not pull out of its run, and instead flew directly at
Akagis
bridge. Either attempting a
suicide ramming, or out of control, the plane narrowly missed striking the carrier's bridge, and crashed into the ocean. From around June 1942, B-26 squadrons of the 38th BG were based in New Caledonia and Fiji. From New Caledonia, missions were flown against Japanese bases in the Solomon Islands. On one occasion, a B-26 was credited with shooting down a
Kawanishi H6K flying boat. In 1943, the B-26 was decided to be phased out of operations in the South West Pacific Theater in favor of the
North American B-25 Mitchell. Nevertheless, the 19th Bombardment Squadron of the 22nd BG continued to fly missions in the B-26. The B-26 flew its last combat mission in the theater on 9 January 1944.
Mediterranean Theater Three bombardment groups were allocated to support the
Allied invasion of French North Africa in November 1942. They were initially used to carry out low-level attacks against heavily defended targets, incurring heavy losses with poor results, before switching to medium-level attacks. By the end of the
North African Campaign, the three B-26 groups had flown 1,587 sorties, losing 80 aircraft. This was double the loss rate of the B-25, which also flew 70% more sorties with fewer aircraft. Despite this, the B-26 continued in service with the
Twelfth Air Force, supporting the Allied advance through
Sicily,
Italy, and
southern France.
Air Marshal Sir John Slessor, Deputy Commander-in-Chief Mediterranean Allied Air Forces, wrote of "the astonishing accuracy of the experienced medium bomber groups—particularly the Marauders; I think that the 42nd Bombardment Group in Sardinia is probably the best
day-bomber unit in the world." Slessor in fact meant the 42nd Bomb Wing—17th, 319th, and 320th Bomb Groups—but a US 'wing' equated roughly to a British 'group', and vice versa.
Northwest Europe The B-26 entered service with the
Eighth Air Force in England in early 1943, with the
322nd Bombardment Group flying its first missions in May 1943. Operations were similar to those flown in North Africa with B-26s flying at low level and were unsuccessful. The second mission, an unescorted attack on a power station at
IJmuiden, the
Netherlands, resulted in the loss of the entire attacking force of 10 B-26s to antiaircraft fire and
Luftwaffe Focke-Wulf Fw 190 fighters. Following this disaster, the UK-based B-26 force was switched to medium-altitude operations, and transferred to the
Ninth Air Force, set up to support the planned invasion of France. Loss rates were far lower than in the early, low-level days, with the B-26 stated by the 9th Air Force as having the lowest loss rate in the European Theater of Operations at less than 0.5%. The B-26 flew its last combat missions against the German garrison at the
Île d'Oléron on 1 May 1945, with the last units disbanding in early 1946.
British Commonwealth In 1942, a batch of 52 B-26A Marauders (designated Marauder I by the RAF) were offered to the United Kingdom under
Lend-Lease. Like the earlier
Martin Maryland and
Baltimore, these aircraft were sent to the Mediterranean, replacing the
Bristol Blenheims of
14 Squadron in Egypt. The squadron flew its first operational mission on 6 November 1942, being used for long-range reconnaissance,
mine-laying and anti-shipping strikes. Unlike the USAAF, 14 Squadron used the equipment for carrying torpedoes, sinking several merchant ships with this weapon. The Marauder also proved useful in disrupting enemy air transport, shooting down considerable numbers of German and Italian transport aircraft flying between Italy and North Africa. In 1943, deliveries of 100 long-wingspan B-26C-30s (Marauder II) allowed two squadrons of the
South African Air Force,
12 Squadron and
24 Squadron to be equipped, these being used for bombing missions over the
Aegean Sea,
Crete, and Italy. A further 350 B-26Fs and Gs were supplied in 1944, with two more South African squadrons (
21 and
30) joining No 12 and 24 in Italy to form an all-Marauder equipped wing, while one further SAAF squadron (
25 Squadron) and the new RAF
39 Squadron, re-equipped with Marauders as part of the
Balkan Air Force supporting
Tito's
Partisans in
Yugoslavia. A Marauder of 25 Squadron SAAF, shot down on the unit's last mission of World War II on 4 May 1945, was the last Marauder lost in action. The British and South African aircraft were quickly scrapped following the end of the war, the United States not wanting the return of the Lend-Lease aircraft. These B-26s replaced
Lioré et Olivier LeO 451s and
Douglas DB-7s. Toward the end of the war, seven of the nine French
Groupes de Bombardement used the Marauder, taking part in 270 missions with 4,884 aircraft sorties in combat. Replaced in squadron service by 1947, two lingered on as
testbeds for the
Snecma Atar jet engine, one of these remaining in use until 1958. The example shown in the image was completed in 1948 and had streamlined nose and tail fairings and windows inserted in the rear fuselage. It served
United Airlines before being sold to Mexico. It was purchased by the
Confederate Air Force and restored to wartime markings for air-display purposes before being lost in a fatal crash in 1995. ==Variants==