In March 1939, the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) issued Circular Proposal 39-640, a specification for a twin-engined medium bomber with a maximum speed of 350 mph (560 km/h), a range of 3,000 mi (4,800 km), and a bomb load of 2,000 lb (910 kg).

Primarily used in Europe, it became the most important USAAF medium bomber in the European theatre. Despite initial criticism and calls to remove it from service, the Marauder proved itself by 1944 as the bomber with the lowest loss rate among American aircraft in Europe, with a loss rate under half a percent.

Project engineer Peyton M. Magruder designed the Glenn L. Martin Company's B-26 Marauder in response to an Army Air Corps specification issued in January 1939. This specification also caught the attention of North American Aviation, Inc., and that firm responded with the B-25.

Flak-Bait is the Martin B-26 Marauder aircraft which holds the record within the United States Army Air Forces for the number of bombing missions survived during World War II.

Nov 25, 2022 · Identified as B-26B-25 MA Bureau No. 41-31173, the twin-engine medium bomber then took its place in a long line of identical aircraft on the Martin Company’s airfield awaiting transfer into the U.S. Army Air Forces. Its olive-drab fuselage was 58 feet 3 inches long and stood 21 feet 6 inches off the concrete.

Introduced in Update "Wind of Change", the B-26B served as a stopgap between the B-25 Mitchell and the B-17E Flying Fortress, featuring frontal machine guns to strafe ground targets like the Mitchell, while also being closer in size and payload to the Flying Fortress.

It was designed by the Glenn L. Martin Company Aviation in response to a January 1939 Army Air Forces requirement calling for a fast heavily-armed medium bomber; the result was an exceptionally clean design with a high wing, a torpedo-shaped fuselage, conventional tail surfaces, and tricycle landing gear.

B26.COM is dedicated to Martin B-26 Marauder Men who fought in World War II. Personal accounts, photos of crews and planes, and related information. The first Martin B-26 Marauder mission flown was by the 22nd Bomb Group on April 5, 1942.

Jan 22, 2013 · In addition to its impressive record as a warplane, the Martin B-26 Marauder should be considered an historic US Army design for another reason: it was the first warplane ever to be ordered into mass production ”right off the drawing board” without having a …

After aerodynamic and design changes, the aircraft distinguished itself as "the chief bombardment weapon on the Western Front" according to a United States Army Air Forces dispatch from 1946. The Marauder ended World War II with the lowest loss rate of any USAAF bomber.