B-26 MARAUDERS IN FLIGHT FORMATION NICE CLEAR FILM1944

The B-26 began to equip the 22d Bombardment Group at Langley Field, Virginia in February 1941, replacing the B-18 Bolo, with a further two Bombardment groups equipping with the B-26 by December.Immediately following the Japanese Attack on Pearl Harbor, the 22d was deployed to the South West Pacific, being sent by ship to Hawaii and then flown to Australia. The 22d flew its first combat mission, an attack on Rabaul which required an intermediate stop at Port Moresby, New Guinea, on 5 April 1942.
A second Group, the 38th Bombardment Group, received B-26s in November 1941. Immediately after the entry of the United States into World War II, plans to be send the 38th BG to the South West Pacific, to be equipped with B-26Bs fitted with more auxiliary fuel tanks and provisions for carrying aerial torpedos, were tentatively developed. Four of these aircraft were deployed to Midway Island in the build-up to the Battle of Midway, and carried out torpedo attacks against the Japanese Fleet on 4 June 1942. Two B-26s were shot down with the remaining two badly damaged, while their torpedoes failed to hit any Japanese ships, although they did shoot down one A6M Zero fighter, and killed two seamen aboard the aircraft carrier Akagi with machine gun fire.
Two squadrons were detached from the 38th BG (which was converting to the B-25) in May 1942 and deployed to Australia to join the 22d, but it was decided to standardize on the B-25 Mitchell in the South West Pacific theatre. The B-26 flew its last combat missions in the theatre on 9 January 1944.Two more squadrons of torpedo armed Marauders were used for anti-shipping operations in the Aleutian Islands Campaign, but there are no records of any successful torpedo attack by a USAAF B-26.

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• B-26
• BOMBING
• HEAVEY
• MARAUDER
• WAR
• WW2
• FLYING
• AIRCRAFT
• AIR
• PLANE
• FLY