“Martin’s Mistake”, “Martin’s Murderer”, “The Flying Prostitute”, “The Baltimore Whore”, and “One a day in Tampa Bay” are all some of the derogatory nicknames and phrases used to describe the Martin B-26 Marauder. This outstanding aircraft was never able to get out from under the bad reputation it got early on. The early versions with the short-span wings and other ticks that come with a new design contributed to the type’s undeserved reputation. A really “hot ship”, it could be difficult for a newbie to handle, but once mastered it then demonstrated its full potential. And when the longer improved wing was installed on later variants, the crews felt that almost all of the ship’s vices disappeared.

Books on the Martin B-26 are not all that common, so it is good to see one that does its level best to dismiss the bad reputation this aircraft garnered in training. As the author state, crews loved the Marauder.

The book begins with the design and development of what was to become the B-26. The design on paper was deemed to be of such superiority to the others in competition with it that over 1000 had been ordered before any flight was ever made. The author gives a good overview of the issues trainees had learning to fly the Marauder, while putting its undeserved bad reputation in perspective. While the 165 accidents per 100,000 flying hours was indeed high when compared to the 104 with the B-25 over the same time, one only has to look at comparative numbers for other twins to gain a new perspective. For every three B-26s written off in accidents, five P-38s and four A-20s were also written off without either of these aircraft being anywhere nearly as badly maligned.

The book covers the many innovations incorporated into the B-26 design. One such was that the ammunition for the rear turret was contained in an area near the bomb bay. Moving the ammo to the rear turret was accomplished by a rail feed system designed in conjunction with Lionel Manufacturing Co. – yes, the same manufacturer that made and still makes toy electric trains!

The next section gives the various specifications of each variant of the B-26 as well as all the changes between these variants. This is followed by a section presenting an overview of the B-26’s operational history in all theatres of WWII with the USAAF, RAF, SAAF, and Free French forces. I found the use of the B-26 by the SAAF as a torpedo bomber to be most interesting.

The book concludes with how, once the war ended, the Marauder was quickly surplused and scrapped, all but lost to history. This despite having the lowest combat loss rate of ANY bomber in WWII!

I really liked this book and there is quite a lot of information contained in its 64 pages. The Martin B-26 has long been one of my favorite aircraft, and this book gives one a greater knowledge of the type. While this book will be of more interest to those with an interest in WWII and/or aviation history, there is information of benefit to the modeler as well. What a stir a SAAF Marauder sporting a torpedo would cause at a contest! The author has even included a closeup picture of such a torpedo and its attachment in the book, so have at it!

My thanks to Osprey Publications for the review copy and IPMS/USA for the review opportunity!