Martin B-26B Marauder, American users, part six

Now it's the turn for the last post about the Martin B-26B Marauder, but it's not, however, the last post about the B-26.
The B-26B was used by the 597th Bombardment Squadron that was formed at MacDill Field, Florida in April 1943 equipped initially with the Martin B-26B and after completing their training with the Third Air Force, they were dispatched to the European Theatre of Operations via Hunter Field, Georgia, on 14th March 1944. They were based at RAF Gosfield, in England, from April 1944 where they flew their first combat missions together with their parent group, the 363rd Fighter Group. They took part on the famous Operation Overlord by attacking V-1 flying bomb launch pads, bridges and other tactical targets throughout all Normandy campaign. They took part on the Operation Cobra in July 1944 after having moved from England to Gorges Airfield, in France, where they attacked naval targets at the ports of St. Malo and Brest. By September 1944 they were already attacking targets in Germany from Peronne Airfield in North-Eastern France. During the Battle of the Bulge, they attacked enemy communications lines and it was then, on 23rd December 1944, when attacking a bridge in Ediger-Eller, Germany, the unit received the Distinguished Unit Citation due to the heavy flak and fighter opposition they encountered. They remained offering ground support until 20th April 1945 when they flew their 239th combat mission. When the war in Europe ended, they returned to Peronne Airfield, from Venlo Airfield in the Netherlands, where they remained until December 1945. They returned to Camp Shanks, in New York in January 1946 when they were disbanded.
The case of the 598th Squadron, was almost identical, as they were also formed at MacDill Field, in Florida, were sent to the European Theatre of Operations on 14th March 1944 and were stationed at RAF Gosfield and later they took part on Operation Overlord, Operation Cobra, the Allied advance into France, Low Countries and Germany and they took part in the Battle of the Bulge where they also received the Distinguished Unit Citation. After the war in Europe they returned to Peronne Airfield in France, before returning to the USA in December 1945 and being deactivated in January 1946.

Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_B-26_Marauder
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/597th_Bombardment_Squadron
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/598th_Range_Squadron
4. Signal Squadron - Aircraft in Action - Martin B-26 Marauder in Action

Martin B-26B Marauder, American users, part five

We start this week with more American users for the Martin B-26B Marauder.
The 444th Bombardment Squadron was formed in July 1942 in Florida and since the very beginning they were equipped with the B-26B Marauder. They started under the command of the Third Air Force in order to be trained, but soon after the formation and training was over, they were transferred to the VIIIth Air Command, in England. They flew some missions over continental Europe until fall 1942 when they redeployed to North Africa and transferred to the Twelfth Air Force in November 1942. They remained there until the end of the Tunisian campaign in May 1943 and took part in the Sicilian, Italian and Sardinian campaigns (where they were rebased in 1944). They were redeployed to France in late 1944 to take part in the bombardment campaigns against German soil, and became part of the occupation forces when the war ended. They remained in Germany until December 1945 when they were demobilized.
The 34th BS, was already formed when the USA entered into the World War II, and they replaced their North American B-25 Mitchell by the B-26 in June 1942 in order to train before being deployed, in November 1942 to North Africa. They took part in the Tunisian campaign and remained there through all the allied invasion of Italy and the south of France during the summer of 1944. They were rebased to Lyon Bron airport, in order to provide support for the troops fighting in the western frontier of Germany and remained there until the war in Europe ended in May 1945. After the German capitulation, they were rebased to Linz, Austria where they remained until November 1945 when they were disbanded.

Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_B-26_Marauder
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/444th_Air_Expeditionary_Squadron
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/34th_Bomb_Squadron
4. Signal Squadron - Aircraft in Action - Martin B-26B Marauder in action

Martin B-26B, American users part four

Today, we retake the American users for the B-26.
The 439th BS, it was formed in mid-1942 in Louisiana and were equipped since the very beginning with the B-26. They were assigned to the European Theatre of Operations in September 1942 where they flew various missions over France and Belgium before being assigned to the Twelfth Air Force and sent to Algeria in order to serve in Mediterranean Theatre of Operations. During the advance in Algeria, they provided air support for the ground troops and, in March 1943 they were rebased to French Morocco in order to be re-equipped with a more modern version of the B-26 and later, in June 1943 they moved on to Tunisia in order to attack Italian islands like Sicily, Sardinia or Pantelleria, among others. In November they were rebased to Sardinia to bomb targets in Central and Northern Italy and during 1944 they remained there providing air support in, among others, the Battles of Anzio, Montecassino and Operation Dragoon. They returned to the United States in January 1945 where they were re-equipped with the Douglas A-26 Invader in order to serve in the Pacific.
In the case of the 554th Bombardment Squadron, they were activated equipped with the Martin B-26 at the south-eastern USA and were assigned to the European Theatre of Operations in June 1943 serving with the VIII Air Support Command and then, in 1944, with the IX Bomber Command. They performed tactical bombardments through all the campaign, from England first and from advanced bases in France and Belgium later. When the war ended in Europe, they were taken back to the USA, re-equipped with the Douglas A-26 Invader in order to take part in the Operation Downfall, the planned invasion of Japan that never took place, so they were disbanded in November 1945.

Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_B-26_Marauder
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/554th_Fighter-Bomber_Squadron
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/439th_Operations_Group
4. Signal Squadron - Aircraft in Action 50 - Martin B-26 Marauder in Action

Martin B-26B Marauder, American Users part three

Now it's the turn for two more USAAF's squadrons, the 432nd BS and the 533rd BS.
The 432nd Bombardment Squadron transitioned to the Martin B-26 from the North American B-25 in 1942 in Louisiana before being, shortly after, destined to North-Western Africa in order to take part in Operation Torch. They took part later in the battle for Tunisia and the operation Husky, the invasion of Sicily, in 1943 and, when Sardinia was liberated, they were rebased there and to Corsica in order to take part in Operation Dragoon, the invasion of Southern France. They were rebased to Southern France in 1944 and took part in the bombing campaigns against German homeland until the end of the war. They remained in Germany after the war until November 1945 when they were deactivated.
The 533rd Bombardment Squadron got some Martin B-26 Marauders that served with the rest of the squadron operating from the United Kingdom as part of the Eighth Air Force since 1943 until the end of the war in Europe in 1945. They returned to mainland USA to replace the B-26 and were assigned to the Pacific Theatre of Operations.

Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_B-26_Marauder
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/89th_Attack_Squadron
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/533d_Training_Squadron
4. Signal Squadron - AIrcraft in Action 50 - Martin B-26 Marauder in Action

Martin B-26B Marauder, American Users part two

We keep on with the Martin B-26B Marauder in USAAF's hands, and now it's the turn for two more squadrons.
The 37th Bombardment Squadron replaced their B-25 Mitchell by the B-26 Marauder in 1942 and flew them until the end of the war. As they were assigned to the Twelfth Air Force, they operated in the Mediterranean area before moving in 1943 to the United Kingdom and assigned to the Eighth Air Force to perform PSYOPS dropping supplies and propaganda leaflets.
Apparently, the 452nd Bombardment Squadron also used them when was part of the 322nd Bombardment Group and, assigned to the Eighth Air Force, was deployed in the European Theatre of Operations. They were based in the United Kingdom from December 1942 until September 1944 when they were rebased to Beauvais-Tille Airport, in North-Eastern France and later, to Le-Culot Airfield in Belgium where they remained until the end of the war.
Edit: This is our 500th post!

Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Martin_B-26_Marauder_operators
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/37th_Bomb_Squadron
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/452d_Operations_Group
4. Signal Squadron - Aircraft in Action - Martin B-26 Marauder in Action

Martin B-26B Marauder, American Users

Now we start with this, rather long, series of entries about the native users of the B-26, the United States Army Air Force.
We're covering two squadrons in this post, the 439th Bombardment Squadron and 34th Bombardment Squadron.
In the case of the 439th BS, it was formed in mid-1942 in Louisiana and were equipped since the very beginning with the B-26. They were assigned to the European Theatre of Operations in September 1942 where they flew various missions over France and Belgium before being assigned to the Twelfth Air Force and sent to Algeria in order to serve in Mediterranean Theatre of Operations. During the advance in Algeria, they provided air support for the ground troops and, in March 1943 they were rebased to French Morocco in order to be re-equipped with a more modern version of the B-26 and later, in June 1943 they moved on to Tunisia in order to attack Italian islands like Sicily, Sardinia or Pantelleria, among others. In November they were rebased to Sardinia to bomb targets in Central and Northern Italy and during 1944 they remained there providing air support in, among others, the Battles of Anzio, Montecassino and Operation Dragoon. They returned to the United States in January 1945 where they were re-equipped with the Douglas A-26 Invader in order to serve in the Pacific.
The 34th BS, was already formed when the USA entered into the World War II, and they replaced their North American B-25 Mitchell by the B-26 in June 1942 in order to train before being deployed, in November 1942 to North Africa. They took part in the Tunisian campaign and remained there through all the allied invasion of Italy and the south of France during the summer of 1944. They were rebased to Lyon Bron airport, in order to provide support for the troops fighting in the western frontier of Germany and remained there until the war in Europe ended in May 1945. After the German capitulation, they were rebased to Linz, Austria where they remained until November 1945 when they were disbanded.

Sources:
1. https://www.revolvy.com/main/index.php?s=439th%20Bombardment%20Squadron&item_type=topic
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/34th_Bomb_Squadron
3. Signal Squadron - Aircraft in Action - Martin B-26 Marauder in Action

Martin B-26C Marauder, Free French and South African Users

The B-26C was the name given to those B-26 manufactured in Omaha, Nebraska, instead of Baltimore, Maryland that included all the improvements made to the B-26B-55. As such it served with the Free France Air Force and the South African Air Force during the World War II. When serving with the South Africans, it received the denomination of Martin Marauder Mk.II.
The last squadron of the Free France Air Force to receive the B-26 was the GBM 1/22 Maroc that together with its flights VB-109 and VB-125 was detached from the 31éme Escadre de Bombardement Moyen (31st Medium Bombing Wing). After operation Torch, it was decided to re-equip it with the B-26C Marauder replacing the old Lioré et Olivier LeO.45. So the were retrained in Rabat, Morocco and were officialy formed on 1st September 1943. On January 1944 they operated from Châteaudun-du-Rummel, Algeria and later, in March 1944 they moved on to Villacidro, Sardinia, where they remained until the end of the war performing bombing missions against Italy and supporting troops in southern France during operation Anvil-Dragoon.

In South African hands, the B-26C was operated by two squadrons, the No.12 and No.24. They were received in 1943 and were employed in bombing missions on the Aegean Sea, Crete and Italy. The No.24 Squadron received the B-26C in December 1943 when based in Algeria, later in 1944 they were rebased in Pescara, central Italy before moving on, later to Iesi, also in Italy where they remained until the end of the war. When the war was over, the B-26C were employed as transport airplanes, moved to Egypt in October 1945 and were disbanded in November 1945.
In the case of the No.12 Squadron, they replaced their Douglas Boston in December 1943 at Algeria and were rebased to Southern Italy in February 1944 where they remained until the end of the war.

Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_B-26_Marauder
2. https://www.enpa-capmatifou.com/Enpa2/Aero/EVENEMENTS/66_seconde_guerre_13.pdf (translated)
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/24_Squadron_SAAF
4. http://www.b26.com/page/south_african_air_force_saaf.htm
5. Signal Squadron - Aircraft in Action 50 - Martin B-26 Marauder in Action

Martin B-26C Marauder, Free French Users part two

Today we cover two interesting squadrons of the Free France Air Force that were equipped with the Martin B-26C.
The first one is the GBM 2/20 "Bretagne" squadron that received the B-26 in December 1943 at Telergma airfield, in the East of Algeria where they were formed and assigned to the 31º Escadre that was part of the 42nd Bombardment Wing of the USAAF. Later, in April 1944 they operated from Sardinia, together with the other FFL's bombardment squadrons and conducted attack and support missions against Corsica and Northern Italy.
In November 1944 they were rebased to Bron, in Lyon in order to perform attack and bombardment missions against Germany. In March 1945 they were rebased to the French town of Saint-Dizier in order to provide support for American troops fighting in the Saarland.

The second one, the GBM 2/52 "Franche-Comte" was formed as a bombardment group, receiving the B-26C, in Médiouna, in Morocco, in January 1944 where they got their nickname. In March 1944 they were rebased to Telergma, Algeria and in July 1944 they were rebased to Villacidro, Sardinia, in order to take part in the operations against Northern-Central Italy where they remained until the end of the war. After the war, they operated from Blida until they B-26 were replaced in order to serve in Indochina in 1949.

Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_B-26_Marauder
2. http://halifax346et347.canalblog.com/archives/2013/10/11/28195353.html (translated)
3. http://anfas.fr/escadron/Bretagne%203.pdf (translated)
4. Signal Squadron - Aircraft in Action 50 - Martin B-26 Marauder in Action

Martin B-26C Marauder, Free French Users part one

As we said yesterday, after operation Torch, the Free French Air Forces upgraded their medium bombers replacing both their outdated Lioré et Olivier LeO 45 and the Douglas DB-7.
Among them, the Centre d'Instruction B26. This unit was a bomber flying school located in Tunisia that operated both B-26B and B-26C and was located in Algeria first and later in Tunisia.
Another Free France's unit that operated the B-26C was the GBM I/19 "Gascogne" (GBM stands for Groupe de Bombardment Moyen - Medium Bombardment Group) that started to train on the B-26 in Tunisia replacing their Douglas DB-7 on 21st February 1944. Shortly later, on 1st April 1944 the squadron finished their training and, operating from Châteaudun-du-Rhumel, in Algeria together with the Groupes Bretagne and Maroc that were already operating from there.
The squadron was rebased in Sardinia and, on 15th May, they performed their first combat mission attacking communications hubs in La Spezia, North-Western Italy. They remained with those kind of missions until November, when they were rebased to Istres, Southern France first and the Lyon-Bron airbase later in order to perform missions against German soil. They remained there until being disbanded in September 1945.

Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_B-26_Marauder#France
2. http://ec1-91gascogne.fr/trad_escadron.php (translated)

Martin B-26B Marauder, various users

Today we cover two users of the B-26B. The B-26B was an improved version of the previous A version, which included revised tail gunner's glazing and various sub-versions were produced, from B-26B-1 to B-26B-55.
After Operation Torch, the Free-French Air Force re-equipped three of their squadrons with B-26B Marauders. One of those was the Instruction Centre CIB-26, a bomber flying school located in Algeria that was equipped with the already outdated version of the B-26B.
In the German case, after the allied bombed the power station at Ijmuiden, Netherlands, they managed to shot down many B-26 as the raid was a failure and, at least one B-26B was captured and sent to be tested at Rechlin test centre, in Germany. The fate of the airplane is, however, unknown.

Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_B-26_Marauder
2. Signal Squadron - Aircraft in Action 50 - B-26 Marauder in Action

Martin B-26A - British Users

The Martin B-26A Marauder was an improved version of the original B-26 that incorporated the changes made to the production line, including better machine guns in the nose and replacing the 0.3in of the tail with 0.5in ones. Some of them were delivered to the Royal Air Force.
In 1942 a batch of of some B-26A were offered under the lend-lease agreement,  to the Royal Air Force, that designated them as Marauder Mk.I.. Like the previous Martin Maryland and Martin Baltimore they were assigned to the Mediterranean Theatre replacing the Bristol Blenheim of the No.14 Squadron operating from Egypt. They flew the first operational mission with the Marauder on 6th November 1942 and were employed in reconnaissance, mine-laying and anti-shipping strikes. Unlike the USAAF, the Marauders of the No.14 Squadron managed to use eficiently the torpedo-bombing capabilities of the Marauder as they sank various merchant ships with that weapon. It also proved to be efficient against enemy air transports as it shot down various German and Italian air transports operating in the area.
The No.14 Squadron was the only one in the Royal Air Force that operated the Marauder until 21st September 1944 when they were returned to the United Kingdom, where they replaced the Marauders with Vickers Wellington Mk.XIV and were assigned to anti-shipping operations.

Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_B-26_Marauder#British_Commonwealth
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._14_Squadron_RAF
3. Signal Squadron - Aircraft in Action 50 - Martin B-26 Marauder in action.

Martin B-26 Marauder, Early American users

Today we start this new week with one of the most used American medium bombers of the World War 2, the Martin B-26 Marauder.
In March 1939 the United States Army Air Corps issued circular proposal 39-640 with an specification for a medium bomber with a top speed of 350mph (560km/h), a range of 3000milles (4800km) and a payload of 2000lb (910Kg), so, on 5th July 1939 Martin submitted their design made by Peyton M. Magruder, who was a chief designer engineer at Martin. Martins' design was evaluated as the best one, and they were awarded a contract for 201 airplanes, that were designated as B-26. It took approximately two years to materialize the bomber and 930 more of them were ordered in September 1940, still prior to the first flight of the type.
It was a shoulder-wing monoplane of all-metal fitted with a tricycle landing gear. It had a crew of seven and was armed with a 0.30in Browning machine gun in the nose, another two in the tail and another two 0.50in Browning machine guns in a turret placed on the dorsal of the airplane that was the first powered dorsal turret to be fitted into an American bomber.
It began its career with the 22nd Bombardment Group at Langley Field, Virginia replacing the aging Douglas B-18 Bolo. The 38th and 28th soon copied them and received the B-26. Soon after the attack on Pearl Harbour, the 22nd Bombardment Group was assigned to the Pacific Theatre and was deployed in the South-West Pacific, operating from Australia. They made their first combat run attacking Rabaul in April 1942.

Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_B-26_Marauder
2. Signal Squadron - Aircraft in Action 50 - B-26 Marauder in action