Col. Tibbets on the B-26 Marauder

Tibbets was tagged to "look into the B-26 problem" solve it and teach other
pilots to fly it. His first comment after flying it for the first time was, "
That Marauder is one nasty airplane".


Arthur Kramer
344th BG 494th BS
England, France, Belgium, Holland, Germany
Visit my WW II B-26 website at:
http://www.coastcomp.com/artkramer

Tibbets was tagged to "look into the B-26 problem" solve it and teach other
pilots to fly it. His first comment after flying it for the first time was, "
That Marauder is one nasty airplane".


Art, didn't Jimmy Doolittle get involved in the B-26 program? What did that
do?

Walt

Subject: Col. Tibbets on the B-26 Marauder
From: (WalterM140)
Date: 6/8/04 12:28 AM Pacific Daylight Time
Message-id:

Tibbets was tagged to "look into the B-26 problem" solve it and teach other
pilots to fly it. His first comment after flying it for the first time was,
"
That Marauder is one nasty airplane".


Art, didn't Jimmy Doolittle get involved in the B-26 program? What did that
do?

Walt

It did a lot of good. It convinced everyone that any good pilot could fly qa
B-26. Doolittle did a remarkable demo. He made low passes on single engine and
pulled up and went around. And did it several times throwing the B-26 around
impressively in the process. The pilots watching the demo were impressed saying
"if he can do it so can I". By this time the B-26 was called the B-Dash Crash,
the Baltimore Whore, the Widow, The widowmaker and the flying coffon. And let's
never forget "One a day in Tampa Bay" But Doolittle was nobody's fool. The
plane he used was not combat loaded. No bombs, no waist guns, no full crew and
only enough fuel to do the demo. So he essentialy solved the wing loading
problem before he even took off. Smart guy. The demo was not just a success it
became famous and an intergral part of the Doolittle legend. But the day after
the war ended my pilot got himself transferred out of Marauders to ATC flying
nice safe DC-3's A lot of guys flew them, damn few loved them. But one thing
about being in B-26's, when anybody heard you were in them, they looked a you
with awe and pity as though you were a very brave man but not long for this
world..They got a look about them that said,:"better you than me".




Arthur Kramer
344th BG 494th BS
England, France, Belgium, Holland, Germany
Visit my WW II B-26 website at:
http://www.coastcomp.com/artkramer

one thing
about being in B-26's, when anybody heard you were in them, they looked a you
with awe and pity as though you were a very brave man but not long for this
world..They got a look about them that said,:"better you than me".

I think I have seen a similar look on people's faces, Art. Our experiences
were not similar, but our aircraft's reputation sure were. We proved them all
wrong, didn't we? Given the chance, I would suit up today for another
opportunity to prove them wrong and I'd bet a mug that you wouldn't pass on one
last chance to ride Willie across a stretch of clear blue sky, with England in
front of you.

v/r
Gordon
PS, during all the D-Day coverage, with hours of vintage newsreels, I noticed
tons of B-26s, including quite a few 344th birds passing by the camera ship. I
don't know if the included bomb carpet footage showed your work, but they sure
made a mess out of the bridges they showed.

Subject: Col. Tibbets on the B-26 Marauder
From: nt (Krztalizer)
Date: 6/8/04 7:43 AM Pacific Daylight Time
Message-id:

one thing
about being in B-26's, when anybody heard you were in them, they looked a
you
with awe and pity as though you were a very brave man but not long for this
world..They got a look about them that said,:"better you than me".

I think I have seen a similar look on people's faces, Art. Our experiences
were not similar, but our aircraft's reputation sure were. We proved them
all
wrong, didn't we? Given the chance, I would suit up today for another
opportunity to prove them wrong and I'd bet a mug that you wouldn't pass on
one
last chance to ride Willie across a stretch of clear blue sky, with England
in
front of you.

v/r
Gordon
PS, during all the D-Day coverage, with hours of vintage newsreels, I noticed
tons of B-26s, including quite a few 344th birds passing by the camera ship.
I
don't know if the included bomb carpet footage showed your work, but they
sure
made a mess out of the bridges they showed.


We were nicknamed the "Bridge Busters". I hit so many bridges I lost count.
When a bridge positively absolutely had to be taken out immediately, they
called the 344th.


Arthur Kramer
344th BG 494th BS
England, France, Belgium, Holland, Germany
Visit my WW II B-26 website at:
http://www.coastcomp.com/artkramer

But the day after
the war ended my pilot got himself transferred out of Marauders to ATC
flying
nice safe DC-3's

That's interesting. I saw on the History Channel that the plane was ordered
right off the blueprints -- there was no prototype first.

The B-26 formations seldom dealt with large fighter attacks, or did they?

Walt

Subject: Col. Tibbets on the B-26 Marauder
From: (WalterM140)
Date: 6/9/04 2:39 AM Pacific Daylight Time
Message-id:

But the day after
the war ended my pilot got himself transferred out of Marauders to ATC
flying
nice safe DC-3's

That's interesting. I saw on the History Channel that the plane was ordered
right off the blueprints -- there was no prototype first.

The B-26 formations seldom dealt with large fighter attacks, or did they?

Walt




Our losses were far more to flak than to fighters.


Arthur Kramer
344th BG 494th BS
England, France, Belgium, Holland, Germany
Visit my WW II B-26 website at:
http://www.coastcomp.com/artkramer

In article ,
(WalterM140) wrote:

But the day after
the war ended my pilot got himself transferred out of Marauders to ATC
flying nice safe DC-3's

I expect he may have been more motivated by post-war job prospects
than actual fear of flying B-26s at that point.
My friend's father went from P-47s to DC-3s as soon as he could so that he
could fly with the airlines.

--
Harry Andreas
Engineering raconteur

"Harry Andreas" wrote in message
...
In article ,
(WalterM140) wrote:

But the day after
the war ended my pilot got himself transferred out of Marauders to ATC
flying nice safe DC-3's

I expect he may have been more motivated by post-war job prospects
than actual fear of flying B-26s at that point.
My friend's father went from P-47s to DC-3s as soon as he could so that he
could fly with the airlines.

Your friend's dad just liked flying 47s..... P/C, what's the difference? A
couple of hundred mphs?
(^-^)))

George Z.

Subject: Col. Tibbets on the B-26 Marauder
From: (Harry Andreas)
Date: 6/9/2004 11:46 AM Eastern Daylight Time
Message-id:

In article ,
(WalterM140) wrote:

But the day after
the war ended my pilot got himself transferred out of Marauders to ATC
flying nice safe DC-3's

I expect he may have been more motivated by post-war job prospects
than actual fear of flying B-26s at that point.
My friend's father went from P-47s to DC-3s as soon as he could so that he
could fly with the airlines.

--
Harry Andreas
Engineering raconteur



As I understand it Art's pilot went right to medical school after the war and
had no interest in the airlines at all.