[2] The B-26 became a safer aircraft once crews were retrained, and after aerodynamics modifications (an increase of wingspan and wing angle-of-incidence to give better takeoff performance, and a larger vertical stabilizer and rudder).

[3] The Marauder ended World War II with the lowest loss rate of any U.S. Army Air Forces bomber.

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).

The aircraft was powered by two Pratt & Whitney R-2800 Double Wasp radial engines in nacelles slung under the wing, driving four-bladed propellers.

The Pratt & Whitney R-2800-5 engines were reliable, but the Curtiss electric pitch-change mechanism in the propellers required impeccable maintenance, not always attainable in the field.

These and other malfunctions, as well as human error, claimed a number of aircraft and the commanding officer of the 22nd Bombardment Group, Colonel Mark Lewis.

The Martin B-26 suffered only two fatal accidents during its first year of flight, from November 1940 to November 1941—a crash shortly after takeoff near Martin's Middle River plant in Maryland (cause unknown, but engine malfunction strongly suggested) and the loss of a 38th Bombardment Group B-26 when its vertical stabilizer and rudder separated from the aircraft at altitude (cause unknown, but the accident report discussed the possibility that a canopy hatch broke off and struck the vertical stabilizer).

This was disproved by several experienced pilots, including Colonel Jimmy Doolittle, who flew demonstration flights at MacDill Army Air Field, which featured takeoffs and landings with only one engine.

[12] (By February 1943, the newest model aircraft, the B-26B-10, had an additional 6 feet (1.8 m) of wingspan, plus uprated engines, more armor, and larger guns.

[15] According to an article in the April 2009 edition of AOPA Pilot on Kermit Weeks' "Fantasy of Flight", the Marauder had a tendency to "hunt" in yaw.

[16] The B-26 was initially deployed on combat missions in the South West Pacific in early 1942, but most of the B-26s subsequently assigned to operational theaters were sent to England and the Mediterranean area.

By the end of World War II, it had flown more than 110,000 sorties, dropped 150,000 tons (136,078 tonnes) of bombs, and had been used in combat by British, Free French, and South African forces in addition to US units.

[7][18] Immediately following the Japanese Attack on Pearl Harbor, the 22nd BG was deployed to the South West Pacific,[19][20] first by ship to Hawaii, then its air echelon flew the planes to Australia.

The 22nd BG flew its first combat mission, an attack on Rabaul, which required an intermediate stop at Port Moresby, New Guinea, on 5 April 1942.

Immediately after the entry of the United States into World War II, plans were tentatively developed to send the 38th BG to the South West Pacific and to equip it with B-26Bs fitted with more auxiliary fuel tanks and provisions for carrying aerial torpedoes.

Their torpedoes failed to hit any Japanese ships, although they did shoot down one Mitsubishi A6M Zero fighter and killed two seamen aboard the aircraft carrier Akagi with machine-gun fire.

Either attempting a suicide ramming, or out of control, the plane narrowly missed striking the carrier's bridge, and crashed into the ocean.

[18] Two more squadrons of torpedo-armed B-26s equipped the 28th Composite Group and were used for antishipping operations in the Aleutian Islands Campaign, but no records of any successful torpedo attack by a USAAF B-26 have been found.

[25] Despite this, the B-26 continued in service with the Twelfth Air Force, supporting the Allied advance through Sicily, Italy, and southern France.

The B-26 entered service with the Eighth Air Force in England in early 1943, with the 322nd Bombardment Group flying its first missions in May 1943.

[29] Bombing from medium altitudes of 10,000 to 15,000 feet (3,000 to 4,600 m) and with appropriate fighter escort, the Marauder proved far more successful, striking against a variety of targets, including bridges and V-1 launching sites in the buildup to D-Day, and moving to bases in France as they became available.

[7] On 9 August 1944, Captain Darrell R. Lindsey of the 394th Bombardment Group led a formation of B-26 bombers to destroy the L'Isle Adam bridge in German-occupied France.

[33] Unlike the USAAF, 14 Squadron made productive use of the equipment for carrying torpedoes, sinking several merchant ships with this weapon.

[37] Toward the end of the war, seven of the nine French Groupes de Bombardement used the Marauder, taking part in 270 missions with 4,884 aircraft sorties in combat.

[39] The example shown in the image was completed in 1948 and had streamlined nose and tail fairings and windows inserted in the rear fuselage.

It was purchased by the Confederate Air Force and restored to wartime markings for air-display purposes before being lost in a fatal crash in 1995.