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Aviation History
1941
1941 - 2507.PDF
OCTOBER 23RD, 1941. FLIGHT 287 THE THREE MARTINS B-26 is Now Officiary Known, as the "Marauder"T HE present habit of bestowing names of our own choice upon the very excellent aircraft leased and lent to us by America is, though attractive, apt on occasions to lead to a certain amount of confusion. Readers will not yet have had time to forget that the Bell Airacobra was first changed to Caribou and then changed back again. Caribou was a singularly inappro- priate name, of course, and it should not have needed an expert on North American fauna to tell anyone that this was a clumsily-built animal ; a ten-second glance, into the Encyclopedia Britannica would have sufficed ! The story of The Three Martins is rather different. There never was any trouble over the first (the 167 W), which has always been known here as the Maryland. Seeds of con- fusion were sown, however, with the advent ©f the B-26, which was a very different-looking Martin whose British name, so rumour first had it, was to be the Baltimore. Flight was preparing its chart of American aircraft at the time and sought a ruling on the matter from Millbank, THE BALTIMORE (187) : It resembles the Maryland buthas a deeper-sectioned fuselage which drops down at the upper gun-turret amidships. The trailing-edges of its wingsare " webbed " to the ends of its long engine-nacelles. pointing out that there were very good reasons to suspect that the Baltimore was, in fact, the more recently leased and lent Martin 187, though it was designed before the U-26, which bore a close external resemblance to the Maryland. But the voice of Millbank, over the telephone, insisted that, so far as it knew, the B-26 was the Baltimore, and it went all coy at the mention of the Martin 187, concern- ing which no information was forthcoming. It admitted having heard the name Marauder mentioned, but intimated that it certainly possessed no locus standi at the M.A.P. Subsequently it was officially announced that the Martin 187 would be known in the R.A.F. as the Baltimore, but, so far as the B-26 was concerned, well, it might eventually be called the Marauder or, again, it might be christened the Montreal! Glenn Martin advertisements in American journals, meanwhile, continued to bestow upon it the colourful title of the Flying Torpedo. THE MARYLAND (167W) : Doing wonderful service with theR.A.F. in the Middle East ; it can be identified by the com- paratively small section of the rounded nose and the step-upin front of the tailplane as shown on the drawing below. But the point is now settled ; the M.A.P. has recently stated officially that the Martin B-26 bomber is to be known in this country as the Marauder, and to make quite certain that no shred of confusion remains in the minds of its patient readers, Flight herewith publishes, again, pictures of (top, right) the Martin Maryland, (centre, left) the Martin Baltimore, and (bottom, left) the Martin Marauder, together with line drawings (bottom, right) showing the differing shapes of the three respective side elevations. Characteristics at a Glance These illustrations show that the most noticeable differ- ence between the Maryland and the Baltimore is that the latter has a much deeper forward section to its fuselage, which drops down at the upper gun-turret amidships, whereas that of the Maryland runs level from the pilot's cabin to a step-up just in front of the tailplane, a retract- able turret being fitted amidships. The Maryland also has a fixed tailwheel, but the Baltimore has a retractable one. The Marauder, of course, is quite distinctive in its smooth streamlined fuselage, and has a retractable '' tricycle '' landing gear. The mounting of the tapered wings almost amidships, tailplane dihedral, tall symmetrical fin and rudder and the projecting "tails" of the engine nacelles are all easily recognised characteristics of this aircraft. The Maryland has a span of 61ft. 4m. and a length of 46ft. Sin. It is powered by two Pratt & Whitney Twin Wasp engines of 1,050 h.p., which give it a speed of 275 m.p.h. and a ceiling of 29,500ft. Its range is approxi- mately 1,300 miles. No details have yet been released about the Baltimore, and all that can yet be said about the Marauder is that it has Pratt & Whitney 14-cyl. Double Wasp engines of 1,500 h.p. J MARAUDER (B-26) : A iatger machine than the othe;*° Martins, it is beautifully streamlined and has a neatly •aired gun position in its tail. Note the mounting of thewings almost amidships and the long nacelles.
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