During the 1970s/80s, various chunks of Martin B-26C 41-35253 were known to be extant in the UK. The forward fuselage was listed in Wrecks & Relics 6 (1978) as being at Duxford and I saw the tail section at Andrewsfield a few years later. The aircraft was broken up in June 1945 after service with the 454BS/323BG at Earls Colne – anybody know how some of it came to hang around for at least 40 years and if any of it’s still to be seen??
By: Colin Wingrave - 29th April 2004 at 18:27
Thameside Aviation Museum could display it !!!!! we have the remains of our own B.26 Lookie Here our Baby
Just a thought :p
By: Marauder - 29th April 2004 at 14:36
Thanks guys, appreciate your input (all at such late hours too!). As some of you point out, this is actually quite a significant chunk of history with there being such a small number of survivors.
Found and read your scrap yard thread with interest 682, heaven knows how a B26 ended up here in the North West – unless it was scrapped at Burtonwood et al.
By: Fighter_Sweep - 29th April 2004 at 00:30
Marauder tail…
There were plans for the ex Rebel Air Museum Marauder tail section to be displayed at the Marks Hall Estate which is close by to Earls Colne airfield. Marks Hall was in fact the area on which the living and domestic sites of the airfield were situated along with Marks Hall House which was the Headquarters of the 3rd Bomb Wing.
I recall that the decision was taken at the time of the tail section’s recovery that the fuselage centre section was too far gone too keep, and only the tail piece was saved. This was moved by road in the back of a GMC 6×6 truck! It was ( and I presume still is ) in good condition considering and some effort was taken to preserve the metal work whilst at Andrewsfield but any significant restoration was decided against in view of keeping it as original as possible.
It is a real shame that the Marauder is not displayed somewhere which would attract a large public audience. It is after all a very significant piece of a very rare aircraft whose type played a very important role from this country during WW2. In fact it is a shame that the ex Rebel Air Museum collection was sold off as it was a cracking tribute to the Ninth Air Force, which I feel gets largely ignored in the shadow of the Eighth.
I have a personal interest in this thread as I was involved heavily with the Rebel Air Museum for something like fourteen years…seems like a long time ago now!
I shall try and dig out any photo’s that I have of the B-26 tail section and post them here.
By: Yak 11 Fan - 28th April 2004 at 23:36
The B26 tail section was previously displayed at the Rebel Air Museum at Earls Colne. After the museum closed the collection was held in store close to the Airfield. There was a plan late last year to see some of the collection including the Marauder tail displayed again at a relevant place in the local area, I will see how far this plan has progressed.
By: EN830 - 28th April 2004 at 23:22
The is a nose wheel from a B26 in the German Under Ground Hospital here in Jersey, it came from an aircraft from the 573rd BS 391st BG called Tough Sh!t Ticket that came down between here and Guernsey on 25 August 1944.
By: 682al - 28th April 2004 at 23:12
I think you will be referring to the same B26 I mentioned having viewed in a Warrington scrapyard in about 1971, in a thread of a few weeks ago. The throttle box is still in my garage!
There was also a B17 nose in the open and several other unidentified fuselage sections, buried under a mountain of scrap.
By: Graeme C - 28th April 2004 at 22:24
i think there was a museum at Earls Colne that displayed parts of the B26 at some point, i think the museum is now closed?
I would love to see a B-26, the 394th Bomb Group operated B-26s from Boreham (Chelmsford) which isnt far from me. There seemed to be alot of bomber groups that used B-26s in Essex?
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April 28, 2004 at 9:47 pm