Marauder fuselage section recovery

Utah beach

Been to see her today and she is looking well cared for in her home, now I’ve seen 2 Marauders.

Would very much like to have attended, having connections to the fuselage….but I’m 150 miles away unfortunately. :apologetic:

There’s a talk tomorrow Tues 28th August about the Marauder fuselage:

http://www.boxted-airfield.com/group-events

FAO Moderators / admin – I sent you an e-mail; has this been received?

FAO: ‘Air Ministry ‘ and ‘Malcom Webb 1950’ I sent you personal mails yesterday regarding the control column parts for the Marauder. If you could get in touch I can connect you with someone at the Boxted Airfield Museum who would like to speak to you.

Many thanks.

Nice to see it well cared for, and all things considered still in remarkable condition. I hadn’t realised before though that it was once an actual Earls Colne based Marauder!?

Rob

I thought this might be of interest. In 2011 I put together a bit of footage of the Marauder section being moved from Earls Colne to Boxted but I never posted the video. Here it now is – apologies for the poor quality of the video. Hope it’s of interest to members on here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zgq7n7GmqFw&feature=em-upload_owner

Hi Chris..

Thanks for the message…check your pm’s shortly!

Regards;
Steve

Steve – RAF Rochford – I’ve sent you a PM ref. a question about the painting.

Also I wondered whether Gus Welborn made any headway back in post 44? Anyone know? – Just curious.

Also, also, I will be putting a fresh post on the Historical section later on regarding a group of people who are arranging a memorial to a Flying Fortress that crashed two days after the war’s end. Although they have made a lot of progress in tracing relatives there is still much to accomplish and if anyone is interested in helping them with the families research such help would be welcomed. The memorial is planned for next year.

Best,

Stan05

AKA

Chris.

Marauder at Utah Beach museum

Just been sent this which may be of interest to memebers:

http://youtu.be/GCLY7tItMhM

Location details if anyone is interested. But bear in mind that there is now a mound of earth next to the gates on the right and on the opposite side of the road. There will be signs to warn approaching traffic of an exit and a ‘Museum Open Entarnce here’ sign in red letters with a white background.

http://maps.google.co.uk/?ie=UTF8&ll=51.937783,0.921886&spn=0.009723,0.01929&t=h&z=16&layer=c&cbll=51.937709,0.921706&panoid=d7aiAWhaLbcGQloEL5mHjA&cbp=12,115.06,,1,3.2

http://www.boxted-airfield.com/boxted-airfield-museum

44-68105/68254 – Martin B-26G-25-MA Marauder

It is painted as a B-26B… 41-31576
41-31573/31672 – Martin B-26B-15-MA Marauder

In order to reduce the alarming rate of Stateside training accidents, a decision was made to increase the wing area in order to lower the wing loading, reducing the takeoff and landing speeds.

The new wing was first introduced on the B-26C production block at Omaha, and did not appear on the B-26B line at Baltimore until the introduction of the B-26B-10-MA production block, which first appeared in January of 1943.

The wing span increased from 65 to 71 feet and area increased from 602 to 658 square feet. A taller fin and rudder was introduced to maintain stability with the larger wing, increasing overall height from 19 feet 10 inches to 21 feet 6 inches.

The B-26B was the designation given to the Marauders manufactured at the Martin plant in Baltimore, Maryland.

The B-26C was the designation given to a version of the B-26B manufactured at a new factory built by the government for Martin at Omaha, Nebraska.

http://www.joebaugher.com/usaf_bombers/b26.html

Staggered the French would allow a machine in Free French colours from a National museum to be painted in anything other than that !

Looks like a good replica

Its not, its a great example of the real thing, ex French AF 44-68219

Looks like a good replica

There’s not much to say, except that the B-26 looks fantastic! 😀 I may have to make a trip out there just to see it.

Regardsl;
Steve

– Thought this might be of interest to some members. I was in Normandy this month for the D.Day commemorations and we visited the Utah Beach museum. This has been enlarged and refurbished to a very high standard and reopened for the anniversary. They have installed what looks like to me a B26 variant. Perhaps members on here can identify it. The significance of having this in there was to highlight the bombing mission carried out on Utah beach prior to the landings. The aircraft that pre bombed were based at Great Dunmow – not that far from Colchester.
ATB.
Stan.

Hi Gus;

Great to hear from you, and glad to hear that the information was of interest.

I suppose it is possible that some of those 452nd members are still with us, but I would imagine that a fair few of those that attended that reunion are no longer with us. This was after all, way back in 1992. Have you contacted the 322nd Bomb Group Association? I would imagine that this would be the best place to start in trying to contact those that may have known your father.

I do still have on video cassette the film of the reunions that we had of the 322nd and 323rd Bomb Groups at Earls Colne in 1992. It has been a fair few years since I watched it, but I do know that the unveiling ceremony of the mural is on the tape. I’m trying to recall the name of the guy that unveiled it, but I do remember him mentioning that he was a close friend of John Howell. I will have to dig it out and watch it again!

I know the whereabouts of the photo collections for the 322nd Bomb Group that were held by the museum. There were thousands of photo’s! There must be some photo’s of John Howell, his crew and aircraft amongst the collection. I shall make some enquiries.

As for the mural…unfortunately, this did not survive the closure of the museum. I don’t think that Bob Day has a website either. The one guy who would have been a great help was Dave Brett, who founded the museum with his dad Stan. Unfortunately, neither are with us any more and sorely missed. They held an almost encyclopedic knowledge of the 322nd.

I would suggest also contacting the Air Force records people at Maxwell Air Force base. These guys are very helpful. Also, try contacting Trevor Allen. He is Mr Marauder and can be contacted at B26.com website.

I’ll try to help out as much as I can, so do feel free to keep in contact.

Good luck with your quest!

Regards;
Steve

Just lurking here, really enjoying this thread. Good ideas Steve for Gus Welborn to get in contact with members of the 322nd. Its important for family members to meet vets, for obvious reasons. I might also suggest contacting Marauder Archivist Andrew Boehly for the B-26 Marauder Archives at the Pima Air & Space Museum in Tucson, Arizona. There are 322nd momentos at the Museum, so he may have contacts with the Group association or veterans of the Group. There might be a few vets in Arizona too.

B-26 Marauder Archives PASM http://www.pimaair.org/view.php?pg=58

Andrew Boehly
Marauder Archivist
Pima Air and Space Museum
6000 East Valencia Road
Tucson, AZ 85706
Phone (520) 618-4817
Fax (520) 574-9238

Unfortunately the B-26 at MAPS in Canton Ohio is not being restored to flight. All the parts are there however and would be the last candidate for a flying restoration. The wings have been stored outside since it arrived.

jim

Just a ‘heads up’ that the Boxted Airfield museum is now ‘up and running’ after the official opening last month which was an invited person event.

Although the museum is relatively small it is a signifcant one since a great many well known and famous pilots flew from here. I think in time it will grow. There has been a lot of support from various people and the local community. The ‘Suffolk Coastal Strutt’ in particular have been most supportive. This is a small flying club whose members have their own light aircraft. Since 2006 when the last Boxted Airfield Historical Groups’ ‘Fly In’ was held – a two day public event – they have been holding their own private ‘Fly In’s at the airfield. This has helped to keep the old place alive and a large section of grassed landing strip has been retained by the relatively new landowner so this can occurr each year.

The SCS will be having a private Fly In next month (16th July) – emphasis on ‘private,’ but the public will be able to view from the road should that be of any interest. Light aircraft basically just come in land, stay a while then fly off again. There will not be anything displaying.

This is the Boxted Airfield Historical Groups’s website: http://www.boxted-airfield.com/boxted-airfield-historical-group

The Marauder fuselage will be brought over to the museum on most opening days for viewing.

Local Colchester newspaper article about the opening day: http://www.essexcountystandard.co.uk/news/9068185.Airfield_museum___s_tribute_to_US_fliers/

Just also worth mentioning – the whole project could not have happened without the kind permission of the landowners of the area where the nissen huts have been erected. Without the generosity of Tricia and Robin Gooding there would not be any museum. A big THANK YOU to Robin and Tricia!

(Chris).