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Old 02-24-13, 06:38 PM   #204
Stealhead
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The A/B-26 Invader is one of the more interesting WWII ear aircraft it was one of the few to go through a designation change and in doing so had the same designation as another aircraft no longer in service(B-26 Marauder). The Invader saw the majority of its action in Korea though it did see some action in a last months of the in the ETO and a few months of action in the PTO as well as some use in Vietnam though the largest number saw action in Korea.

During Vietnam they took A/B26 airframes that where sitting out in the Boneyard in Arizona and called them B-26Ks at first they simply refurbished them however after several crashes both in Vietnam and in Tampa Bay,FL (the stateside home of the Vietnam era Invaders was McDill,AFB) the USAF ran an investigation and discovered that the airframes all had weak frames around the wing roots causing them to fail in a catastrophic fashion in mid flight usually killing the crew as well as of course destroying the plane.As a result a company strengthened the airframes but USAF crews never had regained full faith in the B-26Ks and they where often referred to as "Two a Day in Tampa Bay".

The B-26 Marauder also had a bad reputation because it was tricky to fly and there where many accidents so the Marauder sometimes got the nickname "Baltimore Bitch" or "Baltimore Widow Maker" because the main Martin factory was in Baltimore Maryland.
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