SaparotRob
Unter Gemeine Geschwader Murmeltier XIII
Could those be field mods for a better flash suppressor?
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Could those be field mods for a better flash suppressor?Greg, found this on the web and though you might be interested. Guessing they did this to make it appear to be shooting bigger guns to the enemy when attacking from the rear.
View attachment 656269
Asisbiz lists this as B-26B 41-17556, 69th BS. Says the photo was taken at Henderson Field, Guadalcanal, 1943. I'm not sure how reliable that information is, I thought torpedo use was discontinued in late 1942.Yup. B-26B, 69th Bomb Squadron. I'm not sure of the serial #.
Well, it was a staged shot. I've seen a wider view shot with more ordnance layed out. So it could be Cactus. 69th was there in Jan '43. This was probably the aircraft flown by Lt Howbert on 7 Jan 1943 during the low level attack on Rekata Bay. James Story's diary misidentified the serial as "7536" but that number is not part of the B-26B serials, which start at 41-17544. It can't be 41-17586, because that one had been shot down over Munda a few days prior.Asisbiz lists this as B-26B 41-17556, 69th BS. Says the photo was taken at Henderson Field, Guadalcanal, 1943. I'm not sure how reliable that information is, I thought torpedo use was discontinued in late 1942.
USAAF 41 17556 B 26B Marauder 38BG69BS The Hattie M at Henderson Field Guadalcanal 1943 01
They were installed as a field modification along with the .50 cal installation. However, while I have seen a number of photos of the windows themselves, the picture above is the only one I've ever seen with the gun in place. That leads me to believe that in a lot of cases, the .30 cal guns were retained. Keep in mind that the existing rectangular windows for the .30 cal gins were originally scanning windows for the tunnel gun, not waist gum positions. At some undetermined time and place, .30 cal mounts were added to fire through the opened window. My guess is that it was done either in Hawaii while in transit to Australia, or soon after the 22nd's arrival there. The first photo shows a typical .30 cal waist position without scanning windows.If you look closely you can see the gun in the stowed position. the second one shows the field added windows. The tunnel gun fired through the entry hatch shown with the ladder.Never saw those scanning windows before. Where they common?
Thanks Greg!The mounts for the .30 caliber waist guns were added Stateside pre-war. They were present already on the B-26s flown to Alaska in January 1942. The modified scanning windows above the waist windows were added around July 1942. The exact shape and placement varied from plane to plane.
Gotcha, missed it. Well I tried I guess LOL. Thanks for the correctionLooks like Douglas - not Martin - B-26 to me