B-26 Marauder weapons thread

[Maty12]

These two photos show different waist gun configurations!

Photo number 1 shows a modified B-26B (short wing). The photo is taken on the ground through the open camera hatch (the doors of which can be seen in the bottom left and right of the frame) looking forward, likely using a ladder. This installation placed two .50 cal M2s on small platforms firing through the old side windows. A third gun was often placed in the mount forward of the floor hatch.

Photo number 2 shows the newer standard larger waist opening with sliding hatches used from the B-26B-10 through the B-26G-25. Here the .50 cal M2 is mounted on a swiveling arm. In both photos, the ammunition tracks on the sides are for the tail gun.

Note the Martin logo on the upper turret armor and the chutes with ammo..
View attachment 728492

View attachment 728494

 

[Greg Boeser]

These two photos show different waist gun configurations!

Photo number 1 shows a modified B-26B (short wing). The photo is taken on the ground through the open camera hatch (the doors of which can be seen in the bottom left and right of the frame) looking forward, likely using a ladder. This installation placed two .50 cal M2s on small platforms firing through the old side windows. A third gun was often placed in the mount forward of the floor hatch.

Photo number 2 shows the newer standard larger waist opening with sliding hatches used from the B-26B-10 through the B-26G-25. Here the .50 cal M2 is mounted on a swiveling arm. In both photos, the ammunition tracks on the sides are for the tail gun.

In the first photo the ammo belts for the waist guns loop under the guns, suggesting ammo boxes mounted on the floor, near the tail.
In the second, the belts drop down from boxes mounted higher on the fuselage.

 

[Maty12]

Found something neat on the Internet Archive. It's blurry, but here's a training film on B-26 torpedo use. Early long wing models fitted with B-2 Torpedo Directors. These are different from the Mk XXVIII Torpedo Directors used by the short wing models.

View: https://archive.org/embed/torpedoes-in-action-111-tf-787

Source: https://archive.org/details/torpedoes-in-action-111-tf-787

 

[Thumpalumpacus]

Marauder loaded with torpedo:

ETA: That ain't Midway!

 

[Thumpalumpacus]

<edit, dbl post>

 

[ThomasP]

I think the photo of the B-26 with torpedo is from one of the bases in the Aleutian Islands.

 

[EwenS]

I think the photo of the B-26 with torpedo is from one of the bases in the Aleutian Islands.

77th BS 28th CG at Elmendorf from Jan 1942 to early 1943 began with 14 early model B-26.

Pacific Wrecks - B-26 Marauder 40-1373 armed with a torpedo parked at Adak Airfied in the Aleutian Islands in Alaska

B-26 Marauder 40-1373 armed with a torpedo parked at Adak Airfied in the Aleutian Islands in Alaska.

pacificwrecks.com

 

[MIflyer]

It is ironic, but given the deficiencies in US torpedoes in 1942, the B-26's at Midway would have been far better off with bombs, assuming they knew about "skip bombing" which was in reality did not involve skipping bombs into the target. Imagine if Susie-Q could have slung some 500 lb bombs through the fantail of that carrier.

 

[Snautzer01]

Not to mention the need of slowing down to drop the torp.

 

[Greg Boeser]

In the first photo the ammo belts for the waist guns loop under the guns, suggesting ammo boxes mounted on the floor, near the tail.
In the second, the belts drop down from boxes mounted higher on the fuselage.

Also note the "stirrups" hanging from the ceiling. Those are the slings for storing the waist guns when not in use.

 

[Maty12]

Found something neat on the Internet Archive. It's blurry, but here's a training film on B-26 torpedo use. Early long wing models fitted with B-2 Torpedo Directors. These are different from the Mk XXVIII Torpedo Directors used by the short wing models.

View: https://archive.org/embed/torpedoes-in-action-111-tf-787

Source: https://archive.org/details/torpedoes-in-action-111-tf-787

Good news! Periscope Film has uploaded a restored version of the film with much higher contrast and resolution:

View: https://archive.org/embed/25854-Torpedoes-In-Action_vwr.mov

The star of the show seems to be B-26B-10 41-18244 74 "Helen", also featuring B-26B 41-17583 as the parked airplane with a warhead-equipped torpedo. I have not been able to identify any of the other aircraft.

 

[Maty12]

As Greg Boeser mentioned when he started this thread, the first production block B-26s were fitted with waist gun mounts, and this was done at the very latest before the 77th BS started their trek towards Alaska. How early were these fitted? Well, this photo of 40-1363 prior to receiving either camouflage or a top turret shows a .30 cal machine gun fitted to the right waist window, so early in 1941, possibly at the factory. Photo source: asisbiz

According to at the time Lt. Frank Allen of the 22nd BG in Stan Walsh's The B-26 Goes To War pages 38-40, there were 2 waist mounts and one ventral mount, but only one .30 cal to go around. When he asked the chief of the armament section at Wright Field why, he was told that the since the aircraft would fly in a V the ship on the left would fit the gun on its left window, the right one on its right window, and the leading aircraft in the ventral position. While the aircraft were being reassembled in Hawaii Allen requested an additional .30, a .50 and yokes for both so that each aircraft was covered from all three positions. His phrasing is unclear but might suggest that he upgraded the ventral gun from a .30 to a .50. He mentions adding one .30 and one .50 "on the tail", but does so while talking about the ventral and waist guns, in a paragraph that starts with him talking about the B-26's "lower armament". It's impossible to have upgraded the tail gun to a .50 because, as Greg has already covered, it was always a .50. No B-26 was fitted with a .30 cal tail gun.

 

[Maty12]

Once again Periscope Film brings something new to the table, and in a rather unexpected package! This weight and balance instructional video shows B-26C 41-34680 taking off and in flight! Sometimes called the "XB-26E" (I am unsure if this was ever official), 41-34680 was a direct response to a report by the 70th Bombardment Squadron suggesting changes to future B-26 models. Many weight-reducing measures were implemented, and the top turret was moved forward in an attempt to cure the aircraft's draggy nose-high attitude during cruise. What the findings were I do not know, some secondary sources claim it moved the CG too far forward, others that it improved the CG, but I've found no primary sources on it. While the new turret position did not go into production, many of the other changes would be added to the "lightweight B-26C", later to be redesignated as the B-26C-6-MO when Martin Nebraska adopted the production block system. The torpedo chock and the large tube on the right forward fuselage to catch casings from the nose gun can clearly be seen.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tr_JsB2Q3VA&t=42s

Edit: Footage is slightly clearer on this channel (though much is cropped out during the rest of the video):

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ToXpD0TDpMA&t=36s

Edit 2: The 70th BS report is reproduced in the B-26 case history, pages 760-766.