For their next 'Squadrons' book, RAF-in-Combat has chosen a type that did not see a huge amount of service with the Allies, but those aircraft that were used operationally had a long career (at least in terms of wartime service). This was the Martin Marauder.

The B-26 was one of those rare aircraft that had no prototype and was ordered based on the design specifications. Such was the case in 1939 when it was pretty obvious that the US would be involved in what was until then, Europe's war. The initial production B-26s (first flight was November 1940) were sent from the production line straight to the test units and based on the evaluations, the planes that had not yet been built were modified.

It was planned to equip three bomb groups with the B-26 but as it turned out, only the 22nd BG was fully equipped. In early 1941, thanks to Lend Lease, the UK had carte blanche to order any US military equipment it wanted. As such it wanted the B-26A and 71 of the aircraft were ordered. This constituted a goodly portion of the production run, so US units simply had to wait.

These planes were sent to the Middle East and as you'd expect from what was a 'hot' aircraft, several were lost before they could reach there. These were then incorporated into 14 Squadron, the only Commonwealth unit to fly the type.  However, they were not used primarily as bombers but as recon and torpedo planes, though they did perform bombing missions from time to time as well. They gave good service in the Med until September of 1944, having flown 1,450 sorties of mostly single aircraft missions.

This book covers the history of the type along with its rather extensive operational period of over two years. Initial aircraft were painted in a desert scheme, but later planes stayed in OD over neutral grey. Some of you may have read RAF In Combat's earlier book on 14 squadron and this one expands on that one considerably with more photos and illustrations than earlier. The stats section is what you've come to expect from this series, making it a superb reference book and one worth having on hand.

May 2016

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