The B-26 Martin Marauder. It had several nicknames, including "Widowmaker" and "Flying Coffin", but the #WASPhelped improve this plane. Join @FlyGirlsSeries, Artemis Film Festival, Think Broader @RambaKy & @EdnaDavisWasp for a Live Twitter Conversation about FlyGirls. Use #womenkickass to participate between 7-8pm PST. Here's Edna Davis on flying her favorite plane:
"The B-26 was heaven, heaven, heaven! It was a beautiful airplane. It was a hard airplane, a tricky airplane, it was killing all kinds of pilots, but we weren't scared to fly it. We figured they just didn't know what they were doing.
The B-26 had a bad reputation but it proved itself at the end of the war. It had fewer casualties than other planes. It flew like no other airplane."
First missions were in May 1943. Last combat mission was in May 1, 1945.
Due to the B-26's small wings and high loading, the aircraft had a relatively high landing speed of between 120 and 135 mph as well as a stall speed of around 120 mph. These characteristics made it challenging aircraft to fly for inexperienced pilots. Throughout the war, Martin worked to make the aircraft easier to fly, but the landing and stall speeds remained high and the aircraft required a higher standard of training than the B-25 Mitchell. - By Kennedy Hickman, Military History Expert, http://militaryhistory.about.com/…/World-War-Ii-Martin-B-26…
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