B-26 Marauder Cockpit Photos from the National Museum of the USAF

The Martin B-26 Marauder was a World War II twin-engine medium bomber built by the Glenn L. Martin Company.

The first US medium bomber used in the Pacific Theater in early 1942, it was also used in the Mediterranean Theater and in Western Europe. The aircraft distinguished itself as "the chief bombardment weapon on the Western Front" according to a United States Army Air Forces dispatch from 1946,[citation needed] and later variants maintained the lowest loss record of any U.S. combat aircraft during World War II. Its late-war loss record stands in sharp contrast to its unofficial nickname "The Widowmaker"—earned due to early models' high rate of accidents during takeoff.

A total of 5,288 were produced between February 1941 and March 1945; 522 of these were flown by the Royal Air Force and the South African Air Force. By the time the United States Air Force was created, separate from the Army, all Martin B-26's had been retired from US service. The Douglas A-26 Invader then assumed the B-26 designation.

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