View Full Version : WW2 Marauder with no wing.
DogTailRed2
5th Nov 2023, 19:48
Anyone know the story behind this WW2 loss? Was it AA or collision?
https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/M8sAAOSwnEFfteuH/s-l1200.webp
Sea Plane Driver
5th Nov 2023, 20:21
Wow, it is flying…:ooh:
Full aileron deflection..
Did they make it?
treadigraph
5th Nov 2023, 20:27
Seen the pic before, have an idea it might have been hit by bombs from aircraft above - or was that a B-17?
aerolearner
5th Nov 2023, 20:37
Seen the pic before, have an idea it might have been hit by bombs from aircraft above - or was that a B-17?
Possible, but it would be difficult to me to explain the loss of fin and rudder as well... Torn away by wing debris?
To my untrained eye, it looks more like a collision.
aerolearner
5th Nov 2023, 20:54
[SPOILER]
https://www.uswarmemorials.org/html/monument_details.php?SiteID=1583&MemID=2091
Just one of many losses of WWII that becomes a story of men when you read about it. Didn't know, happy to learn.
Saw this picture many years ago. If I remember, it was said to be spinning at the time. Sad.
Jhieminga
6th Nov 2023, 08:15
Seen the pic before, have an idea it might have been hit by bombs from aircraft above - or was that a B-17?
There are some examples where B-17s were hit by bombs dropped from other allied bombers. There is footage of one losing its left horizontal stabiliser and there is at least one B-24 that landed after having been hit by bombs. Apparently in most cases the bombs were not yet armed when they hit the other aircraft, so damage was only because of a 500lb brick dropping through the structure.
treadigraph
6th Nov 2023, 08:23
There is footage of one losing its left horizontal stabiliser
That's the one!
Certainly have also seen the Marauder pic before, perhaps it was published in Flypast when I used to read it!
layman
10th Nov 2023, 04:14
From the ARRSE site
Most Beautiful Aircraft | Page 796 | Army Rumour Service (arrse.co.uk) (https://www.arrse.co.uk/community/threads/most-beautiful-aircraft.109170/page-796)
"A B-26 Marauder of the Twelfth Air Force, 320th Medium Bombardment Group. July 10th 1944. Pilot was 1/Lt Murray B Wiginton Jr, age 20.
Over the target, a railway bridge over the River Reno at Marzabetto, about 15 miles south of Bologna. You can see the bridge across the low water level river behind the tail of the aircraft. Compare with Bomb Plot photo below. The Group attacked the bridge twice on this date, and the Wiginton crew were lost on the second attack.
She spun in seconds after the photo was taken, with all six crew killed.
The bodies were individually unidentifiable when eventually recovered, and were originally buried in 1947 at the US Cemetery at Castelfiorentino. In 1949 they were removed to the US National Cemetery at Jefferson Barracks, St Louis Mo. and buried together.
In 1990 the bodies were finally individually identified, and were given individual graves on September 20th 1991."
Copy of original report further down the ARRSE page