|
Hard Sarge -> RE: Had to Laff (9/5/2008 2:43:29 PM)
|
more, just odds and ends
the way it was stated
first plane to fly 100 combat missions in the ETO, was a B-26 (even better, was still on the first set of engines and never had a abort, returned to the states after mission to go on warbond tour)
(a week or two earlier, a MTO plane reached 100 missions, it was also a B-26, but the ETO got the press)
first plane to fly 200 combat missions, was a B-26 (it had 99, when the other one made 100)
first plane to fly 300 combat missions was also a B-26, ended up 336 of them !
also, when the B-26 was designed and built, there was no Prototype made, the first plane off the line was a production model !
first order for the B-26 was for 385 planes, Martin, told them, he didn't think he had the area to build that many, so only commited to 201, the other 184 planes became a order for the plane that came in 2nd place, the B-25
the B-26 had many bad nicknames, Widow-Maker being one of the nasty ones, to be fair, the B-26 had 3 crashes for ever 2 B-25s that crashed in training, but, the A-20 had 4, and the P-38 had 5, and nobody ever complained about either of those two planes being HARD to fly or dangerous, or had people trying to cancel the build orders
in the end, it was found that most of the crashes, were due to poor training (rushed) pilots training new pilots, who didn't know what to do, in case of trouble, and poor ground crews (they had to learn also)
it was a hot plane, but a good one, when used the right way, it had one of the best combat records of any Allied bomber of the war
|
|
|
|
