Friday, April 17, 2015

Wondering About the B-26 Marauder.

There were a lot war planes manufactured before and during WW2.  I found a picture on the Internet (see below) of one of them.  I see it was named Ginger and that it had already completed 19 bombing runs (count the bombs painted on the fuselage).  Then I noticed the 6 images below the bombs that look like ducks.  Can anyone tell me what those symbols represent?  I can only guess, like maybe it could have been missions at sea from an aircraft carrier?  Then again, maybe those symbols are not ducks at all.  I sure hope someone can tell me what they meant.


The Crew of 'Ginger' Discusses a Mission
 
This airplane is an American B-26 Marauder and the picture (Photo by Frank Scherschel/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images) was taken when it was sitting on the tarmac of Andrewsfield Airport near Stebbing, Essex, England in 1944.  Do you know that at first they received the reputation of "Widowmaker" because of the early models' high accident rate during takeoffs and landings.  That problem was later fixed.  The one in the picture must not have had takeoff and landing problems because of all the missions it flew and returned.  At least it didn't before this picture was taken.  Since I was born during WW2, I don't have too many memories of it, except for my Mom holding me up, pointing at a picture of my Dad, and telling me who he was so I would recognize him when he got home.  Hey, make sure you all have a great day today, you hear?
 
 

8 comments:

  1. Maybe they are for the amphibious watercraft from WW2, called ducks. My stepfather, in the British Army under Montgomery, drove one onto Anzio beachhead, Italy.

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    1. Yes, I have heard about those ducks, but why would they be painted on a bomber?

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  2. Diversion missions, make the enemy think the target was where it wasn't. Maybe a red herring or a wild goose could have been used. Or maybe they were flying low below radar and took out a flock.

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    1. Yep, they got 6 of them on this side. I wonder how many are on the other side?

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  3. From doing some searching on the B26 web site I found that the duck signifies a decoy mission.

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