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pound the retreating German troops across the Rhine river and beyond into central Germany at Florennes we celebrated V.E. day (Victory in Europe) and later V.J.
Day. The story of the B-26 medium bomber, better known as the Marauder, and the hottest medium bomber flown in World War II. The Marauder was more difficult to fly than any bomber in our air force, and when young inexperienced pilots were assigned to fly them many of them crashed. These unfortunate jnishaps led to the Marauder being tabbed with {incouth names such as ?The Flying Coffins?, ?The Flying Cigar?, ?The Widow Makers? and the ?Baltimore Prostitute?. These assiduous names plagued the B-26 throughout its tenure of service in World War II. The term ?Widow Maker? still haunts its memory, over fifty years since it was decommissioned after the War. The B-26 exonerated itself a thousand times over in combat and proved to be the best and most dependable medium bomber flown in the war.
The ?Terra Haute Tornado? first appears in this book, when it was assigned to the 497th Bomb Squadron at Hunter Field, Georgia to be flown to England as one of our combat planes. As you will see it established an inevitable combat record, mainly due to the astute flying ability of Major Robert E. Wilson of Terra Haute, Indiana and his co-pilot and later first pilot Lt. J. H. Havener.
Today it is hailed as one of the most renowned Marauders ever to fly the Skies of Europe. This book tells the story of how the ?Tornado? always returned from its combat missions even on several occasions when it was badly damaged by German anti-aircraft guns, and barely
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