The Flying Prostitute
by Lawrence J. Hunter
Category: Biography & Autobiography

The Flying Prostitute was one of many pseudonyms given the B-26 Martin Marauder bomber in WWII by those who flew them. This plane cremated so many crewmen that newscasters were afraid to write or talk about it for fear this might cause a morale problem with our men who were told to fly them. The author recites his cadet life at Randolph Field, San Antonio, Texas, THE WEST POINT OF THE AIR, where he became the top-ranking cadet officer. He then earned his wings at Ellington Field, Texas and, along with others of his class, was assigned to be an Instructor Pilot of this aircraft for seventeen months. So many men were being killed in horrible crashes that each wore their Air Force Wings as bracelets on their wrists so their bodies could be identified, “just in case.” Combat in the skies over Europe followed, and so did the crashes. Pilots did not know the mammoth tail could, and had separated from this airplane while in flight. Pilots knew the propellers could runaway and cremate their entire crew in disastrous, fiery crashes. Pilots did not know the manufacturers of parts of this airplane were falsifying reports and Congress knew it. They did know that they could be killed every time they took one up. This dramatic, true story is shocking in its detail and documentation. The refusal to write about this airplane remains an enigma for writers even to this day.