Evening star., 1943-07-24
BY CARLYLE HOLT,

MacDILL FIELD, Fla.-The BPS
is a hot ship. 1t is one of the hot
test ships in the American arsenal
Of the air. This medium bomber,
built by the Glenn L. Martin Co., is
heavy and fast. It is as fast as most
fighter planes. 1t carries almost as
heavy bomb load as heavy bomb
er. 1t packs a punch in its guns
that makes it independent of fighter
escort. 1t is more of a weapon than
1t is an airplane. AS weapon it
has been used for low-level bombing
and ground strafng
The prowess of this plane has
been proved in battle zones all over
the world. It's pilots have skinned
the jungle treetops in New Guinea
to maui japanese soldiers with ma
chine guns and to leave parachute
bombs among them. 1t has dived
through the fogs over Kiska and
driven heavy bombs onto ships,
docks and stores there. 1t has
ranged the Mediterranean. 1t has
skip bombed japanese shipping in
the Solomons and around New
Guinea. 1t has flown both the Pa
ciflc and Atlantic Oceans uncount-
ed numbers of times 1t has flown
the short attack missions of light
bombers and fighter planes 1t has
flown missions that would tax the
range of heavy bombers.
The B-26 is all warplane. 1t is
not an easy or a, comfortable ship
to fly. In fact, the B-26 is one of
the most difficult of all ships for a
pilot to master In the hands of
an expert this ship will do almost
anything, but it may kill dub or a
careless pilot in couple of min
uteS.
Ship Is Like Thoroughbred.
The B-26 might be likened to a
high-strung thoroughbred horse,
which, if properly handled by men
who know how, will do anything for
them but is more than likely to kick
the brains out of any one who mis-
treats him or mlShandles him.
The plane likewise is tough. In
the Pacific and elsewhere it has
withstood terrific punishment-al-
ways when handled by men who
know the ship. When the innocent
layman looks over this plane and
sees the almost solid machinery
packed into the fuselage and wings.
with hardly a cubic inch of wasted
space, he marvels that such heavy,
massive mechanism can possibly be
held up in the air by the short,
stubby wings.
Then he looks at the twin 1000
horsepower engines and the great
four -bladed propellers and realizes
that this ship represents power, in
capital letters. 1t is, he realizes, a
heavy brute of a plane designed
for one purpose only-to fight.
The missions undertaken by the
B-26s of the group included ground
strafing of places like Buna and
Coma, raids on Salamaua and Lac,
attacks on shipping all over the
area and raids on Rabaul. Those
raids on Rabaul involved a flight
from main base to an advanced
base and from the advanced base
to Rabaul, more than $500 miles
in all. To Rabaul and return to
advance base was some l,400 miles.
Dual-Purpose Plane.
In other words, the group was
hghtlng as light fighter bomber
in New Guinea and flying heavy
bomber missions against Rabaul
The bombers met Zeros, anti
aircraft fire and the fire of ground
troops. They were invariably able
to beat off the Zeros.
Take the testimony of Capt. Ed
gar G. Cannon, jr, and the BPS
group, of which he was a member.
This group left this field last spring
on few hours notice, flew to Cali
fornia and thence across the Pacific
to Australia without losing a plane.
in a very short time they went
into battle in the New Guinea and
Solomons area.
From June is to August II Capt.
Cannon flew on is missions, about
the average for the pilots of the
group. That rate of combat mis-
slons was maintained thereafter.
We can handle ourselves against
any fighter plane unless one lone
B-26 happens to be attacked by
overwhelming numbers" said the
captain. Il would rather operate a
B-26 than any other plane. Its
speed, power and sturdiness make
it an ideal weapon. We never lost
a pilot after he had completed
three or four missions and had had
some experience"
Will Fly on One Engine.
One pilot in the group flew a
B-26 for four hours and five min
utes on one engine and returned
safely to his base, where the dead