Martin B-26 Marauders Still In Existence

1. The Chino Marauder, owned by Kermit Weeks, and based at the Fantasy of Flight facility, Polk City, Florida. One of the original pre-A Models, lost while being flown to Alaska in 1942, that ran out of fuel and crash-landed in, what was later to be called, Million Dollar Valley, in British Columbia, Canada. It was recovered in 1972, by a team organised by aviation enthusiast, David Tallichet. Restored over a period of several years, it finally flew, but then went into a hiatus, until purchased by Kermit Weeks. He placed it in the hands of Aviation Traders, who carried out a complete rebuild. It was test flown at Chino in early 1998, and started it's journey to Polk City on March 11, arriving at it's destination on March 21, to be met by a number of "local" Marauder Men and four generations of the aircraft designer, Peyton Magruder's family, including Julia, his widow. Along the flight's route, at every stop, hundreds of Marauder Men came out to welcome the aircraft. Two years later, it is flying regularly, and is a popular visitor at air shows around the country.

2. An ex-French Air Force aircraft, latterly used to train aircraft mechanics, was the subject of a negotiated transfer to the USAF Museum at Dayton, Ohio, where it was restored to static condition and has been displayed there for a number of years.

3. Another ex-French Air Force aircraft, which lay "dormant" at Le Bourget for many years, until funds and the will were found to carry out a restoration to static display condition. It' s now on permanent display at the Musee de 1'Air et de l'Espace, Le Bourget, Paris, France.

4. Another of the Million Dollar aircraft retrieved by David Tallichet (there were three airframes), now being restored to possible static display condition, by the Empire State Aero Sciences Museum at Schenectady, New York.

5. The third Million Dollar Valley airframe, is being restored by the Military Aircraft Preservation Society Akron Ohio. It is forecast that both of these last two airframes might require as many as 10,000 man hours to even bring them to minimum static display status.

6. Veteran Marauder "Flak Bait" of the 322nd Bomb Group, was returned to the USA after completing more than 200 missions, and the cockpit section is displayed at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington DC. The remainder of the aircraft is in storage locally, and could be "married" to the front end sometime in the future.

Some years ago, there was another flying example of the aircraft restored and flown by the Confederate Air Force in Texas. Unfortunately, after many successful flights over a period of several years, it crashed, killing the crew and passengers , and was completely destroyed.

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