Martin B-26 Marauder (oz1277)

About this Plan

Martin B-26 Marauder. Radio control scale twin bomber, with twin Enya .45 power.

Quote: "I have been in radio control since 1951 which is about 18 years in the hobby. My greatest interest has been mainly scale modeling. I remember a few years ago when all that was needed to place high at a local contest was a basic scale kit type plane which in most cases was far from true scale. But, with only three or four entries as an average, it wasn't hard to take home some hardware. Flying them has not always been successful, however today with proportional controls, almost every scale mod-el can be made to fly.

As can be seen, the interest in scale has been enormous. Times have changed, it is not unusual to see 14 to 24 scale planes at a contest nowadays. They are of a most sophisticated nature with superb and authentic detail. Therefore, in order to stay in the competition, I realized I needed more than the ordinary kit plane. I wanted something original and different, something that had not been built in Radio Control.

With this in mind, I spent many hours in research. Reading aircraft magazines, Profile Publications, books etc. In my search for an appropriate aircraft I finally decided on the B-26.

The B-26 Martin Marauder was always a fascination to me. With the on and off reputation of this plane, it was probably one of the most controversial airplanes of World War II. The original model had a 65 foot wing and flew great until machine guns, bomb loads, armor plate, radio gear and other equipment were added, resulting in heavy loads which gave the plane a high stall rate and many crashes re-
sulted.

The B-26 received many unkind nicknames, such as Widow Maker, Flying Prostitute and Lady With No Visible Means of Support. However, modifications were made adding six feet to the wing, extending the span to 71 feet, an increase in angle of incidence and better training of the crews in handling. After this, she went through the war and vindicated herself, The B-26 did a terrific job of pinpoint bombing and helped us win the war.

This plane presented a challenge which I could not resist. Also, I needed a twin (the extra points for a second engine are a big help). Flaps also were a great inducement. Many other possibilities such as, retractable gear, bomb drop, rotating turrets are all good for extra points. The plane has a tricycle landing gear which is good for ground handling, landing, take-offs and touch and gos. It is much better for long ex-tended takeoff runs.

Statistics on the 9-26 are quite easily available. Profile Publications #112 is a good presentation. Wylam plan set #6W can be used for three-view drawings. Our plane uses a constant scale of one inch to the foot and is easily judged. Another reason for this scale was that the plane ended up just the right size to fit into my car. The 71" wing sits across the front and back seats and the fuselage which is 58 inches long goes on the back seat snug as a bug. It works equally well in a Chevy and a Caddy.

Two inches added to the chord at wing tip was the only deviation from scale. This small change is hardly noticeable. The added wing area I feel is worth the small loss of scale points, if any. A small correction had to be made in scaling down the construction plans from the Wylan Plans. The error was in fuselage length, but correction has been made in our plan.

The airfoil used on this wing is a progressive airfoil where the center-section is a Davis high lift and gradually progresses to symmetrical on the wing tips. This airfoil works extremely well on other planes I have built. It gives the mast lift at the center-section where the wing is strongest.

The symmetrical wing tips act as stabilizers and prevent wing tip stall at low speed. On other planes where this was used, landings were always a pleasure at the plane would have no tendency to fall off in either direction, no matter how much I would stretch the glide. However, it was important to keep the plane a little nose heavy. The engines are set at 4 degrees right on the right engine and 2 degrees left on the left engine which aims the prop blast at the large rudder..."

Update 24/07/2013: Resized this plan up to full-scale at 72in span, thanks to David.

Update 07/05/2016: Replaced this plan with a clearer copy at higher res, thanks to JJ.

Supplementary file notes

Previous scan version. Also includes incomplete article, first 2 pages only.

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