Lonnie Ortega Aviation Art

The Martin B-26 Marauder was an American World War II twin-engine medium bomber built by the Glenn L. Martin Company. The first medium bomber in the Pacific theater and Aleutian Islands in early 1942, it was also used in the Mediterranean Theater of Operations and the European Theater of Operations. The plane distinguished itself as "the chief bombardment weapon on the Western Front" according to an US Army Air Forces dispatch from 1946, and later variants maintained the lowest loss record of any combat aircraft during World War II. Its late-war loss record stands in sharp contrast to its unofficial nickname "The Widowmaker" – earned due to early models' high rate of accidental crashes during takeoff. A total of 5,288 were produced between February 1941 and March 1945; 522 of these were flown by the Royal Air Force and the South African Air Force.