Martin Company. After entering service with the United States Army aviation units, the aircraft quickly received the reputation of a " widowmaker " due to the early models' high accident rate during takeoffs and landings. This was because the Marauder had to be flown at precise airspeeds , particularly on final runway approach or when one engine was out.
The B became a safer aircraft once crews were retrained, and after aerodynamics modifications an increase of wingspan and wing angle-of-incidence to give better takeoff performance, and a larger vertical stabilizer and rudder. Army Air Forces bomber. After the Marauder was retired, the unrelated Douglas A Invader then assumed the "B" designation, which led to confusion between the two aircraft.
On 5 July , the Glenn L. Martin Company submitted its design, produced by a team led by Peyton M. Magruder , to meet the requirement, the Martin Model Martin's design was evaluated as superior to the other proposals and was awarded a contract for aircraft, to be designated B The B was a shoulder-winged monoplane of all-metal construction, fitted with a tricycle landing gear.
It had a streamlined, circular-section fuselage housing the crew, consisting of a bombardier in the nose, armed with a. A gunner manned a dorsal turret armed with two. Two bomb bays were fitted midfuselage, capable of carrying 5, lb 2, kg of bombs, although in practice, such a bomb load reduced range too much, and the aft bomb bay was usually fitted with additional fuel tanks instead of bombs.
The first B, with Martin test pilot William K. At least two of the earliest Bs suffered hard landings and damage to the main landing gear, engine mounts, propellers, and fuselage. The type was grounded briefly in April [ 10 ] to investigate the landing difficulties. Two causes were found: insufficient landing speed producing a stall and improper weight distribution. The latter was due to the lack of a dorsal turret; the Martin power turret was not yet ready.
