B-26 photography class

[superc53]

Somewhere in Florida (Tampa?) I think.

 

[Charlie Flick]

Super:

 

Great pic. It may well have been Tampa. There was a B-26 transition training school at MacDill Field in Tampa. Early on there was a lot of negative publicity about the performance of the B-26 aka "the Widow Maker", and that affected those training there. The expression was "One a day in Tampa Bay", referring to the relatively high accident rate with the B-26. Once they figured out its flight characteristics the training syllabus was changed, an the loss rate went down dramatically. The B-26 ended up having one of the lowest loss rates of any US combat aircraft in WW2.

 

Thanks for the post.

 

Charlie Flick

[CorsairAce]

Yes, they extended each wing by 3" and raised the tail slightly to stabilze the flight characteristics. It went on to have LESS than .01% loss rate in combat. Lowest loss rate by any nation on any aircraft. Sadly there are only 6 of these left.

[TBMflyer]

Guys, I think this is a photo of the photog's of the 444th Bomb Squadron, 320th BG. First is the distinctive sharkmouth of the B-26, used by the 444th, second, the guy kneeling on the right has bomb missions painted on his A-2 and what looks like a round 12th AF patch. This might have been taken in Sardinia or France late in the war, perhaps for the unit history. I will check the unit history when I get home later. Great photo!! Mark.

[superc53]

That's a pretty good observation. I am impressed by your keen eye. I am willing to consider it was not Florida. As my father is in the photo, I can confirm the 12 AF 320 connection, however there were several squadrons there that day. Below was his squadron's patch (my apologies if it offends anyone, but this is what they wore). Also I note my father (kneeling on the other side) seems to be wearing a brand new jacket rather than the one he brought home (lost to a burglar over a decade ago) which had lots of things painted on, and patches sewn, on it. Sadly I can no longer ask him about where the photo was taken. Florida was logical, so too is Sardinia and France. Heck even Libya in 42 or the Arizona AAF photo school in 45 is a possibility.

 

[There are some other B-26 shots in the Ephemera and Photographs 'show us your WW 2 soldiers' photo section.]

 

[Johnny Signor]

The shoulder patch on man at far right kneeling actually appears to be a 15th AAF patch.

[Johnny Signor]

Another quick note, the men are also holding various cameras, so there's a possibility of the unit being a Photo Mapping/Recon unit , give the 15th AAF Recon units a look see for units using the B-26 it may be there.