Difference between revisions of "B-26C"
| Line 159: | Line 159: | ||
* Tricycle landing gear allows the plane to land and take off on smaller airfields | * Tricycle landing gear allows the plane to land and take off on smaller airfields | ||
* Powerful engines provide decent flat acceleration and also allow the plane to fly with one engine | * Powerful engines provide decent flat acceleration and also allow the plane to fly with one engine | ||
| + | * Adaquate defensive armament at the rear | ||
* Access to five machine guns for strafing ground targets | * Access to five machine guns for strafing ground targets | ||
Revision as of 12:55, 25 June 2023
| This page is about the French bomber B-26C. For the American version, see B-26B. |
Contents
Description
The B-26C Marauder is a rank III French bomber with a battle rating of 4.3 (AB) and 4.7 (RB/SB). It was introduced in Update "Wind of Change".
General info
Flight performance
As expected from a medium-to-large bomber, the B-26C Marauder's flight characteristic are quite similar to its predecessor, the B-25 Mitchell, being generally sluggish to handle but with decent flatline speed. Though due to its bigger size and weight, the general weakness found the B-25's flight performance is further exacerbated. The Marauder will lose quite a lot of energy when making any manoevers, especially in vertical manoevers that will almost always result in a stall if the plane did not have enough energy prior to the movement. This poor energy retention also results into the plane having very poor climb rate, even when compared to heavy bombers. The plane's control surface would locked up when exceeding 540 km/h, and will cause the wings to break if exceed 580 km/h.
On the bright side, the Marauder's engines provided enough power to accelerate in shallow dive and allows the plane to reach the target faster. This also helps in emergency cases as the Marauder is also capable of flying with one engine in case if the other were knocked out.
| Characteristics | Max Speed (km/h at 3,962 m) |
Max altitude (metres) |
Turn time (seconds) |
Rate of climb (metres/second) |
Take-off run (metres) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AB | RB | AB | RB | AB | RB | |||
| Stock | 403 | 387 | 8500 | 35.3 | 36.6 | 2.4 | 2.4 | 950 |
| Upgraded | 525 | 491 | 32.8 | 34.0 | 10.3 | 5.6 | ||
Details
| Features | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Combat flaps | Take-off flaps | Landing flaps | Air brakes | Arrestor gear |
| ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | X | X |
| Limits | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wings (km/h) | Gear (km/h) | Flaps (km/h) | Max Static G | |||
| Combat | Take-off | Landing | + | - | ||
| 568 | 265 | 382 | 320 | 297 | ~__ | ~__ |
| Optimal velocities (km/h) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Ailerons | Rudder | Elevators | Radiator |
| < 270 | < 320 | < 370 | > ___ |
Survivability and armour
Examine the survivability of the aircraft. Note how vulnerable the structure is and how secure the pilot is, whether the fuel tanks are armoured, etc. Describe the armour, if there is any, and also mention the vulnerability of other critical aircraft systems.
Modifications and economy
| Flight performance | Survivability | Weaponry | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
Armaments
Offensive armament
The B-26C is armed with:
- 1 x 12.7 mm M2 Browning machine gun, nose-mounted (200 rpg)
- 4 x 12.7 mm M2 Browning machine guns, cheek-mounted (250 rpg upper + 200 rpg lower = 900 total)
Suspended armament
The B-26C can be outfitted with the following ordnance:
- 30 x 100 lb AN-M30A1 bombs (3,000 lb total)
- 14 x 300 lb H.E. M31 bombs (4,200 lb total)
- 8 x 600 lb H.E. M32 bombs (4,800 lb total)
- 4 x 1,000 lb AN-M65A1 bombs (4,000 lb total)
- 2 x 2,000 lb AN-M66A2 bombs (4,000 lb total)
- 1 x 2,216 lb Mk.13-6 torpedo
The B-26C features a large payload for its class. The stock payload of 30 x 100 lb bombs are actually quite potent, being able to take out two bases in downtier and one in uptier, though due to the bomb series set up, the payload often requires micromanagement to precisely manage the drop. Due to the quantity, the 100 lb payload are very useful against columns of vehicles. The most "optimal" payload against bases in air battles is the 8 x 600 lb bombs, which can destroy the same number of bases as the 100 lb bombs, but much easier to handle.
Other than the smaller bombs, the Marauder also has an access to large bombs to tackle ground and naval targets. The plane has an access to 4 x 1,000 lb or 2 x 2,000 bombs to provide destructive CAS against enemy team.
The Marauder also has an option to mount a single Mk.13 torpedo. However, only the notoriously terrible, early version of the Mk. 13 were available, with very poor drop speed and range. This, combined with the plane's large size, means that the Marauder pilot should rely on its large bombs against enemy ship instead.
Defensive armament
The B-26C is defended by:
- 1 x 12.7 mm M2 Browning machine gun, nose turret (270 rpg)
- 2 x 12.7 mm M2 Browning machine guns, dorsal turret (400 rpg = 800 total)
- 1 x 12.7 mm M2 Browning machine gun, 2 x beam turrets (240 rpg)
- 2 x 12.7 mm M2 Browning machine guns, tail turret (800 rpg = 1,600 total)
Usage in battles
Describe the tactics of playing in the aircraft, the features of using aircraft in a team and advice on tactics. Refrain from creating a "guide" - do not impose a single point of view, but instead, give the reader food for thought. Examine the most dangerous enemies and give recommendations on fighting them. If necessary, note the specifics of the game in different modes (AB, RB, SB).
Manual Engine Control
| MEC elements | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mixer | Pitch | Radiator | Supercharger | Turbocharger | ||
| Oil | Water | Type | ||||
| Controllable | Controllable Not auto controlled |
Not controllable Not auto controlled |
Controllable Auto control available |
Separate | Controllable 2 gears |
Not controllable |
Pros and cons
Summarise and briefly evaluate the vehicle in terms of its characteristics and combat effectiveness. Mark its pros and cons in the bulleted list. Try not to use more than 6 points for each of the characteristics. Avoid using categorical definitions such as "bad", "good" and the like - use substitutions with softer forms such as "inadequate" and "effective".
Pros:
- Good payload consists of bombs of various size for different targets
- Tough airframe with armour plates protecting pilots and gunners, capable of soaking up damage
- Tricycle landing gear allows the plane to land and take off on smaller airfields
- Powerful engines provide decent flat acceleration and also allow the plane to fly with one engine
- Adaquate defensive armament at the rear
- Access to five machine guns for strafing ground targets
Cons:
- Quite large in size, can be easily targeted
- Wide frontal gun convergence resulting into inaccuracy, especially against aircraft
- Low structural limit speed (~580 km/h), can make dive bombing quite tricky to perform
- Very poor climb rate and energy retention
- Poor overall manoeuvrability, especially at higher speed
- Limited defensive gun coverage at the front and below
History
Describe the history of the creation and combat usage of the aircraft in more detail than in the introduction. If the historical reference turns out to be too long, take it to a separate article, taking a link to the article about the vehicle and adding a block "/History" (example: https://wiki.warthunder.com/(Vehicle-name)/History) and add a link to it here using the main template. Be sure to reference text and sources by using <ref></ref>, as well as adding them at the end of the article with <references />. This section may also include the vehicle's dev blog entry (if applicable) and the in-game encyclopedia description (under === In-game description ===, also if applicable).
Media
- Skins
See also
External links
| Glenn L. Martin Company | |
|---|---|
| Attackers | AM-1 |
| Bombers | B-10B · B-26B · PBM-1 · PBM-3 · PBM-5A |
| Jet bombers | B-57A* · B-57B* |
| Export | Martin 139WC · Martin 167-A3 · B-26C |
| * These aircraft were license-built from The English Electric Company Limited who developed and built the British English Electric Canberra. | |
| France bombers | |
|---|---|
| Farman | F.222.2 · N.C.223.3 |
| Latécoère | Late 298D |
| Potez | Potez 633 |
| Liore et Olivier | LeO 451 early · LeO 451 late |
| Bloch | M.B.174A-3 · M.B.162 · M.B.175T |
| American | V-156-F · Martin 167-A3 · ▄A-35B · ▄SB2C-5 · B-26C · ▄PBY-5A Late · ▄PB4Y-2 |
| British | Lancaster MR.7 |
