“Today’s target is a convoy of six merchant ships carrying ammunition, trucks, artillery pieces, spare parts, and food. Two of the vessels are tankers filled with diesel and aviation fuel. They are being escorted by three destroyers. Overhead, we should expect Ju-88s and Bf-110s flying air cover.”
By Marc Liebman
IMAGINE THAT you are in the co-pilot’s seat of a Martin B-26A Marauder. It’s December. The year is 1942.
This is going to be a different sort of article than the kind you usually find on this site. Rather than describing a warplane, a famous air battle or profiling a figure from history, today, we’ll be taking another approach: We’ll be flying a typical skip bombing mission in the Mediterranean; I’ll be the pilot, you’ll be the copilot.
The plane is named Bronco (S/N 117852) and is from the 34th Bomb Squadron, 17th Bomb Group based in Telergrma, Algeria. When our squadron was training for deployment overseas, we practiced bombing stationary targets from 5,000 feet to 12,000 feet. When the 34th went out on its first skip bombing mission or sea sweep as the 12th Air Force called them, it was the first time any of the crews had done it.
The theory behind skip bombing is that if bombs are dropped over water from a fast-moving airplane at a low enough altitude, around 100 feet, they will skip like a flat rock tossed across the surface of a pond. Normally, when a bomb comes off the bomb rack, it’s moving at the same speed of the airplane. As it descends however, it quickly decelerates and goes from a horizontal position to vertical and points straight down. If the bomb strikes the surface of water before it noses over, it will skip.
It was a fairly new technique. British Blenheim bombers tried it in the opening weeks of the war with little effect. In recent days, American B-25s operating in the Med had enjoyed some success with the tactic. They’d made notes of their experiences and passed them on to the the 34th. Now it’s up to us to figure out how to execute a skip bombing attack against live targets and do it while being shot at.
The Mission
Like every mission, ours begins with a briefing. We are told that today’s target is a convoy of six merchant ships carrying ammunition, trucks, artillery pieces, spare parts, and food. Two of the vessels are tankers filled with diesel and aviation fuel. They are being escorted by three Italian Navy Soldati-class destroyers. Overhead, we should expect Ju-88s and Bf-110s flying air cover.
The intelligence officer indicates that the convoy left the Italian port of Palermo last night. It steamed northwest for about 50 nautical miles before turning southwest for its run to Tunis. On a chart of the central Mediterranean, the intelligence officer points to an estimated location of the convoy if it was steaming at eight knots.
Before we leave the briefing room, our squadron commander and the mission commander inform us that P-38s from 27th Fighter Squadron, 1st Fighter based at Nouvion, Algeria will be flying top cover for the mission.
When pre-flighting the 60-foot-long twin engine bomber, the most noticeable feature is the engine nacelles. Each houses a Pratt & Whitney R-2800-41 Double Wasp engine that generates 1,850 horsepower and spins a 13.5-foot diameter four bladed propeller.
Next, we check inside the forward bomb bay. We see there are four AN-M64 500 pound bombs with fuses set to explode six seconds after impact. Copper wires keep the bombs’ miniature propellers from turning so they don’t arm the fuses. The wires stay in the racks when the bombs are released allowing the propellers to spin and arm the bombs as they fall.
Besides you as co-pilot and me as the pilot-in-command, Bronco’s crew has top-turret and tail gunners and a radio operator/bombardier who will also man a .50 calibre machine gun in the nose. All told with crew, bombs, ammo, and 962 gallons of 100/130 octane fuel, the B-26A weighed just under 34,000 lbs.
Our flight consists of 10 bombers: four B-26As like Bronco, two B-26Bs and four B-26Cs. The differences between the A and B are that the latter’s wings are six feet longer. The B’s also have a powered turret in the tail with two .50 cal. machine guns instead of the A’s single, hand-held gun.
The C model is the same as the B but has two .50 cal. machine guns in blisters on each side of the fuselage just under the cockpit. They are fired by the aircraft commander. Both the B and C models’ maximum take-off weights are 37,000 lbs. Each has an extra 100 horsepower per engine/ Despite this the Bs and Cs are considerably slower than the A model. The A can cruise at 315 mph at 15,000 feet while the B can only make 282 mph, the C maxes out at 268 mph with comparable engine power settings.
We climb into the cockpit via a hatch in the nosewheel well. Once there, I strap into the pilot’s seat which has armor to protect me from behind; yours, the copilot’s, does not. Sorry about that.
When you climb into your seat on the right, your feet are dangling over the crawlway from the radio operators compartment to the bombardier’s position. You have to lower the hatch to release your rudder pedals. You also notice there are no instruments in front of your control wheel. There is one set in front of the left seat. They’re for the pilot only. However, you do have the controls to our VHF radio, lights, and intercom.
The Flight Out
With the run-up and the takeoff checklist complete, we taxi out onto the Telergrma’s 7,200-foot-long recently resurfaced asphalt runway. To turn out of the hardstand and then taxi, I use differential power – to turn left, more power on the right engine, less on the left. For braking, press the left brake, not the right.
Bronco is ninth of the 10 34th B-26s taking off on this mission. Because the As, are faster than the Bs and Cs, we take-off last and are the second of the As to roll down the runway.
When we take our position on the runway, you put your hands behind mine on the throttles to ensure neither the throttle, prop nor mixture levers creep back. You will also monitor the engine instruments during take-off and climb. During take-off, I lead with the left engine to counter the torque and the tendency for the bomber to verve to the left. Props are set to 2,700 rpm; mixture is auto rich, and the throttles are pushed forward until each engine is at 52” of manifold pressure or full military power.
With the power set and the airplane rolling, there is a gentle movement of the rudder pedals back and forth as the plane accelerates past 50 mph. This tells me I have rudder control and can use my feet to keep the airplane tracking down the centerline. With the B-26 rolling down the runway, you call out, “Gauges look good” meaning all the temperatures and pressures are within normal limits and we continue the takeoff roll.
Then, as briefed, you call out 90 mph and I ease back on the yoke. The B-26’s nose rises to the take-off attitude and the main wheels stay on the runway until the bomber flies off the runway at around 110 mph. You look at the vertical speed indicator and call out, “Positive rate” meaning the B-26 is climbing.
I’m focused on flying the airplane, not looking at the gauges and call out “Gear.” You move the lever on the base of the center console out of the “down” detent and then up to raise the landing gear. We can feel the bomber accelerate along with the thumps as first the right, then the left and last the nose wheel locks into place and the gear doors close.
The gauge beneath the yoke indicates that the landing gear are up and locked in place. The B-26 continues to accelerate, and we both breathe a sigh of relief as we pass140 mph, the speed above which I can maintain control of the airplane if an engine fails. I’m using my right hand to roll the trim tab forward to take out the pressure and keep the nose at about five to six degrees above the horizon.
“Flaps up.” Again, you move the flap control lever in the center of the console and the B-26 settles for a second as the flaps start to come up, but is still accelerating as I rotate the elevator trim wheel aft to keep the nose at an attitude to allow the B-26 to climb at 180 mph. I let go of the yoke to see if the airplane’s nose will stay where I want it and it pitches up slightly, so more forward trim is added.
You call out, “Passing 1,000 feet,” which is my cue to ease the throttles back to about 40 inches of manifold pressure or “MAP” and the props back to 2,400. The mixture stays in auto rich, and you report that the cylinder head and oil temps along with fuel and oil pressures are within limits. I glance at the gauges and seeing the same indications, and ask you to close the cowl flaps and oil cooler shutters to half.
Off to my left, I see the squadron leader’s plane and the other seven B-26s that took off ahead of me. He’s flying in a gentle climbing turn at 160 mph so we can cut across the circle and join. Bronco is now 50 feet below and 50 in trail and is the “ring finger” in the second flight of four which is made up of B-26As.
Once we are joined up, the two Bs will be in a section on the leader’s left wing, the four Cs in the squadron leader’s flight and the four As are off the flight leader’s right wing. The co-pilots of all 10 airplanes report that they don’t have any problems and we continue to climb at 172 mph (where our mechanics put a strip of white tape on the air speed indicator) as we, in Navy parlance, go “feet wet” over the Mediterranean.
Cruise climb limb power is set at 40 inches MAP, engines turning at 2,400 rpm with the mixture still set at auto rich. Total fuel consumption has dropped from 552 gallons per hour on takeoff down to around 378.
At 8,000 feet, the flight leader levels off and the radio crackles: “Form scouting line.”
This command orders us to change to a formation in which the airplanes are flying line abreast about a mile apart. This was a technique taught to the 34th Bomb Squadron by a Naval Aviator before we crossed the South Atlantic. We used it to find the small island of Ascension. The scouting line allows our flight of 10 to scan a 100-mile-wide swath of sea to search for the convoy.
Now that we are in formation, the throttles are pulled back to about 33 inches MAP, the props set at 2,300 rpm with the mixture levers in the auto lean position and the cowl flaps and oil shutters are closed. The B-26’s fuel burn drops again to about 228 gallons per hour as Bronco loafs along at about 260 mph.
To sync the props, I make a slight adjustment of the prop levers and hear the pleasant thrum-thrum of synced props. If they were out of sync, the best way to describe the sound would be a group of drummers in an orchestra beating their drums to different beats. We’re flying a heading 070 degrees. It’s a course the flight leader hopes we will use to intercept the convoy in about an hour. Off to our right, the North African coast is a brown line on the horizon.
Overhead, both of us can now see the squadron of P-38Fs assigned to provide top cover and hear their flight leader check in with our squadron commander. The top turret gunner calls out the three flights of four P-38s criss-crossing at what everyone assumed was their briefed altitude of 15,000 feet.
Target In Sight!
Other than the normal chatter among the crew on the intercom, the radio is quiet. In the cockpit, you and I take turns flying, switching every 15 minutes or so.
Suddenly the radio crackles to life. A crewman in a B-26B on the left side of the scouting line calls out: “Convoy, 10 o’clock, about 20 miles.”
For some reason, I glance at the clock and tell the radio operator to log the time in the flight log. It’s been an hour and 12 minutes since we took off.
The squadron leader orders the flight to join on him in a loose left echelon. One, by one, we slide aft, and then to the left taking station about 100 feet from the third B-26A. Since you have a better view from the co-pilot seat on the left, I turn the controls over to you to keep our position steady.
Everyone on board Bronco feels the tension rise as we approach the target. At about 20 miles from the convoy, the white wakes trailing behind the ships in the distance tell me the 10 merchant ships are in two columns of five with a destroyer on either side and one in the front. Each plane gets its own target. Bronco is assigned the lead merchant ship in the far column. Three of the C models are assigned to attack the destroyers. The other is tasked with hitting a tanker.
The human “Mk I eyeball” suggests the columns of vessels are about a mile apart. After our squadron leader start his descending right turn, the airplanes ahead of us started to peel off. I take back the controls and when it was our turn to peel off, I count: “One one thousand, two one thousand, three one thousand.” This allows us to keep our spacing. I push the yoke forward and roll it to the right so we are in a 20 degree bank. The turn, which I adjust as we descend, will get Bronco in position to make our bombing run.
In sequence, the mixture goes to auto-rich, props to 2,400 rpm and the throttles to the stop or 52 inches MAP. The B-26 is back to consuming 500 gallons of fuel an hour.
While we descended, the radio operator crawls from his compartment just behind the cockpit forward to the Plexiglas nose. Once there, he becomes the bombardier. He double checks the settings on the intervalometer, a precision timer found on warplanes, to ensure the bombs will be released exactly one second apart.
Suddenly out the windows, puffs of black smoke start dotting the sky around the formation. It’s flak bursts from the 4.7-inch guns on the Italian destroyers. We recognize the escorts as Soldati-class ships from their stepped down afterdeck. Each destroyer has eight 20-mm AAA mounts that when we get close could easily shoot down any of the planes in the flight.
One of the great things about the B-26 was that it was easy to trim the airplane for any speed. With the nose about 15 degrees below the horizon, Bronco’s vertical speed indicator shows we’re coming down at about 4,000 fpm at 390 mph, just below the plane’s maximum speed.
I adjust the angle of bank several times during our descent to make sure the B-26 will pass about 500 yards in front of the freighter in the starboard column at 100 feet above the Mediterranean. This will leave me about three-quarters of a mile to get the B-26 lined up with our target. Tracers the size of softballs from who-knows-where arc over Bronco. They are hard to ignore, but we do our best to put them out of our minds. Thankfully, none of the 20mm cannon shells hit us.
The Run to the Target
Once level at just 100 feet, Bronco is slowing. The only gauge on the instrument panel I am interested in is the altimeter. It is on the extreme left of the panel and the needle was steady at 100 feet. I am holding a bit of forward pressure so that if I’m hit, the airplane is trimmed to climb.
Over water, it is very difficult to judge one’s height so between the altimeter and keeping the top of the nose over the bombardier’s compartment level with the ship’s bridge, keeps us from flying into the water. At this height and speed, the blue green sea is just a blur.
At 100 feet traveling at 300 mph, the bombs will still be almost horizontal when they hit the waves and will skip along the surface. Any slower than 300 mph or higher than 100 feet and the bombs will begin to tip downward and explode when they hit the water. The blast will be enough to bring Bronco down.
Tracers from the bow and stern 20-mm mounts and 8-mm Breda machine guns on the freighter are reaching out to us. Gentle pushes of the rudder and compensating movements of the yoke help throw off the aim of the Italian gunners. The Italian gunners are not leading Bronco enough to hit us.
The radio operator fires at our target ship’s bow 20-mm mount with his handheld .50 caliber. Out of the corner of my eye, I can see the tracers arcing out toward the ship, but my focus was keeping the B-26 level at 100 feet. You stick a fist in front of me with your thumb up to tell me that all the gauges look good.
Pressing the intercom switch, I command, “Bomb-bay doors open.” The radio operator pushed a lever and immediately we feel the Bronco slow from the drag.
Retrimming the nose attitude of the B-26 with the wheel on the left side of the pedestal between the two of us, kept us at 100 feet. A slight jink to the right was added to give us enough lead on the ship that was now fast approaching at roughly 11 o’clock.
Up in the Plexiglas nose, the radio operator had three tasks left. One, release the bombs on my command. Two, spray the merchant ship with his handheld .50 cal. machine gun. And three, close the bomb bay doors.
A little push of the left rudder pedal and a touch of the yoke to the right put Bronco into a skid to space out the bombs and increased the chance of a hit. The skid also slowed the bomber slightly and made it, at least the theory went, harder to hit because it was not in balanced flight. We were right at 300 mph when I keyed the intercom to command, “Bombs away.”
Bronco lurches four times as each 500 pounder comes off the rack, one second apart. Right after the fourth lurch, another command came out of my mouth. “Close the bomb bay doors.”
The hammering of the .50 up front stopped for a second while the radio operator pulled the lever to close the forward bomb bay doors. I banked to the left to pass aft of the freighter, and sensed the bomber, now 2,000 pounds lighter, accelerating. Seeing the destroyer, a half mile ahead, I pull up to about 150 feet and jinked right and then left to pass aft the destroyer whose guns were focused on the squadron CO’s B-26 that was bearing down on it.
Almost lost in all this, the tail gunner, who was silent through the run, yells out. “Two hits.” His job was taking pictures and spraying the merchant ship to keep their gunner’s heads down while we sped away. The airspeed indicator said we were flying at 310 mph.
Well past the edge of the convoy and out of range of the 20 mm guns, I start a slow climb. Over my shoulder, I can see our target dead in the water, listing heavily and on fire. It probably wouldn’t make it to Tunis.
Ahead and to the left, and well clear of the convoy, I could see the other B-26s heading west and adjust the throttles to climb at 220 mph to catch up. The briefed return altitude was 5,000 feet.
Even though the temperature in the B-26 was a cool 50 degrees, my t-shirt under my coveralls were soaking wet and the cold sweat caused me to shiver. I turn over the flying to you while I take a breather. My knees are shaking, and my heart is still pounding, but elated that we hit our target and survived.
Radio chatter from the other airplanes in the strike suggest the mission was a success. The tail gunner reported five columns of fire. We learned that my wingman took several 20 mm rounds in the fuselage and one in the right engine. No one was hurt, but the engine was smoking and running rough.
Of the 10 airplanes that went in, all 10 were still flying, although when my wingman reached 5,000 feet, he feathered the starboard engine. The formation slowed to 220 mph so he wouldn’t be left behind on the trip back to Telergrma.
As dangerous and as hairy as this type of attack seemed, the 34th and other units that became proficient in skip-bombing suffered fewer losses in these sorts of missions than level bombing at 10,000 to 12,000 feet over Tunisia and later in 1943 Sicily and Italy.
AUTHOR’S NOTE: You may be wondering why we chose to fly this particular mission at the controls of the Bronco. This particular B-26 was in fact flown by my father Sy Liebman from Barksdale Air Base in late October 1942 to North Africa. A second-lieutenant at the time, he flew Bronco, as well as other B-26s, during his 85 missions between November 1942 and November 1943.
Incidentally, you can read the story of the deployment of the 34th (and the 17th Bomb Group) in the article Flight of the 34th – Inside One WW2 Bomber Squadron’s Trailblazing Voyage from the U.S. to North Africa published in MilitaryHistoryNow.com on Feb. 10, 2021.
Much of what you just read is based on my own flying experiences in airplanes with radial engines, research and what my father told me growing up about the missions he flew in the B-26. The power settings, fuel flow and airspeeds come from the 1943 U.S.A.A.F.’s Pilot Operating Handbook, which was published roughly five months after the 34th Bomb Group flew its first combat mission and “rules of thumb” gleaned from other sources. Before the handbook was distributed, they were using mimeographed documents given to them by Martin.
Marc Liebman is a retired U.S. Navy Captain and Naval Aviator and the award-winning author of 14 novels, five of which were Amazon #1 Best Sellers. His latest is the counterterrorism thriller The Red Star of Death. Some of his best-known books are Big Mother 40, Forgotten, Moscow Airlift, Flight of the Pawnee, Insidious Dragon and Raider of the Scottish Coast. All are available on Amazon here.
A Vietnam and Desert Shield/Storm combat veteran, Liebman is a military historian and speaks on military history and current events.
Visit his website, marcliebman.com, for: past interviews, articles about helicopters, general aviation, weekly blog posts about the Revolutionary War era, as well as signed copies of his books.
And for expanded videos of his MilitaryHistoryNow.com articles, subscribe to Marc’s Youtube channel.
