During World War II, in January 1945, a US Air Force Martin B-26 bomber crashed while flying over the Brazilian Amazon.
At the time, there was great collaboration between the United States and Brazil, with the former using air bases in the North and Northeast as a stopover point for its planes.
The plane was missing for years in the forest. More recently, a search was carried out in 2012, but without success. The Brazilian military knew that the aircraft could be somewhere near the region of Aldeia Santa Isabel, in a region close to Oiapoque, in Amapá.
And a second expedition was carried out between January 27th and 31st of this year by Brazilian Army soldiers from the 34th Jungle Infantry Battalion. This was successful in finding the former US B-26 bomber.
The military told Portal O Viajante that they needed the help of groups of local indigenous people to enter the dense and humid forest during the three days of the mission. The indigenous people were aware of the possible crash site of the military aircraft.
“We made good with the local population, where we were very well received by the people of the village, we left our military vessel and took some small canoes that they call “hull” to be able to get closer to the mountain. The path is a flooded jungle, there are many trees. You can only get by with these canoes”, said the source of Portal O Viajante.
As we can see from the photos, the aircraft is quite deteriorated by the action of time, with several rust spots and a lot of vegetation around the parts. The military does not plan, initially, to recover the plane from the woods.
flying canoe
This was the nickname that the Palicures Indians gave to the B-26 when they saw it on January 25, 1945, the date it crashed in Brazil. According to the article The Flying Canoe by John Moench, dated March 2000, the missionary David R. Green told the story of the lost aircraft in the extreme north of Brazil.
The B-26 registration 44-68105 crashed into the woods, killing 1st Lt. Theodore T. Handley (pilot), 2nd Lt. Raymond J. Carson (copilot), Flight Officer James E. Johnson, Jr. (browser) and the Cape. George W. Bodin (Gunner and Radio Operator). Only Sergeant Wesley W. Fulton (Gunner Engineer) survived the accident.
The full article can be accessed here.
The B-26 Bomber
The B-26 Marauder was an American twin-engined medium bomber. The aircraft also served with the Royal Air Force, Free French Air Force and South African Air Force, with over 5280 produced between 1941 and 1945.
The B-26 was most recognized for its bad reputation, caused by the huge amount of accidents during landing. Due to its design, the B-26 needed to be flown very precisely, and it did not tolerate errors in critical parts of the flight.
In addition, Curtiss' variable-pitch propellers were also a headache for mechanics. Despite the problems, the aircraft evolved over time and received a series of improvements, becoming a much safer and more reliable aircraft.
The B-26 could carry up to 1,8 tons of bombs and had 11 Browning M2 .50 BMG machine guns for defense, installed in the nose, tail, back and sides of the fuselage.
It was manned by seven soldiers, had a top speed of 462 km/h and was equipped with a pair of Pratt & Whitney R-2800 Double Wasp radial engines, the same used by a huge number of aircraft of the period, such as the P-47 Thunderbolt, F6F Hellcat, P-61 Black Widow and F4U Corsair.
With information The Traveler Portal.
