Don't know what it is about the Kingman Marauders, but never have I looked at a picture of them without thinking "My god, how could anyone destroy something so beautiful?"

But, destroy them they did. After having been stripped

of her engines, nose plexiglas and nearly all internal equipment, this gruesome sequence shows the

blade being dropped on a Kingman Marauder:

...Still painful to look at, even after being involved with
the subject for over 30 years.

---

As artifacts were acquired beginning in the late 70's, unless they had an identifying label, I had no idea what many of them were, so for a long time they remained simply anonymous & mysteriously-fascinating objects.

One such item was this spring-metal frame:

...Anonymous only until a picture in the B-26 Pilot's
Flight Operating Instructions revealed its function as the headband once worn over a Bombardier's leather flight helmet, to which a Fluorescent Lamp was

attached (a type of light light that caused the all-important Bombsight markings to glow intensely or fluoresce).

Most likely used in other USAAF bombers as well, here's what a complete Bombardier's Fluorescent Head Light Assembly removed from a different Kingman bomber looks like:

The Type's minimal wing area, requiring an unusually-high landing speed made its Wing Flaps extremely critical components, and the last time this 30 pound, 28" Hydraulic Actuator Assembly performed

under pressure, it cycled those Wing Flaps of a

Marauder coming into Kingman for a landing:

This 3-decade labor of love hasn't just been

repetitive, dirty, greasy, time-consuming and very expensive... oftentimes it can be quite entertaining,

such as when another civilian subcontractor enlisted

to produce war materiél is discovered:

Close-up of the Actuator's nomenclature plate shows this device was built by

THE MAYTAG COMPANY...
...and B26 stamped at the upper right, plus several Martin and/or government inspector's markings also adorn the center portion of this marvelous artifact, a

very special part of the

Depot 41 Museum Collection.

Now, one can provide images & text, but try as I might,

I'm unable to share the wonderful aroma of its 60 year

old hydraulic fluid!

 

 

photo credits this page:

Peter M. Bowers,

3rd generation copy from

the missing Grounds' Home Movies,

Depot 41 Photo Archive