This should be re-titled, "The incredible aircraft maintenance personnel and why pilots love them."

“On one occasion, it flew back with one dead engine, while the other was on fire” what a champ

German flak gun: puts in 1000 holes and blows up one of the engine. FlakBait: OH NO! Anyway…

So glad you did a story on this plane. My grandad flew in the same squadron for his 50+ combat missions. He flew Flak Bait on a couple of occasions when it was the squadrons reserve unit. As a B-26 pilot he belly landed one with a loose bomb on the bay doors (had come off the rack and jammed the doors shut and the wheels didn't come down as mentioned, that was a problem with hydraulics) and on another flight had leaned over to pickup a clip board when flak flew through the windshield, it would have ended his life. Amazing stories.

German FLaK Gunner: Hans? Didn't we shoot that Plane yesterday? Hans: Ja. why, Fritz? Fritz: Because... It's BACK!

Imagine being a new guy and being assigned to a plane called “Flak-Bait”.

I'm glad somebody saved it ! Too many times I've seen historical aircraft get scrapped .

How could "Flak bait" carry any bombs with all the weight from it's crews huge balls of steel?

Just saw Flak Bait the other day at the Udvar-Hazy museum in Chantilly, VA. It's taken apart, undergoing restorations in the restoration hanger there. Pretty cool.

Glad they didn’t shoot the second engine, the plane would’ve stayed up in the air forever 😂

My grandfather James P Simpson flew seven missions in flak bait during World War II as a navigator and Bombardier and nose Gunner and play a part in the Battle of the Bulge in that airplane. He flew the majority of his missions in a B-26 named Gunders Wonders. He raised me as a child and will always be my hero

The pilots were able to safely land without an aircraft.

“Sir we’re missing some equipment” “Oh yeah that happens just don’t fall through the hole”

I can only imagine the adrenaline, the fear, the focus, said prayers and curse words while being shot at on the air. Wow! Salute to these warriors.

"On one occasion, it flew with a dead engine, while the other was on fire." YOU'VE GOT A HOLE IN YOUR RIGHT WING!

"Captain, we are missing some parts of the plane!" "No problem son, we only lost one engine thats normal"

I just picture the conversation. Copilot: "Engine number one is down" Pilot: "How's engine number two" Copilot: "Engine number two is, ummm it appears to be on fire". Pilot: "Well on fire or not it's the only one we have left"

Captain: how we doing!!!??? Copilot: the air speed is good!!! Captain: aight that's enough...

"She may not look like much, but she's got it where it counts, kid."

My father was a bombardier/navigator on Mitchell B-26 "Marauder" and flew right-seat in Douglas A-26 "Invader"

The pilots used to call the B26 "the prostitute" because it had no visible means of support.

I'm so glad that this plane is now preserved, a perfect testament to the incredible bravery of the men who actually named it as a sardonic way to confront the deadly missions that they faced.

*gets shot 1000 times* flak bait: “I didn’t hear no bell”

Used to have lunch every Wednesday with a group of guys, whose common interest was flying. There were airline pilots, sport flyers and veterans. One flew the B-26, and his name is among those in Flak Bait's logbook (Bob Hoyerman). He had a lot of stories; some tragic and several with good outcomes. When they moved to France, after D-day; they had a mission that required an instrument take-off in heavy ground fog. The first three planes crashed on take-off; killing everyone on board; but the rest of the squadron, still continued to take-off, and complete the mission. Bob could barely talk about it, even after all those years. Bob had to bring his B-26 in once on it's belly too. First he had the crew bail out near the airfield. He landed last, because of the damage that would likely be done to the runway; which was PSP. Everything went well, and as he was sliding, he glanced toward the radio shack, and the other pilots were standing in front, at attention, holding their hats over their hearts. A little gallows humor. On another mission, they were enroute to the target, when a lone Messerschmitt attacked the formation, from above and the rear. Bob said it sprayed everybody, pretty good as it went by, and then tried to turn in front of them, going into a bit of a skid. The aircraft commander of the lead B-26 told his co-pilot, I've got the plane. He pulled up, out of formation, and shot the forward firing 50 cal. guns on the sides of the fuselage; nailing the enemy aircraft. They flew the rest of the mission under strict radio silence; but when they got back on the ground, all the pilots ran to this guys plane; hoisted him on their shoulders, and the celebrating began. When Bob got back to the States, he was to be discharged from a base somewhere in the Northeast. I don't recall the location; but while there he was with other men being discharged, and eating at an outdoor mess, one afternoon. The serving line was staffed with German POW's; and the U.S. soldiers were in their class-A uniforms. The guy serving the mashed potatoes and gravy, slapped the food on the tray, splattering Bob's uniform. Bob went over the table and grabbed the guy in a full nelson; then forced his head into the hot gravy tray. When he let him up his face was pretty red. A cheer and applause went up from the other soldiers, who weren't too happy with this jerk; but hadn't done anything about it. Shortly after that, Bob found himself in front of the base CO, and he was talking article-15, or worse. But, looking at Bob's file, the CO saw that he was to be awarded a citation for valor, before discharge. So he thought better of it and dropped the matter. Bob was a rough and tumble, cigar smoking character; and if he liked you, he was a fine friend. I miss him.

This narrator can beat the guy at the end of a medical ad in a rap battle

Showed this to my grandfather who was in Vietnam, he said "of course it survived, its american"

"'Good news men" we've been designated as "decoys"!

Hitler: why are all of our factorys being destroyed? Hans: when, there is this plane..... we shot it over 1000 times and it keeps flying over and over again... Hitler: what NOW? Hans:soo...... Frits runs in the room. Frits: hans you know that plane we keep shoting at over and over again? hans: yah, why Frits: ITS BACK AGAIN!

I've seen Flak Bait in person and she's currently undergoing restoration at the Udvar Hazy Certer in Chantilly, VA. You can see the restoration hanger and Flak Bait from an elevated potion behind a plane of glass near the Space Shuttle Exhibit.

Flak Bait flying back to base with a dead engine and the other on fire: "Tis only a flesh wound!"

7:09 “Met by a swarm of Bf-109s cleverly disguised as dive bombers.”

*It had most of its airframe replaced at some point.* “I have here George Washington’s original axe. It was pretty beat up, so I had to replace the handle… and the head.”

“...after some aerodynamic alterations, including increasing the wingspan and adding a rudder...”. You’d think they’d have started with a rudder. No wonder it crashed a lot.

Ty !!! So so much Flak Bait is my grandfather plane ! I'm soo happy to see it getting its just rewards !! My grandfather is Sherman v Best

Flak Bait: what's my next mission, commander? Commander: your mission is to attract the enemy flak fire so that our planes could advance into enemy territory without too much casualties. FB: 😯

A very good friend of mine, his dad flew the plane flack bait and made it out. I am sending him this! This is awesome!

Now this is an impressive dark docs. Well done, I never knew this about this story.

"and landed with only the air speed indicator working" Nice job. At least they had that.

My great grandfather was the bombardier for the 3rd crew during d-day, he flew 71 mission and even bombed a building with 14 high ranking German officers in it.

So pleased you posted this. The legend of FLAK-BAIT continues now with a B-52 FLAK-BAIT II.

As tough as Flak Bait was, the crews were men of steel to keep going back after they knew that plane took so many hits. Awesome ground crews and mechanics!

Dude looked at the engine on fire and said, “It’s still runnin tho.”

Flak Bait’s crew Rookie “We’ve been shot In the rear” Main pilot “eh and?” Rookie “what do you mean and?, our ass has been almost destroyed!” Pilot”we’re fine trust”

Great video, thanks for doing a video on this great plane. I had never heard the facts about this great plane and crew.

The B26 was a high performance bomber. It was designed to meet certain criteria, thus its wings were designed small and were heavily loaded, necessitating unusually high landing speeds. Despite higher than average operational losses, the B26 enjoyed one of the best mission-to-loss ratios of all US bombers.

Excellent vid about the early troubled, but awesome B26. Two reasons it was so tough was it's use of P&W R2800 powerplants, the best engines of the war IMHO. It's a shame so many great aircraft were scrapped after the war, no insight into the future. Thanks for this Flak Bait story. Great story of an aircraft & it's courageous crews.

Col Greyson "Rocky" Eubanks was my last AF commander in 1967. He was one of the many pilots who flew "Flak Bait." Google his name and you see a photo, he's on the right receiving an award.

An incredible story about a truly amazing aircraft. I am glad that the powers that be were so wise to preserve "Flak Bait" for posterity, and not scrapping it like so many other veterans of the terrible air war during WW2. Thank you for showing us this incredible story.

After all that damage and nearly every part replaced, it's quite literally the ship of Theseus.

My Dad always said the Bumble Bee and they B26 could never fly according to the Laws of Aerodynamics.

I’ve grown a great deal of appreciation for your video/documentaries.....for the love of history please do not stop.

I really love your docco's. History is written by the victors. Lest we forget.

Just curious how many crew members were killed or injured in all these missions ?...with all that battle damage it would be outstanding to hear all the crews survived.

Reminds me of my Grandfather's B17. Named Flak Hack. He flew her on 30 missions 9 of which were over Berlin.

Amazing story, by one of the best channels on youtube. Thank you.

I was in a law firm in Wichita, KS a few years back. I noticed a litho of Flak-Bait and a model of the plane in the firm. I just thought someone was an aviation fan like me. Later that year I read an article in the local paper about O.J. Redmond, the bombardier on Flak-Bait. He was the bombardier that, along with the pilot Ferrell, were injured by the 20mm round mentioned in the piece by DD.. Mr. Redmond came back to Kansas, studied law and eventually started a law firm in Wichita. His son joined the firm some years later to form Redmond and Redmond. The junior Redmond said when he was a youngster, he would watch his dad shave. Sometimes his dad would stop, look in the mirror and squeeze out of his face a shard of plexiglass. Needles to say, I had new respect for my customer Redmond and Redmond.

Son: Dad why is my sister's name cherry? Dad: because your mother loves cherries Son: thanks dad Dad: you are welcome Flakbait

Ohhh snap!!! I've seen this plane! The Air and Space Museum in Dulles has a video on it while it's getting restored.

This channel is the best on you tube ...hands down... you consistently upload facinating content ive never heard about and im a lifelong student of history...thank you for this particular video Flak Bait is a beast and an inspiration.

Those guys earned their reputation, our thanks and much more than I can ever think of. My hats off to all WWII Pilots! Thank you gentlemen!

"Twice it flew back to it's base or ship on only one engine". I'm not the only one that caught that yes?

Bless them all.they save us all

I’m always happy when there’s unique stories about vehicles like this and that they are recognized by the higher ups and preserved as the vehicle retires. Rather than just view them as just another military asset, they value the history of the vehicle and preserve them for future generations.

My father, Maj. Ralph Trostel, flew the B-26 as a co-pilot for 37 combat missions in Europe. He was assigned to the 9th Air Force, 596th Squadron, 397th Group. He flew from Peronne, France and Venlo, Netherlands between Dec. ‘44 and May ‘45. He never said a negative word about the B-26. He stayed in the Air Force for 20 years.

definitely a true tribute to the military personnel in charge of that bird

Im just waiting for the Smithsonian to fully restore the plane. I went last year for an event and saw it in the restoration hangar.

My grandmother was a Rosie the Riveter @ the B 24 plant @ the Willow Run Michigan plant...was so proud of her!

I'd seen this in the NASM in DC. Thanks for posting a more complete story than I got from the display.

If the aircraft was that hard to land under normal circumstances image landing when you're down engine and on fire.

The best ww2 story was given to me by a Sears tool guy pushing 90. He was in the bomber as forward gunner . It was not a B17 but a 24 or this model. I remember he said his feet were touching the bombs. The magazine exploded on take off. Everyone was killed instantly as he did a superman out the front and landed in a lake. Villagers helped him out and he waited for the cavalry.. try and beat that

Great video from you and thanks for posting it! Also thank goodness "Flak Bait" was saved at the end of WW2 and she's now in The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum which is currently restoring the her to take her place of honor for all to see.

My pops worked at the Martin Bomber plant in Omaha (actually Bellevue) Nebraska during the war. He was too old for induction in the military. I'm proud of him for contributing to the war effort. I have always thought it was a cool plane.

There was a Wellington that came home with just one hole in it. But that hole was the outer skin stripped from the fuselage from tail to wings all the way around leaving just the geodocide frame hanging on

"The unusually high 150 mph (241 km/h) speed on short final runway approach was intimidating to many pilots who were used to much slower approach speeds, and whenever they slowed to speeds below those stipulated in the manual, the aircraft would often stall and crash. The B-26 became a safer aircraft once crews were re-trained, and after aerodynamics modifications (an increase of wingspan and wing angle-of-incidence to give better takeoff performance, and a larger vertical stabilizer and rudder). The Marauder ended World War II with the lowest loss rate of any USAAF bomber." Taken straight from Wikipedia! Not the first time this channel has done that.

That's incredible! I always felt like planes of this era took on an almost sentient existence. Just so many incredible stories of aircraft flying when they were shot to ribbons. The pilots of course were far beyond incredible.

Martin B26 Marauder Light Bomber >>> Such a Good Luck Plane for many! 🌷🌿🌎💖

I sooooo love this channel. Edge of the frackin seat.true stories... that people need to know.

If this guy didn't speak like a child reluctantly giving his first ever presentation infront of his class I would actually enjoy this channel so much more.

I love stories about the warriors of WWII. There are so many stories of bravery and courage. I am really glad Flakbait was put in a museum. She earned her spot in the Smithsonian by protecting so many heroes.

My Grandfather was a tail gunner in a RAF B26, based in Italy. He spent the last part of the war in hospital after getting flak fragments in his leg. I remember he always spoke very highly of that aircraft & his crew, especially the Canadian pilot, who was regarded as lucky. Except for my grandfathers injury, and a crash landing in a damaged plane, they all made it through the war.

I've got a model of this same plane hanging from the ceiling in my man-cave.

"we've lost engine one, and engine two is no longer on fire"

My grandfather was a B-26 trainer pilot, he never went overseas. But he did train men that did go overseas. He said that the B-26 was a very hot airplane. This was a fantastic video! Though I may be biased!

Triggers broom comes to mind, replacement handles, heads, but still the same broom! Only fans of Only Fools and Horses will get that😉😉

Only one engine was able to get these guys and their GIANT BRASS BALLS back safely... BOSS!

It’s honestly really simple “Flak Bait” survived all those missions because it was just built different :)

So much better without dramatic background music. Well done.

Great story of a practically indestructible plane. Like that old commercial for the Timex watch, it took a lickin' and kept on tickin'. Flying with one engine, one engine on fire, shot to pieces and STILL in the air...someone, please make a decent movie out of this amazing story!

These are always very interesting, but I wish the narrator wasn’t the top graduate of the Evelyn Wood Speed Reading class.

The English word, "flak", is actually the German abbreviation for the German word for "anti-aircraft gun: "Fliegerabwehrkanone (Flak)" (literally "aircraft defense canon", or gun). While in German it means the actual guns, in English it usually means the results from the guns in the air for the planes being shot at. Also, today it means "criticism" in English.

As soon as the video started and I heard the name "Flak Bait" I cracked up hard on the inside. Hell of a name for a plane! I'd take a hard pass on flying in that one.

My father crossed the Atlantic at the end of 42 during Operation Torch to join the Air Force as a French aviator. Based in Big Spring Texas, he was a navigator bomber and for the French crews he was in charge of captain and like many of his compatriots he was attached to the protection of American territory. The widow maker didn't scare him since he wasn't married he told me smiling, but landing it was a bit like putting down a 38 ton truck; "Bombs away !!!" he said to me still amazed ... I kept preciously his nav log, his prayer books and many photographs. He was not strictly speaking on the front, but the missions in particular on the great lakes of the north made him lose a lot of comrades, yet he was never considered as a veteran. He had no bitterness about it. Later he had to pass the Panama Canal to reach Japan and the ship turned around to go back to USA ; something had happened according to the cook (also French ...) - the first bomb had fallen. I am always very moved when I speak about this especially since the second bomb made that perhaps I am able to speak about all of that today ! God bless the oft-forgotten WACs, but also those youngs females war correspondents who kept the morale up - many years later I had the opportunity to meet Dorothée Davis, whom we welcomed with her family in France how she knew how to welcome my father into his own family in California !

Meanwhile Gajin: Hmm yes, what about bomber exploding from a single 7.62mm shell instead ?

I thought they made a flak bait so the other bombers were safe But its just an immortal plane with that amount of balls of the crew and it could still fly.

My father was the original bombardier and navigator on Flak Bait and was proud of his service in WWII

Really good video. There is a beautifully restored B-26 Marauder at the National Museum of the US Air Force in Dayton, Ohio. Really worth seeing.

"5 ducks" camera zooms in on 6...

So wait, if the whole airframe was replaced? Then is it even the same airplane?

My father, Elwood Thornton, Sr. was one of the crew pilots that flew Flak Bait. He flew 62 missions, though not all of those were flying Flak Bait in the European theater. If you knew my father or were a part of his flight crew, please do reach out. kindly, tt.

Your videos made me install an ad blocker, great job