USAAF 42-107595 Martin B-26C-45-MO Marauder

USAAF serial number S/N: 42-107595 Martin B-26C-45-MO Marauder

1942107595, 42-107595 Martin B-26C-45-MO Marauder, Fate: Lost Unit: 391BG573BS Remarks: 391BG573BS The Black Death Group Code:T6-W/V shot down by flak Oct 12, 1944. MACR-9530, Disposal: 12-Oct-44

My uncle, Marvin L. W. Peters, was the pilot. The last official siting was that he was running on one engine with the other on fire. It is my understanding that he was able to land the plane. There was some confusion amounst the family, whether he broke his jaw during the landing, or when he was captured. I do not know how many of his crew survived. He spent the remainder of the war as POW. Though a dog lover before, and after the war, he would get the shakes when seeing a Doberman Pinscher because of the atrocities he witnessed in the adjoining camp for Russian prisoners. He was stationed in England for two years after the war, then returned stateside and began flying the Convair B-36, until sometime in 1949 when he was in a midair collision with another aircraft. Several of his crew were badly injured, and I think one was killed. Though his plane was heavily damaged, he was able to land it safely, and was later debriefed by Convair engineers that had extensively examined the plane. He was stationed either at Langley or Shaw at the time. Though I cannot find a record of this incident now, my father had kept a newspaper article describing it in the family bible for many years. Marvin was dad's baby brother, and when I was born in '51, I was named after him, though they had agreed before the war that they weren't going to do that. The airforce gave Marvin a commendation and offered him any duty, and he chose to become a jet pilot. He liked flying jets and driving hemi engined cars, and retired as a Major in 1967.

My father was with the Air Corp in Papua New Guinea and the liberation of the Philippines, receiving medals 3 times for rescuing crewmen from downed aircraft. I honestly believe he had it on his mind that if he could do that, there would be someone else willing to do the same for his little brother.

Marvin C. Peters