File:2018 view of Martin B-26B-25-MA Marauder ’131773 PN-O’ “Flak-Bait” (41-31773) (51280185069).jpg

c/n 3487 Built 1943 with the US military serial 41-31773. Flown to Europe and allocated to the 449th Bombardment Squadron, part of the 322nd Bombardment Group based at RAF Andrews Field in Essex. It was the first allied bomber to complete 200 operational missions and had reached 206 by the end of the war. Only one allied bomber reached a higher number of missions during WW2, this was Mosquito B.IX ‘LR503’ which completed 213 ‘opps’ but was sadly destroyed in a fatal crash at Calgary Airport in Canada during a publicity flight on 10th May 1945, just two days after VE day. ‘Flak Bait’ was specifically requested by General Henry H. ‘Hap’ Arnold for the collection of WW2 types being preserved for the National Air Museum. It was officially transferred to the Smithsonian Institute in 1960 and stored at Silver Hill, Maryland, with the nose going on display at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C. The entire aircraft has now been reunited in the Mary Baker Engen Restoration Hangar at the Steven F. Udvar Hazy Center, where a sympathetic restoration is taking place. Washington Dulles International Airport, Chantilly, Virginia