Glenn Luther Martin
1886-1955

Joel Alm 9-24-2014
Research Paper-1
AVMA 2211 Glenn Luther Martin was a self-taught pilot, youthful businessman and an inventor whose bombers and flying boats played important roles in WWI, WWII, and for part of the Cold War. Martin was born on January 17, 1886 in Macksburg, Iowa and passed away on December 4, 1955 in Baltimore, Maryland (Encyclopedia). Glenn founded the Glenn L. Martin Company in 1912. In 1916, he merged his company with the original Wright Company, forming the Wright –Martin Aircraft Company. He ended up leaving the Wright-Martin Aircraft Company and founded a second Glenn L. Martin Company in 1917. After his passing, his second company would eventually in 1995 merge with the Lockheed Corporation, forming Lockheed Martin which is a major aerospace and defense contractor still today (Kansas Wesleyan).
At the age of two, Martin’s family moved to Kansas so that his father could run a wheat farm (Kansas Wesleyan). Four years later Martin showed a great interest for kites and eventually started designing his own kites. Despite criticism from his friends, people noticed Martin’s kites and would pay him twenty five cents to build one for them. Along with his obsession for kites, Martin would find innovative ways to make everyday activities more interesting. He began using sails for everything: ice skates, wagons, and his bicycle. The Wright Brother’s first flight in 1903 caught Martin’s attention. He was fascinated with their airplane and almost immediately started thinking about designs of his own. In 1909, he had built his own airplane which proved to be a failure after its first test flight (Kansas Wesleyan). Failure didn’t keep Martin from building airplanes. Martin’s mother would assist in designing and building his first few airplanes and in 1912 Martin moved to Los Angeles, California where he established his first airplane factory (Encyclopedia). In order to keep his business going, Martin flew stunt planes at local airfields and even played a role in the movie A Girl of Yesterday (1915) starring Mary Pickford (Kansas Wesleyan). This role was important because he would be able to advertise by flying Mary Pickford around in his airplane.
The Glenn L. Martin Company got its first taste of business in September of 1918. The U.S. Army was interested in Martin’s MB-1. The MB-1 was a wooden biplane bomber weighing ten thousand pounds and had a wingspan of seventy-two feet (proof of concept). Martin was eager to impress his first potential clients and finished production of the prototype early. Two weeks before military officials were expecting him; Martin took off for McCook field in Dayton, Ohio. The plane could carry a crew of four, and as soon as the plane landed at McCook field everyone on the plane was arrested (proof of concept). Tensions were high between Europe and the U.S. at the time, so the guards were already on high alert; and on top of that Martin arrived unexpected in an unfamiliar aircraft. Eventually Martin was able to convince the guards that the aircraft they had landed at McCook was the plane the commander had ordered. When the commander found out Martin’s plane arrived early he was shocked but quickly ordered Captain Rudolph Schroeder, an ace military pilot, to take the MB-1 for a test flight. After putting the plane through vigorous aerial testing, Schroeder came back with nothing but positive feedback. The MB-1 biplane bomber would become the first American-designed bomber purchased by the U.S. Army (proof of concept).
The U.S. Army had originally ordered fifty of Martin’s MB-1’s but in 1919; the order was reduced to only ten aircraft. After receiving the order of MB-1’s Martin and his engineers immediately started to redesign the MB-1 into a more powerful bomber. They were wanted to design the bomber to carry a heavier load. Increasing the load would mean sacrificing speed and handling. In 1920 after hearing about the “more powerful” MB-2 Martin had on the design table, the Army placed an order for a handful of MB-2’s. The MB-2 bomber had two twelve cylinder, liquid-cooled, four hundred and forty-three horsepower Liberty engines (factsheets). These engines were a major American technological contribution to WWI. The Liberty engines were light, powerful, and efficient making them the perfect fit for Martin’s MB-2. The MB-2 became the air service’s primary multi-engine bomber until it was replaced by the Keystone bombers of the late 1920’s.
In 1925 the Industrial Bureau contacted Glenn at his plant in Cleveland, Ohio. They contacted him hoping to attract him to re-locate his business in Maryland. When Glenn accepted the offer, a site in Middle River which was not too far from Baltimore was chosen. The only thing holding Glenn and his company back from moving right away was a three year struggle between Glenn and trying to convince forty-five property owners that their properties were going to provide more jobs to the community and help the local economy. Once the land was acquired, in 1928, The Glenn L. Martin Company moved to Maryland (Kansas Wesleyan). As promised, the re-location of Martin’s company brought hundreds of much needed jobs, an airport, and an explosive aviation industry. On May 10, 1912 Glenn L. Martin set a world record for the longest hydroplane flight and the longest round trip flight over water (Kansas Wesleyan). Martin came up with the idea to put floats on his thirty-two foot, seventy-five horsepower model twelve airplane. In order to make his model twelve seaworthy he embarked on a thirty-four mile thirty-seven minute flight from Newport bay to the island of Catalina (five lessons). It wasn’t until the 1940’s that Martin made another remarkable float plane achievement. Up until WWII flying boats were seen as the only way to produce large aircraft. Post war aviation found little room for large “boat planes.” To most people after the war, the future was in faster, more efficient airplanes. Just when the aviation community had turned their backs on flying boats three of the largest ever built would make their debut, two would fade into oblivion, and one is still flying today.

Glenn Martin’s JRM Mars made its first debut in July 1945. The Mars was built for the U.S. Navy, and Martin saw it as the next step for giant flying boat transports of the future. The prototype was ordered by the Navy in 1938 but it took three years before the final product was delivered. Once delivered, the Mars would be the largest patrol bomber in WWII with the longest range which was over four thousand nine hundred miles (mighty mars). The giant wings spanned two hundred feet wide and held four right cyclone engines, each generating two thousand two hundred horsepower. The first setback occurred during engine tests on December 5, 1941 when engine three refused to go into reverse, it soon caught fire, and the prop tore into the fuselage. No one was injured but engine three burned out of its mounts and fell into the water. The fire was eventually put out and despite the gash in the fuselage and the loss of engine three, the aircraft was not lost. In June of 1942, the Mars was ready for its first test flight. After some extensive testing, the decision was made to turn the Mars into a transport aircraft. In order to do so the guns were removed, new hatches were installed, the decking was reinforced, and cargo loading equipment was installed. The plane stayed with Martin for eighteen months to make final tweaks, conversions, and to perform testing. On November 27, 1943 the Navy finally received the Mars in Maryland. The Mars made a record breaking flight between Pax River and Brazil, a distance of four thousand three hundred and seventy-five miles and a payload of thirteen thousand pounds (mighty mars). This was just the beginning of record breaking flights for the Mars. Because of its great weight carrying capabilities, the Mars became one of the Navy’s indispensable additions to the war in the Pacific. It helped with the “Great push on Japan,” made record breaking over water transport route from California to Hawaii, and by March of 1945 the Mars delivered three million pounds of personnel and supplies completing seventy-eight round trips between San Francisco Bay and Honolulu (mighty mars). In the end, Martin got the publicity he was looking for and made sure he gave the Navy what it wanted.

Glenn Martin lived an incredible life full of dreams, adventures, and innovation. The more I researched, the more I learned, and the more I learned I became inspired. Despite all the failures Martin experienced throughout his career he kept going and doing more. Success doesn’t come, you have to pursue it. Martin grew up in an average family and as a kid seemed to always have his eyes on the skies from kites to sails. By the age of twenty-two he had started his own company and just a couple years later he was in Cleveland, Ohio building and designing bombers for the Army. Some of the aircraft he designed and built in the 1940’s are still in operation almost seventy-five years later. Glenn Luther Martin made every year of his life count, and can go down in aviation history for numerous military aircraft achievements during both World Wars and even part of the Cold War.

Works Cited

The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica. "Glenn L. Martin (American Aircraft Inventor)." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d. Web. 20 Sept. 2014.
"Factsheets : Liberty 12-Cylinder." Factsheets : Liberty 12-Cylinder. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Sept. 2014.
"Five Lessons for a Successful STEM Career." The 1912 Martin Seaplane · Lockheed Martin. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Sept. 2014.
"Glenn L. Martin | Kansas Wesleyan University." Glenn L. Martin | Kansas Wesleyan University. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Sept. 2014.
"The Mighty Mars JRM." History Net Where History Comes Alive World US History Online The Mighty Mars JRM Comments. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Sept. 2014.
"Proof of Concept: Martin's MB-1 and MB-2." · Lockheed Martin. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Sept. 2014.