Will a Mighty Martin AM ever fly again?

[george]

There are supposedly only 5 airframes of the magnificent Mauler in existence. Rumors of a mystery AM-1 in Brazil have never been verified. Probably the finest looking single-seat piston attack aircraft ever designed, 3 are apparently entombed for eternity (22260 and 122401 in Baltimore, and 122397 in Florida).

The only 2 with a possibility to fly would then be 22275 at Tillamook, and 122403 at Chino.

1. 22275 - Will it be made airworthy for the move to the museums' new location, or might it be sold due to the move?

2. 122403 - Does this project have the possibility of being restored by its owners, or if not, sold to a collector for restoration to airworthy?

[SaxMan]

There is some work being done on the smaller components of the Baltimore (ex-CAF) Mauler. The two things that are keeping it from being restored are 1) available space to fix it up and 2) money. There have been some offers floated on a location to restore the plane, but the money issue is a bigger hurdle to clear. All the parts of the Baltimore Mauler are there (some extra and unrelated parts ended up coming with the plane as well). It's just going to take a team of volunteers to put it back together along with a pretty good sum of cash to make it airworthy. The cash part is additionally complicated that this plane is a relatively obscure type that has no combat history, so public interest is not going to be as great as the more well known Warbird types.

I think we'll see an AM fly again, but it may be years away before someone with the gumption and the bankroll to "try something new" will go for it.

[bdk]

The one in Chino has cut spars among other problems. Can't see that it would ever be a priority due to its lack of historical significance.

[george]

SaxMan - Are you sure the Navy would allow it to fly? Also, I didn't know the Baltimore museum flew their planes.

BDK - Like its big brother, the Marauder, the Mauler was ahead of its time. Very advanced and sophisticated. Also like its big brother, the really good pilots loved it. Some feel it should have won over the AD. Yet still, it went out on the boat. And remember its payload capabilities. Added up, I think it was a significant attack aircraft.

[The Inspector]

SaxMan - Are you sure the Navy would allow it to fly? Also, I didn't know the Baltimore museum flew their planes.

BDK - Like its big brother, the Marauder, the Mauler was ahead of its time. Very advanced and sophisticated. Also like its big brother, the really good pilots loved it. Some feel it should have won over the AD. Yet still, it went out on the boat. And remember its payload capabilities. Added up, I think it was a significant attack aircraft.

One major strike against it was it's use of the 28 cylinder portable bonfire hanging on the nose, the Navy was far less than enthused about it's performance and reliability with a couple of squadrons deployed to the fleet.

[Brad]

The Navy will not allow the Baltimore Mauler to fly. That is why the CAF released them back to the Navy (who transferred them to The MD museum) instead of it all going to another private owner that had every intention of making it fly. There was about one and a half Maulers in that collection. After Wayne wrecked it, he kept a bunch of the parts to keep the CAF from letting somebody else rebuild and fly it instead of him. When the planes were loaded up to go to MD some of those guys had been to visit with him and I believe they got most of the parts back. He had the wing hinge pins, a canopy and some other stuff.

[kalamazookid]

Is 22275 privately-owned or on loan from the Navy? Maybe it will be made airworthy for the move t to Madras like what we've seen with the Neptune and a few others lately.

[bdk]

BDK - Like its big brother, the Marauder, the Mauler was ahead of its time. Very advanced and sophisticated. Also like its big brother, the really good pilots loved it. Some feel it should have won over the AD. Yet still, it went out on the boat. And remember its payload capabilities. Added up, I think it was a significant attack aircraft.

I have no influence whatsoever at POF. Please contact them and express your opinion. Better yet, start a collection to pay for the restoration!

[george]

Interesting response, BDK. Never occurred to me that you may or may not have influence at POF. I didn't know who owned the plane at Chino. Was just stating why I thought it has historical significance. Start a collection? I already did that on a small scale with the CAF Mauler back in the nineties, but didn't seem there was much or any interest from others.

[Jerry O'Neill]

Is 22275 privately-owned or on loan from the Navy? Maybe it will be made airworthy for the move t to Madras like what we've seen with the Neptune and a few others lately.

This AM is privately owned as it was Army property and recovered from Aberdeen by NEAM about the same time as they recovered their B-29. They also took the firewall forward from another condemned AM. That front end eventually ended up with Harry Doan.

Last edited by Jerry O'Neill on Thu Jan 16, 2014 7:00 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[bdk]

I already did that on a small scale with the CAF Mauler back in the nineties, but didn't seem there was much or any interest from others.

And therein lies the problem! I wish it were different as I like the type as well.

[Taylor Stevenson]

One major strike against it was it's use of the 28 cylinder portable bonfire hanging on the nose....

That's an awesome analogy...

There's a certain someone out there who would kill to put a Mauler back in the air. Hope he gets the chance one day.

[george]

Brad, your explanation of what happened to the CAF Mauler is both heartbreaking and frustrating. Now it makes sense why no restoration work at all ever took place, even as contributions trickled in. Its hard to understand, though, why the parts weren't retrieved many years earlier so that those that wanted to restore it could have done so. Thanks for all the insight you have shared, Brad, even though its such a sad outcome for the AM-1.

[SaxMan]

I do know the Mauler tends to be a frequent topic of conversation up at Jack Kosko's hangar. I hadn't heard about the plane being transferred to the Navy and then to the Martin Museum. I thought it was a direct transaction. It is sad because while the plane was damaged it wasn't so badly damaged that it couldn't fly again. Now it's just in lots of pieces.

[Brad]

It always belonged to the Navy. It was on loan to the CAF (very interesting story I don't have time to tell) restored, flown and crashed and then drug from place to place and left to sit. Several years later, interest in restoring and flying it developed and a generous person that could have made it happen came in to play. Inquiries were made to the Navy by interested parties and the Navy essentially said the CAF was welcome to restore it to static condition and keep it but couldn't dispose of it without the Navy's permission and could not fly it anymore. Due to never ending problems with the Air Force Museum over who actually owns what, it was decided to give the plane back to the Naval Museum and the CAF would wash their hands of the whole deal. Another organization was approved to take possesion of the one and a half Maulers and word came about that they were going to restore one of the airplanes and scrap everything else. A CAF employee let the Navy know what was going on and the loan to that organization was cancelled. The Maryland museum stepped up and took the entire package. Somewhere I have pictures of it being disassembled and loaded for the trip.

And there, courtesy of the Navy Museum, ended what was probably the last realistic chance of us ever seeing a flying Mauler. The AM-1 has always been one of my favorite airplanes and I had hoped it would be rebuilt and flown again by one of the people that really wanted to do it bad enough to spend their hard earned cash.

Contrary to what is posted elsewhere in this thread, I don't remember ever hearing or reading of any problems with the engine in the Mauler and I don't believe it was any kind of strike against the airplane. Lots of other things lead to its unpopularity with the Navy but the engine choice didn't have much, if anything, to do with it.