Warbird Information Exchange

That may be a remnant of one of "Setter's" rumours from years ago. He did at one time hint at such a thing, I believe Southeast Asia was the purported region.

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Interesting point about how few Martin aircraft of any type survive. I would imagine the most numerous would be B-57s as gate guards? Even their civil aircraft are represented in too few numbers. I'd be curious how many 202s and 404s are still extant. I do know the Tadpole Clipper, a 3/8th scale version of the Mariner is still extant and at the Baltimore Museum of Industry.

The one rumor that seems to persist is that a Baltimore Tech School was using a Baltimore as an instructional airframe for many years until it disappeared. Usually, "disappeared" means they outlived their usefulness as a training aid and were cut up and scrapped. Having chased down other persistent rumors regarding other aircraft, I have yet to find one that ends with a successful recovery. Nevertheless, I'm the eternal optimist and still hoping that it is in the weeds of a scrapyard in the Baltimore area, though. These rumors only have to be right one time to make it worth it.

Maybe WIX needs to make a list of extinct aircraft just as they have the survivors. The P-43, B-32,XA-26F, the Chain Lightning", etc. It would be a nice quick reference so people know that their airplane of interest is not likely to be found, or would require replication.
Replication does occur , like the french bomber built in Midland, Texas a few years ago.

Here's an article I gleaned out of the Frederick News regarding the A-30 crash in the Chesapeake:

PILOT IDENTIFIED Baltimore, Jan. 24 i/P)--First Lieut. Dale C. Kercher of Shelbyville, Ind , was identified today as the army test pilot listed as missing since his twin-engined bomb- bcr crashed in Chesapeake Bay Saturday. Army representatives at the Glenn L. Martin Aircraft Company report that Lieut. Kercher was officially missing, pending recovery of the pilot's body. Thc plane crashed and sank about 1 500 yards off Gibson Island during a routine test flight

1,500 yards puts it out in a deeper part of the Bay, but certainly not out of reach of salvage crews. I imagine poor visibility and lots of silt would be the major hindrances to getting to it, assuming the plane is reasonably intact.

This weekend I saw a great detailed photo of one which I had never seen
At Grand Central Station there is a small museum which features transportation exhibits from the '39 and '64 NY World's fairs.

In '39 there was an aviation building, they had a large photo of a model sitting on a bare metal example in front of it.
I'm sure the photo is out there somewhere.

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North Carolina State College had at least part of one:


"Martin Maryland Bomber Donated by Glenn L. Martin Co. To NC State College Dept. of Aeronautical Engineering"

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Pilot: "Flap switch works hard in down position."
Mechanic: "Flap switch checked OK. Pilot needs more P.T." - Flight report, TB-17G 42-102875 (Hobbs AAF)

Wow. Thanks for sharing that Chris.

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James K

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It is not a rumor. Baltimore Polytechnic Institute had a Martin 187, which was originally displayed at the War Memorial Building in downtown Baltimore during WWII for fund drives. I personally know people who saw this aircraft at the school during that time period, and it was gone by 1957 or 1958, when the school closed their Airframe and Powerplant program. Who scrapped it nobody knows, but there were several aircraft scrappers (including Shapiro) around Baltimore who claimed many warbirds in that time period.

Martin WWII products didn't survive long after the war because Harry Truman was very harsh on Martin for end-running him direct to the President during his Munitions sub-committee investigation of the B-26. Truman was told to back off of Martin for various reasons. After the war, he and his subordinates took a direct dis-liking of Martin regarding every issue with the company. That is the reason more B-26's didn't survive, and also the reason Martin had severe problems getting the Martin 202 through CAA certification as well as some post-WWII difficulties in the civilian and military market. It wasn't until the end of Truman's presidency that the sun showed again on Martin. This is a vast over-simplification of a very complex story, because Martin was in many ways one of the most advanced manufacturers to come out of WWII and was still needed for some of their expertise in certain areas for post-WWII aircraft development. But politics was definitely against the company after WWII.

I have an A30 tailwheel steering dampener in my collection, as well as a large selection of B-26 parts. Various A-22 and A-30 parts have shown up here and there and I have gotten most that have come to light. 167 parts are very rare, but there are quite a few 187 parts lying around due to production modification/upgrades.

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Great share, FF, many thanks on all that.

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James K

"Switch on the underwater landing lights"
Emilio Largo, Thunderball.

www.VintageAeroWriter.com

Thanks for all of the replies so far. Still looking for good stories and photos to go with them.

Ryan

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The Baltimore that went down in the Chesapeake was raised so that the AAF could recover the body. It's no longer there, and the airframe was likely scrapped after being raised.