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39-469: The aircraft's immense size allowed flight engineers to enter the wing through a crawlway and make minor repairs in flight. A 5,000 mi (8,000 km) flight took 33 hours at its 152 mph (245 km/h) cruising speed; the crew was made up of several shifts, and bunks allowed them to sleep when off duty. The specification that produced the XB-15 began in mid-1933 as "Project A", USAAC discussions regarding

78-476: A 22,046 pounds (10,000 kg) payload to a height of 8,228 feet (2,508 m), and 31,164 pounds (14,136 kg) to 6,561.6 feet (2,000.0 m), setting two world records for landplanes. Haynes was awarded certificates issued by the National Aeronautics Association (NAA) for an international record for "the greatest payload carried to an altitude of 2,000 meters". The XB-15 was not fast for

117-454: A bomber but it was the fastest aircraft that could carry so much weight, and for such distances. In July 1939, Haynes received certificates from the NAA for an international 5,000 km (3,100 mi) speed record with a 2,000 kg (4,400 lb) payload. The latter performance also established a national closed circuit distance record of 3,129.241 miles (5,036.025 km). Flying from Langley,

156-641: A modified ballistic missile (such as the U.S. Army's Juno I ). Martin also designed and manufactured the huge and heavily armed Titan I and LGM-25C Titan II intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs). Martin Company of Orlando, Florida, was the prime contractor for the US Army's Pershing missile. The Martin Company was one of two finalists for the command and service modules of the Apollo Program . The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) awarded

195-622: A second Glenn L. Martin Company on September 10, 1917. This new company was headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio . In 1913, Mexican insurgents from the northwestern state of Sonora bought a single-seater Martin Pusher biplane in Los Angeles with the intention of attacking federal naval forces that were attacking the port of Guaymas . The aircraft was shipped on May 5, 1913, in five crates to Tucson, Arizona , via Wells Fargo Express , and then moved through

234-642: A sizable crew compartment with bunkbeds, a galley and a lavatory . Finally, in September 1937, construction was finished, and it first flew on 15 October. Its double-wheel main landing gear remained down from takeoff to landing. On 2 December 1937, the XB-15 flew from Seattle to Wright Field in Ohio to be accepted by the USAAC for testing. With the Twin Wasp radial engines installed — the same number and type of engines fitted to

273-621: A survey flight from Panama over the Galapagos islands, the inspection including Baltra Island . Haynes piloted the XB-15 back to the United States, leaving Panama on 11 May 1940. In late 1940, the XB-15's defensive guns were removed at Duncan Field in Texas. Seats were attached so that Lend Lease aircraft ferry crews could be returned after delivery. On 6 May 1943, the Army Air Forces converted

312-607: The Lockheed Corporation , then the nation's second-largest defense contractor, to form the Lockheed Martin Corporation , becoming the largest such company in the world. The Martin Company employed many of the founders and chief engineers of the American aerospace industry, including: Martin also taught William Boeing how to fly and sold him his first airplane. Y1B-20 The Boeing Y1B-20 ( Boeing 316 )

351-651: The Lockheed Martin corporation. Glenn L. Martin Company was founded by aviation pioneer Glenn Luther Martin on August 16, 1912. He started the company building military training aircraft in Santa Ana, California , and in September 1916, Martin accepted a merger offer from the Wright Company , creating the Wright-Martin Aircraft Company. This merger did not function well, so Glenn Martin left to form

390-737: The MB-1 bomber , a large biplane design ordered by the United States Army on January 17, 1918. The MB-1 entered service after the end of hostilities. A follow-up design, the MB-2 , proved successful; 20 were ordered by the Army Air Service , the first five of them under the company designation and the last 15 as the NBS-1 (Night Bomber, Short range). Although the War Department ordered 110 more, it retained

429-509: The Martin 4-0-4 twin-engined passenger airliner. The Martin Company moved into the aerospace manufacturing business. It produced the Vanguard rocket , used by the American space program as one of its first satellite booster rockets as part of Project Vanguard . The Vanguard was the first American space exploration rocket designed from scratch to be an orbital launch vehicle — rather than being

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468-673: The Model 314 flying boat, which essentially used the XB-15's wing design with four of the more powerful Wright Twin Cyclone fourteen-cylinder radials for power. In 1938, the USAAC proposed to update the XB-15 to make the slightly larger Y1B-20 , again using four Wright Twin Cyclones as with the Boeing 314, but the Secretary of War , Harry Hines Woodring , canceled the project before construction began, in favor of

507-827: The Panama Canal Zone , and at Lima, Peru . Haynes was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Order of the Merit of Chile , and the whole crew earned the MacKay Trophy . Haynes piloted the XB-15 again on 10 June 1939 to return home the body of Mexican flier Francisco Sarabia who had died in a crash in the Potomac River . After flying back from Mexico City , Haynes and his copilot William D. Old undertook flight tests at Wright Field with heavy loads. The XB-15 lifted

546-721: The Martin Company underbid Curtiss for the production of a Curtiss-designed scout bomber, the SC-1 , and ultimately Martin produced 404 of these. In 1929, Martin sold the Cleveland plant and built a new one in Middle River, Maryland , northeast of Baltimore . During the 1930s, Martin built flying boats for the U.S. Navy , and the innovative Martin B-10 bomber for the Army. The Martin Company also produced

585-558: The Model 299 in answer to a proposal by the USAAC to replace the Martin B-10 bomber. The Model 299 design team incorporated elements of the Boeing 247 and the Model 294, especially its use of four engines. The Model 299 design team worked alongside Klystra's team, but difficulties in fabricating such a large aircraft slowed progress on the 294. The Model 299 flew first, on 28 July 1935. In mid-1935,

624-591: The Titan IV came into service, it could carry a heavier payload to orbit than any other rocket in production. Besides its use by the Air Force to launch its sequence of very heavy reconnaissance satellites , one Titan IV, with a powerful Centaur rocket upper stage, was used to launch the heavy Cassini space probe to the planet Saturn in 1997. The Cassini probe orbited Saturn from 2004 to 2017, successfully returning mountains of scientific data. The halting of production of

663-671: The Titan IV in 2004 brought to an end production of the last rocket able to carry a heavier payload than the Space Shuttle, which itself ended in 2011. The Martin Company merged with the American-Marietta Corporation, a chemical-products and construction-materials manufacturer, in 1961, to form the Martin Marietta Corporation . In 1995, Martin Marietta, then the nation's third-largest defense contractor, merged with

702-667: The USAAC combined Project A with Project D; a proposal asking for "the maximum feasible range into the future." The combined program was designated BLR for "Bomber, Long Range". The XB-15 was renamed the XBLR-1; it was joined under the BLR program by two other projects: one from Douglas Aircraft , the XBLR-2 which later became the XB-19 ; and one from Sikorsky Aircraft called the XBLR-3 , later canceled. The next year,

741-531: The XB-15 aerial survey of May 1940. "Grandpappy′s" flight crew, reduced to six men, described the aircraft as difficult to fly and service. Two fires and a complete failure of the electrical system occurred in the air. The aircraft was retired on 18 December 1944, assigned to Panama Air Depot. In June 1945, it was ordered to be scrapped at Albrook Field in Panama, its engines and internal parts removed along with its vertical stabilizer and rudder . The remaining airframe

780-523: The XB-15 arrived at Albrook Field in Panama on 10 April 1940 and immediately began classified bombing tests of canal lock protections, commanded by Haynes and including Captain Curtis LeMay as navigator and Lieutenant John B. Montgomery as bombardier. Of 150 bombs dropped, only three hit the target: a specially made bunker simulating a reinforced machine room. The few hits nevertheless led to improvements in bunker design. In early May, Haynes and LeMay made

819-462: The XBLR designation was dropped and the Boeing prototype was once again the XB-15. Unusual features that the XB-15 pioneered included an autopilot , deicing equipment, and two gasoline generators used as auxiliary power units (independent of the main engines) to power the 110-volt electrical system. The main engines were serviceable in flight using an access tunnel inside the wing. The aircraft contained

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858-655: The XC-105 carried freight and personnel to and from Florida, and throughout the Caribbean , based out of Albrook Field beginning in June 1943. Hundreds of young women were flown in "Grandpappy" from Miami to the Canal Zone to engage in US government work; these trips were dubbed the "Georgia Peach Run". "Grandpappy" traveled to the Galapagos, landing on Baltra Island at the same airfield built following

897-621: The aircraft was consistently referred to as "he" by its crew. Data from Boeing Aircraft since 1916. General characteristics Performance Armament Related development Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era Related lists Glenn L. Martin Company The Glenn L. Martin Company , also known as The Martin Company from 1917 to 1961, was an American aircraft and aerospace manufacturing company founded by aviation pioneer Glenn L. Martin . The Martin Company produced many important aircraft for

936-580: The border into Mexico to the town of Naco, Sonora . The aircraft, named Sonora by the insurgents, was reassembled there and fitted with a second seat for a bomber position. The Sonora , armed with rudimentary 3-inch pipe bombs, performed the first known air-to-naval bombing runs in history. For the Dutch East Indies, several planes were delivered, with the first flight on November 6, 1915. It involved two Type TEs, six Type TTs, and eight Type Rs. Martin's first big success came during World War I with

975-599: The defense of the US and allies, especially during World War II and the Cold War . During the 1950s and '60s, the Martin Company moved from the aircraft industry into the guided missile , space exploration , and space utilization industries. In 1961, the Martin Company merged with American-Marietta Corporation , a large industrial conglomerate, forming the Martin Marietta corporation. In turn, Martin Marietta in 1995 merged with aerospace giant Lockheed Corporation to form

1014-596: The design and production contracts for these to the North American Aviation Corporation. The Martin Company went further in the production of larger booster rockets for NASA and the U.S. Air Force with its Titan III series of over 100 rockets produced, including the Titan IIIA , the more-important Titan IIIC , and the Titan IIIE . Besides hundreds of Earth satellites, these rockets were essential for

1053-540: The expensive Douglas XB-19. Boeing went ahead with an internal redesign of the XB-15 called Model 316, a very heavy bomber with a high wing, a pressurized cabin and tricycle gear . The Model 316 was not built. The progression of design work starting with the XB-15 finally bore fruit with the Model 345 presented to the USAAC in May 1940, the very heavy bomber which resulted in the USAAF's Boeing B-29 Superfortress . The single prototype

1092-571: The later Consolidated B-24 Liberator , with individual turbochargers added on the Liberators' Twin Wasp powerplants — the specified speed of 200 mph (320 km/h) for the Twin Wasp-powered XB-15 was not quite reached even when the aircraft was empty; the best speed attained in level flight was 197 mph (317 km/h). Loaded with the specified 2,000 pounds (910 kg), the maximum speed

1131-600: The noted China Clipper flying boats used by Pan American Airways for its transpacific San Francisco to the Philippines route. During World War II, a few of Martin's most successful designs were the B-26 Marauder and A-22 Maryland bombers, the PBM Mariner and JRM Mars flying boats, widely used for air-sea rescue , anti-submarine warfare and transport. The 1941 Office for Emergency Management film Bomber

1170-425: The only prototype into a transport , the aircraft being redesignated XC-105 . A cargo hoist was mounted, and cargo doors fitted. Its maximum gross weight was increased to 92,000 lb (42,000 kg). By this time, the aircraft was nicknamed "Grandpappy" by 20th Troop Carrier Squadron airmen. It displayed nose art depicting an elephant carrying a large crate on its back labeled "supplies". During World War II ,

1209-691: The ownership rights of the design, and put the order out for bid. The production orders were given to other companies that had bid lower, Curtiss (50), L.W.F. Engineering (35), and Aeromarine (25). The design was the only standard bomber used by the Air Service until 1930, and was used by seven squadrons of the Air Service/Air Corps: Four in Virginia, two in Hawaii, and one in the Philippines. In 1924,

Boeing XB-15 - Misplaced Pages Continue

1248-454: The possibility of flying a very large bomber with a range of 5,000 mi (8,000 km). In April 1934, the USAAC contracted with Boeing and Martin to design a bomber capable of carrying 2,000 lb (910 kg) at 200 mph (320 km/h) over a distance of 5,000 miles. Boeing gave the project the internal name of Model 294, while the USAAC called it the XB-15. Martin's design, the XB-16 ,

1287-804: The sending to outer space of the two space probes of the Voyager Project to the outer planets , the two space probes of the Viking Project to Mars , and the two Helios probes into low orbits around the Sun (closer, even, than Mercury ). Finally, the US Air Force required a booster rocket that could launch heavier satellites than either the Titan IIIE or the Space Shuttle . The Martin Company responded with its extremely large Titan IV series of rockets. When

1326-567: The two war-ending atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki , Japan . On April 22, 1957, the company name was changed to the Martin Company. Postwar efforts in aeronautics by the Martin Company included two unsuccessful prototype bombers, the XB-48 and the XB-51 , the marginally successful AM Mauler , the successful B-57 Canberra tactical bombers , the P5M Marlin and P6M SeaMaster seaplanes , and

1365-437: Was a disappointing 145 mph (233 km/h). This was considered too slow for a combat aircraft, and the project was abandoned. However, Boeing engineers projected that the prototype would be capable of carrying the heaviest air cargo to date: a load of 8,000 lb (3,600 kg). The design challenges stemming from the great size of the XB-15 were difficult to master, but the lessons learned by Boeing were later applied to

1404-403: Was assigned to the 2nd Bombardment Group at Langley Field , Virginia. Following the 24 January 1939 Chillán earthquake in Chile, the prototype flew a relief mission, carrying medical supplies. Commanded by Major Caleb V. Haynes , the aircraft carried 3,250 lb (1,470 kg) of American Red Cross emergency supplies to Santiago , making only two stops along the way, at France Field in

1443-512: Was deposited at Diablo dump, a swampy landfill southwest of the runway, where it slowly sank from sight. Squatters built shacks on stilts in the swamp, covering the remains. The former dump is now an industrial area, with "Grandpappy" underneath. During its 18 months of transport service, the XC-105 carried more than 5,200 passengers, 440,000 lb (200,000 kg) of cargo and 94,000 lb (43,000 kg) of mail. It flew 70 cargo trips and 60 missions including anti-submarine patrol . Unusually,

1482-482: Was filmed in the Martin facility in Baltimore, and showed aspects of the production of the B-26. Martin ranked 14th among U.S. corporations in the value of wartime production contracts. The company built 1,585 B-26 Marauders and 531 Boeing B-29 Superfortresses at its new bomber plant in Nebraska , just south of Omaha at Offutt Field . Among the B-29s manufactured there were all the Silverplate aircraft, including Enola Gay and Bockscar , which dropped

1521-443: Was judged inferior by the USAAC before a prototype was built, and was canceled. The Boeing design team, headed by Jack Kylstra, initially intended the aircraft to use 2,600  hp (1,900  kW ) Allison V-3420 liquid-cooled W engines ; since these were not ready, 850 hp (630 kW) Pratt & Whitney R-1830 Twin Wasp air-cooled radial engines were used instead. Starting in August 1934, Boeing began designing

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