Glenn L. Martin MD Aviation Museum - Spring 2007 Newsletter

8/8/2019 Glenn L. Martin MD Aviation Museum - Spring 2007 Newsletter

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imberWest made the sur-prise announcement on No-vember 10 that they were

selling their Flying Tankersoperation, including the two MartinMars flying boats they had been us-ing for almost fifty years as water bombers to suppress forest fires. Welearned of the sale within 24 hours of their press release and began evalu-ating our position and developing abid strategy. With the sale processstill underway as this newsletter goes to print, we are constrained inwhat we can say due to Timber-West’s requested limits on bid pub-licity and our own concerns aboutproviding information to competitor bidders. While honoring these con-straints, here is an overview of theeffort to date: Once the outcome isknown, win or lose, we will be able toprovide details and recognize allthose who have contributed in somany ways. TimberWest has indi-cated they have talked to about 20interested purchasers and the out-come remains unknown.

By mid-December, about amonth after TimberWest’s press re-

lease and immediately upon their initial designation of qualified biddersand availability of the informationpackage that provided the sale ar-rangements, the Museum launcheda publicity campaign and a grass-roots fundraising effort that beganwith Museum members and ex-panded into the larger community.During the month-long wait, the Mu-seum had begun putting together ateam with the required expertise,including the engineering, legal, air-

craft, publicity,financial, busi-ness, and other ski l ls needed.

Simultaneously,the Museum wasbuilding endorse-ments and offersof in-kind supportfrom BaltimoreCounty, the Lock-heed Martin Cor-poration, the Stateof Maryland, andstatewide and lo-cal business andcommunity organi-zations.

Once we could go public inmid-December, we received an out-pouring of support from the media,both local and national, that rein-forced firm community backing for aneffort to acquire one of the two Marsaircraft as a heritage monument,iconic landmark, and educationalresource. We received positive cov-erage in all the local newspapers,the Baltimore Sun, the WashingtonPost, and the New York Times as

well as national and local Canadianpapers. We have been on TV/cable,WBAL radio public service an-nouncements, CBC (the nationwideCanadian Broadcasting Company)and also received coverage on major Internet news outlets and websites.

The grassroots fundraisingwas also immediately successful andso far has resulted in individual do-nations ranging from $5.00 to$10,000, including the recent pledge

of $10,000 and other support fromthe Marine Trades Association of Baltimore County. Through Museumefforts and the continuing publicity,the community response continuesto grow. The Museum web site nowhas an online payment provision sodonors can contribute electronically.We have also received many dona-tions and offers of historical materialand personal stories on the MartinMars and other subjects. The verystrong level of support demonstrated

by the community allowed us to thengo to major donors to raise additionalfunds.

As part of our bid strategy,we have teamed with the British Co-lumbia Aviation Council, headquar-tered in Vancouver, Canada. One ofthe oldest and largest Canadianaviation organizations, our affiliationwith this non-profit should strengthenthe bids of both organizations. Thegoals of both organizations closely

align - we both want to see the air-craft immediately retired and exhib-ited at their heritage communities.The Canadian’s ingenuity and re-sources are chiefly responsible forthe Mars aircraft remaining airworthyand in such remarkable conditionover the years.

We have made the shortlistof bidders and expect the sale proc-ess to continue for another month or two. Both the grassroots and major

donor fundraising efforts continue aswe close in on our financial goals forthe acquisition of a Martin Mars, itsflight home to Middle River, and longterm care. We are carefully trackingall donations to ensure funds areproperly disbursed regardless of theoutcome. For those who have not yetcontributed, please consider doingso. We still need funds, in-kind sup-port, volunteers, and historical itemsincluding oral histories.

Martin Mars Acquisition Status

By Gil Pascal, Chairman

Museum team members prepare to inspect the Philippine Mars on arecent trip to British Columbia

The Hawaii Mars sits on land awaitingmaintenance and repairs



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Mars Effort (cont.)

The MartinMars fund-raising cam-paign has

brought much atten-tion to the Museum

and has generatedthe most publicity theMuseum has had todate. Shortly after theannouncement wentout in mid December that the Museumwould be working toacquire a Martin Mars, the phonesstarted ringing, the e-mails camepouring in, and the media and pressbegan to cover the story from everyangle.

The campaign has turnedinto a real grassroots effort in thelocal community and beyond. Thefinancial support and goodwill fromthe membership, friends, locals, andother Mars fans has been fantastic.

Donations and well-wishes havecome from all over the country andeven from around the world.

All of the local papers have

covered the story including the Balti-more Sun, Baltimore Examiner, TheJeffersonian, and The Daily Record,and Washington Post. The New YorkTimes ran a story on the effort inJanuary, which really helped get theword out nationally.

Museum members JohnnyHutchison, Andy Serrell, and StanPiet have been interviewed on sev-eral local television news programs,

including, WJZ TV news, the Fox 45morning show, and BaltimoreCounty’s Comcast cable TV show.Alan Walden of WBAL radio re-corded PSA announcements aboutthe Mars, which have been running

on the station.

In Canada, where the MartinMars airplanes are based, the Cana-dian press has been reporting on thestory constantly. The Museum hasfielded calls and inquiries from manyCanadian newspaper and televisionoutlets. Stories have run in papersand on TV stations all over theNorthwest of the U.S. and up intoBritish Columbia where the aircraftare located. Some of these include:

The Seattle Post Intelligencer, TheTri City Herald and Newschannel 8in Washington State, the Oregonianin Oregon, the Chronicle Herald, theProvince, the Westcoaster, and theCBC network, in Canada. Many avia-tion publications and web sites havealso picked up the Mars story includ-ing: Wings and Airpower Magazine,Aero News Network, AOPA, AV web,and AVsig. In addition, the campaignhas been all over the internet newsservices.

To read and view some of the Mars press samples, go to theMuseum web site’s Mars Press linkspage at:

www.marylandaviationmuseum.org/mars/presslinks.html.

County. Having a Martin Mars ondisplay in Middle River would be atribute to the workers of the Glenn L.Martin Company and the community

where the planes were built, and itwould be a monument to the area’saviation heritage.

Economic Significance

With the acquisition of theMartin Mars, the Museum would in-stantly see its collection become amajor east coast attraction for avia-tion and history enthusiasts, andtourists from around the country. Theaircraft would insert more excitement

into an already energized renais-sance effort in Middle River andeastern Baltimore County. The ac-quisition of a Mars would be a majorasset in the Museum's plans for fu-ture expansion, and its ongoing edu-c a t i o n c e n t e r p r o g r a m s .

Stan Piet, the Museum’sArchive Director, speaking at theFebruary Museum speaker meeting,gave his thoughts on what acquiringa Mars could mean to the commu-nity: “Ultimately, bringing home aMars will be an economic develop-ment coup for this area. Middle Riverwill be known world-wide as a desti-nation for this historic aircraft – andlook at the numerous ways peoplecan get here: by air, rail, car, andwater. We hope it will become asituation that will put our Museum,and our area on the world map. Thepossibilities are immense and we’re

just beginning to realize the poten-tials.” The Museum hopes to displaythe Mars as the centerpiece of its

aircraft collection and anticipates theseaplane being a major Museum,Middle River, and Baltimore Countyattraction. The ultimate goal is tohave the Mars on display indoorswith other Museum aircraft in abrand new Museum building on oradjacent to Martin State Airport inMiddle River, Maryland.

(Jack Breihan contributed to article)

(Continued from page 1)

Mars Fundraising Puts Museum in thePublic Eye

Stan Piet in a WJZ Channel 13 interview

Museum member Johnny Hutchison on Fox 45’s morning show



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n August 22, 1940 GlennL. Martin’s vision for a fly-ing battleship began to

take form with the layingof the keel for what would becomethe Martin model 170 (XPB2M-1)Mars. Glenn L. himself drove the firstceremonial rivet. Almost one and ahalf years later the first of the Marsaircraft was launched in a ceremonymuch like that accorded a real battle-ship, including the traditional cham-pagne bottle. The event was the firstNavy sponsorship of the launching of a flying vessel.

As flight testing progressed itsoon became apparent that the flyingbattleship role might not be appropri-

ate for this large and relatively slowaircraft. Recognizing its vulnerabilityto faster and more maneuverablefighter aircraft, Martin saw the Mars’true potential to lie in its payload ca-pacity and long range and adapted itto serve as a troop and cargo carrier.

One of the earliest pressreleases issued by the Glenn L. Mar-tin Company relative to the Mars andtaken from the Museum’s archivecollection is presented below. It re-

flects the company’s pride in its ac-complishment and is presented inthe writing style of the times.

“Baltimore, Md., September 27,1941—The world’s largest flying boat got her first taste of one of her ele-ments today—the outer air. With anew coat of silver paint, her mighty wings gleaming yellow at the edges,the Navy’s XPB2M-1 slid sidewaysthrough the largest door in the world

at the Glenn L. Martin Company fac-tories, came about on her beaching gear and headed down the concreteramp toward Middle River.

But halfway to the water the air queen stopped reluctantly and sidled into a vast interior—the new MartinNavy assembly building—where for the next few weeks attendants will

prepare her for her debut. At the same time, the Navy re-

laxed a bit its strict guardianship of facts and figures. It is learned, for example, that the flying battleshipwill carry a normal crew of elevenmen housed in her great hull, whichis larger than many seagoing yachts,not counting the 200-foot, 20,000-

pound wings. Her hull, it was

learned, will draw 5 feet of water and it will take around a tank car-load of gasoline to send the ship over her full range, which is easily transatlan-tic and return without stop.

What the bomb load will be is, of course, a strict Navy secret, but it isadmitted that the ship will have anextremely high percentage of useful load. Facts about defensive fire

power are concealed with equal care, but it is admitted that the

XPB2M-1 will have extraordinarily

heavy defenses. It was long ago re-garded by the Navy and by Martinengineers asessential that such a tremen-dous stake inlives and strik-ing power and

patrol abilitiesbe guarded tothe limit against

pursuers whomight attack it.While the flying ship is a tactical weapon, it is esti-mated that, were it to be used as atroop transport, it could carry 150 armed men, fully equipped, without too great crowding.

Also it was revealed that the inte-rior of the hull alone contains 16,665 square feet—the equivalent of a 16-room mansion. In other terms the,hull contains as much space as eight railroad box cars.

An interesting revelation is that

the XPB2M-1 will be the first airplaneto carry a motorboat in its life savingequipment. This tender is a collapsi-

ble craft fitted with an outboard mo-tor and, in addition to serving as alifeboat, would be useful where theship is basing in distant waters. In

addition to this boat, there are sev-eral rubber lifeboats which can beinflated and rowed by the crew.

The largest propellers ever to befitted to an airplane will draw the air vessel through the skies. The four three-bladed airscrews, hitched tothe 8,000 mechanical horses of thefour Wright Duplex Cyclone engines,have a diameter of 17 feet 6 incheseach. It would take three tall men,standing on each other’s heads tospan one of the great circles.

Although the wing-tip floatswhich will keep the 2-00-foot pinions

level when taxiing,even on rough wa-ter, were not affixedtoday when thecolossus made herfirst appearance,they are on handand ready for in-stallation. Each ofthese floats is aslarge as a motor-boat, although they

will appear as tiny appendages whenthe ship is finished.

Martin engineers, scratching on pads, evolved some interesting com- parisons which accentuate the sizeof the ship. For example, if the wingswere stood vertically on one tip, theother tip would reach as high as atwenty story building. Standing levelon its keel the tail stands betweenthree and four stories in height.

(Continued on page 5)

TIME CAPSULE — Martin Mars

By Al LaPorte

The XPB2M-1 Martin Mars afloat in her homewaters of the Chesapeake Bay

The “Hawaii Mars” at rest on Sproat Lake,Vancouver Island, B.C. between

fire-fighting missions.

The JRM-1 “Hawaii Mars” soars aboveSan Francisco Bay



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urn Moon rocket program. Martinalso developed a man-rated versionof their Titan II – heavy lift ballisticmissile – that would prove so highlysuccessful to the success of theGemini program in the mid 1960s.Martin engineers were also responsi-

ble for pioneering and perfecting theearliest hypersonic and lifting bodydesigns that served as the forerun-ner of the Space Shuttle launch sys-tem of today. Furthering those tradi-tions, the now Lockheed Martin Cor-poration, continues this strong in-volvement in aerospace, and is nowslated to develop Orion, the nextgeneration of manned spacecraftprograms.

The museum had on displaya couple of interesting artifacts fromthe earlier days of Martin’s aero-space projects – a company manu-factured model of the Titan-Geminilaunch stack, and a photo of theCompany’s Lunar Module simulator test cell, which was signed by manyof the original Mercury and GeminiAstronauts, including: John Glenn,Alan Shepherd, and Frank Borman.

Captain Curbeam is a gradu-ate of the U.S. Naval Academy, andattended the Navy Fighter Weapons

School (Topgun). He is a veteran of three space flights, STS-85 Discov-ery in 1997, STS-98 Atlantis in 2001,and STS-116 Discovery in 2006. Hecurrently holds the record number of four EVA spacewalks; the most ever performed by an astronaut on a sin-gle space shuttle mission. The re-cord came during the recent STS-116 mission.

(Stan Piet contributed to article)

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he Museum hosted a spe-cial reception for NASA As-tronaut and BaltimoreCounty native, Robert Cur-

beam, on February 13. BaltimoreCounty arranged the visit as part of awelcome home celebration for Cap-tain Curbeam who recently returnedfrom his third Space Shuttle mission.Robert Curbeam grew up in Turner Station in Eastern Baltimore Countyand also graduated from WoodlawnHigh School in Baltimore County.

Baltimore County ExecutiveJim Smith was on hand to presentCaptain Curbeam with a special cer-tificate acknowledging his many ac-complishments, and County Council-man, Joe Bartenfelder, announcedthe day was officially recognized asRobert L. Curbeam, Jr. day in Balti-

more County.

Museum Archive director,Stan Piet, kicked off the ceremonyby noting the historical tie-in to theday’s event. Beginning after WorldWar II, The Glenn L. Martin Com-pany built the U.S. Navy’s first high-altitude sounding rocket – The Vi-king, and later in the 1950s devel-oped the country’s first three-stageorbital rocket, the Vanguard, whichbecame the starting point for the Sat-

Although no views are permittedof the interior--all doors and open-ings except portholes being cov-ered—Martin officials say the tre-mendous job of installation and wir-

ing and plumbing and equipment isfar advanced. From now on the final assembly operations will go forward.Then there will be a considerableoperation of calibrating the flyingbattleship’s instruments—easily themost impressive array ever installedin an airplane. The radios, hydraulicsystems, auxiliary power plants allmust be brought to final perfection.

Although the XPB2M-1 is ex pected to fly in a few weeks, Martinofficials would make no forecast of adefinite date.”

Not even Glenn L. Martincould have imagined the incredibleservice life span the Mars aircraftwould have following its initial flight.The original XPB2M-1 was a oneonly configuration and led to theJRM series of which a total of 6 werebuilt. During the latter stages of World War II the Mars served in itsrole as a personnel and cargo carrierin the Pacific theatre. In the early1950’s the Mars once again served

during the Korean conflict. In 1956the Navy retired its 4 remaining Marsaircraft and placed them in storage.

Purchased by a scrap dealerin 1959, they were saved from de-struction by British Columbia basedForest Industries Flying Tankers andover the next few years the aircraftwere converted to perform fire fight-ing duties. Two of the four aircraftwere lost during their service as firefighting water bombers and today

only two of the “Mighty Mars” aircraftremain. These two surviving planeshave been meticulously maintainedby their Canadian owners since theiracquisition in 1959 and remain inflight worthy condition to this day.Since the launch of the first Mars 66years ago, this great aircraft hasserved in wartime as well as peace-time, and reflects on the proud heri-tage of the Glenn L. Martin Com-pany.

(Continued from page 4)

TIME CAPSULE NASA Astronaut and Baltimore County NativeRobert Curbeam Visits the Museum

By John Tipton

Robert Curbeam, County ExecutiveJim Smith, and Stan Piet

Captain Robert Curbeam addresses crowd



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HHANGARANGAR TTALKALK

The Museum extends a bigthank you to Martin Boule-vard Elementary and VictoryVilla Elementary, and their

principals, for promoting a letter writ-ing campaign in their schoolsfor support of the Mars acquisition.We truly appreciate their support tobring the Mars home!

Flying High Summer Wednesdays

With these freezing temperaturesthis winter, it's never too early tothink about the summer heat andevents. On the second Wednesdaysof the summer months, July 11 andAugust 8, activities will again be of-fered for children. Stay tuned for fur-ther details. If you enjoy working withchildren and would like to volun-teer on these Wednesdays, pleasecontact Debi Wynn at the Museum.

Astronaut Robert Curbeam Visit

The Museum would like tothank Baltimore County and MartinState Airport for their respectiveroles in arranging and hosting NASAAstronaut Robert Curbeam’s recentvisit.

Baltimore County WaterfrontFestival — Saturday, May 12, 2007

The Baltimore County Wa-terfront Festival will be held againthis year. The date is Saturday, May12, 2007. Many of the same attrac-tions will be included. The Museumwill have aviation exhibits, activities,and seaplane fly-ins. The locationwill be the same, on the LockheedMartin property along Dark HeadCove across from Martin State Air-port, and at Strawberry Point on theairport grounds. Baltimore County is

adding a site to this year’s festival.The County’s new park in WilsonPoint, off of Beech drive and alongDark Head Cove, will be a part of this year’s event.

Some of the Highlights will Include:

Seaplanes Aviation Exhibits Plane Rides Marine Trades Boat Show Boat Docking Contest

Live Entertainment Kid’s Activities Variety of Food Vendors Picnic Areas Water Taxi Rides Free Parking and Shuttles

“I'm a Grumman Albatrosspilot, as a matter of fact my brotherand I own an Albatross. I alwaysthought our plane was big, but, as ofa few days ago, my perspective has

been changed.

I am fortunate enough to bea member of the Glenn L. MartinMaryland Aviation Museum, and acore member of the team that is inthe process of bringing back to Mid-dle River one of the two remainingMars aircraft. A few days ago I hadmy first look at these enormous air-craft. If you've attended the Water-front Festival the past two years youwould have seen our Albatross ridingat anchor in Dark Head Cove.

Picture this if you will: TheMars has twice the wingspan of theAlbatross (longer than a Boeing 747

jumbo jet), the tail is 48 feet in the air and the weight is five times greater than the Albatross. It sports four en-gines and each engine is twice thesize of the Albatross's two engines.The Mars is the largest flying boat tohave gone into production and youmay take my word for it, it is impres-

sive!”

Astronaut Robert Curbeam with Al Pollard, theDirector of Martin State Airport

A Word From Johnny Hutchison— Grumman Albatross

Seaplane Pilot

Johnny Hutchison and Bill Jones of BaltimoreCounty Economic Development, sit at the

controls of the Martin Mars on a recent trip toPort Alberni in British Columbia

Grumman Albatross at last year’s Festival

Museum members on the huge wings of theHawaii Mars during a previous visit.



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March 5: Stan Piet, author and historian, will give a lavishly illustrated talk featuring early color photography from U.S. Army Air Forcephotographers who took personal photos while based outside the US during WWII. Mr. Piet is one of the founders, and currently the

archivist, of the Museum and always provides superb photography along with interesting historical insight.

April 2: Carol Nickisher, will talk about her book, Riding the Reef, a Pan American Adventure, based on her father’s adventuresbuilding South Pacific seaplane bases for Pan American Airways in the 1930s. The story includes his involvement with Martin’s M-130China Clipper, a nice complement to the Museum’s recently acquired Clipper exhibit built by Disney.

May 7: Roger D. Launius, chair of the Division of Space History at the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum inWashington, D.C. – will present "Perspectives on the Past, Present, and Future of Human Spaceflight". His presentation explores thehistory of spaceflight during the past fifty years and offers comments on the compelling reasons for traveling into space and the core challengesfor future exploration. Between 1990 and 2002, he served as chief historian of NASA. He has written or edited more than twenty books on aero-space history and is frequently consulted for his views on space issues by the national media.

The Museum Speaker Programs are held on the first Monday of every month (except holidays). In case of inclement weather the programwill be cancelled if Lockheed Martin or the Baltimore County schools are closed. For further information contact the Museum at 410-682-6122 or go to the Museum’s web site: www.marylandaviationmuseum.org.

Speaker programs begin at 7 pm. in the Lockheed Martin auditorium at 2323 Eastern Boulevard (Route 150), Middle River, MD adjacent tothe Martin State Airport. The public is welcome to this free event. A photo ID is required of all attendees. Children must be escorted by anadult with a photo ID.

UpcomingSpeaker Program ScheduleSpring 2007

Museum Supporters

With the start of 2007, the Museum iscurrently in the middle of the biddingprocess on the Martin Mars.

We have received major organizationaland individual donations for the Marsproject. The Museum won’t publicly dis-close any information at this time due tothe bidding status, but will acknowledgeall contributors as soon as the process iscomplete.

Thank you for your

strongsupport!

Help Support the Museum withyour DONATIONS:

In support of our expanding opera-tion the Museum seeks donations of materials and equipment. Specialneeds exist in the following areas:

* Material handling equipment (Forklifts, pallet jacks, dollies, carts)* Metal working equipment (Lathes,milling machines, shears, brakes,etc)* Wood working equipment (Saws,planers, jointers, drill presses, sand-

ers, etc)* Electric/air powered and manualhand tools* Cleaning equipment (floor sweep-ers, shop vacuum cleaners)

Send Ideas and E-Mail

addresses to theMuseum:

By E-Mail:[email protected]

By Mail: Glenn L. MartinMaryland Aviation MuseumP.O.Box 5024Baltimore, MD.21220

By Phone: 410 682-6122Fax: 410 682-8699



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Former Mars Navy Pilot Helps theMuseum’s Mars Acquisition Team

Andy Serrell, an 83 year oldformer U.S. Navy seaplanepilot, has been a great helpto the Museum’s Martin

Mars project. Andy has been doingTV and newspaper interviews for the

Museum, and is also lending histechnical expertise to the effort.

As a U.S. Navy pilot, Andyflew the Mars on over 120 Pacificruns from 1953 to 1956. In the fall of 1956, Andy flew the last scheduledflight of a Martin Mars seaplane. Hepiloted the California-to-Hawaii trip at

the end of the Korean War.

Andy says that his relation-ship with the Mars was, “Love at firstsight...It was such a magnificent birdin all respects...a delight to fly.” Andywould love nothing better than to seethe Mars come home. “It’s about re-turning her home to where she be-longs and putting that bird backdown in Middle River,” he says. He

last flew the Mars in 1989 on a visitto Sproat Lake. He dreams of onemore chance to pilot her. “I’d love tocome home in it,” he says.

Editor/Layout: John TiptonEditorial contributors: Al LaPorte,Gil PascalPhotography Contributors: Museum Archives, Stan Piet,John Tipton, Gil Pascal,Johnny Hutchison, WJZ TV,WBFF TV

Mars logo: Brian Dunn

Glenn L. MartinMaryland Aviation MuseumP.O Box 5024Middle River, MD 21220Phone: (410) 682-6122Fax: (410) 682-8699

Send Address changesand comments to:[email protected]

The Maryland Flight Log

T h e G l e n n L . M a r t i n M a r y l a n d A v i a t i o n M u s e u m

P . O . B o x 5 0 2 4 , M i d d l e R i v e r , M D 2 1 2 2 0

Andy Serrell in a Mars TV interview

Documents

Glenn L. Martin MD Aviation Museum - Spring 2007 Newsletter