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. It created many important airplanes to help protect the United States and its allies, especially during World War II and the Cold War.

During the 1950s and 1960s, the company expanded beyond making airplanes. It began working on guided missiles, space exploration, and using space for new technologies.

In 1961, the Martin Company joined with another big company called the American-Marietta Corporation to form the Martin Marietta corporation. Later, in 1995, Martin Marietta merged with the large Lockheed Corporation to create the Lockheed Martin corporation we know today.

History

Glenn L. Martin founded the Glenn L. Martin Company on August 16, 1912, in Santa Ana, California. He began by building military training aircraft. In 1916, he merged with the Wright Company to form Wright-Martin Aircraft Company, but this did not work well. In 1917, Martin started a new company in Cleveland, Ohio.

During World War I, Martin built bombers like the MB-1 for the United States Army. After the war, Martin produced many aircraft, including flying boats for the U.S. Navy and the famous China Clipper for Pan American Airways.

During World War II, Martin created successful bombers such as the B-26 Marauder and flying boats like the PBM Mariner. The company built many aircraft, including some that helped end the war.

After World War II, Martin expanded into space exploration. The company built rockets like the Vanguard rocket for early American space missions and large rockets like the Titan IV to launch important satellites and space probes. In 1961, Martin merged with another company to form Martin Marietta Corporation, which later became part of Lockheed Martin Corporation.

Products

Aircraft

Aircraft engines

• Martin 333, a four-cylinder inverted in-line piston engine

Missiles and rockets

• AAM-N-4 Oriole
• ASM-N-5 Gorgon V
• MGM-1 Matador
• MGM-13 Mace
• MGM-18 Lacrosse
• MGM-31 Pershing
• Bold Orion
• Titan (rocket family)
  • SM-68 Titan
  • HGM-25A Titan I
  • LGM-25C Titan II
• Viking (rocket)

Booster rockets

• The four-stage Vanguard rocket
• Titan II GLV
• Titan III
  • Titan IIIB
  • Titan IIIC
• Titan IV
• In addition, after the removal of 54 Titan IIs from alert status as ICBMs in the mid-1980s, about 50 of them were used as satellite launchers by the U.S. Air Force. The rest of them were either scrapped or used as museum pieces.

Automobile

• 1928 Martin 100 Aerodynamic