The First 'All-American' Bomber | Martin MB-1

Great video, Rex...👍

A 37mm cannon on a WW1 biplane... Is anyone else getting mental images of Yak-9Ts with their wings almost torn off by recoil? Sure, the 9T had a much more powerful gun, but it also had a lot more structural integrity (again, compared to a first war bi-prop). Not saying it's a complete apples-to-apples comparison, with everything matching up, but it feels... uncomfortably close.

Very interesting vid abt. early US bomber development.

I don't know why but for some reason I misread the title as having something to do with the Martin Baker MB-1, and I spent the first few minutes thinking "Oh hey, I didn't know they started out in America, I must have been mistaken" before you introduced Glenn Martin et al.

"This is a story for another day..." A hint at the long-awaited collaboration with everyone's favourite naval historian?

Another one of the few famous people that I wish I had met was Billy Mitchell. I wonder how things would have turned out had the powers that be listened to him?

Got up getting ready for college and enjoying some Rex, this is nice

I remember right after landing from the aircraft's maiden flight in Dayton Ohio, Glenn Martin and his pilot were immediately arrested by the Army, and it took several phone calls and interviews to convince the authorities that this was not in fact a German bomber that had supposedly managed a transatlantic flight all-the-way to Ohio.

I always find it amusing that America invented the airplane and then kinda went, well that was neat wasn't it, and proceeded to let the rest of the world absolutely eclipse them until they were forced to realise what happened upon entering the end of the first world war

IIRC These are also the bombers that dropped bombs on American citizens during the Battle of Blair Mountain.

Would this be the type of aircraft used to bomb striking coal miners at the battle of Blair Mountain, West Virginia (1921)?

I like the thinking of designing various models. Furthermore it goes to show that the writing was well and truly on the wall for the Central Powers, almost regardless of the outcome of Germanys last offensive for it appears that the US was determined to bring it's full weight to bear against them, much as they did in WW2.

Plot twist: The B stood for Baseball.

Very interesting! A 'boarding action would be better' got me laughing...
It seems the Army Airforce had no direction at that time, but the Navy certainly did.
Now I need to discover how the Glen Martin company became Lockheed-Martin.
Thank you.

My great uncle flew as an observer with a Canadian unit of the RFC, despite coming from the UK. In 1919 he was flying Curtis JN4s from an airfield near fort worth, Texas. I imagine the offer of clear skies for training was beneficial for the commonwealth, while being beneficial for the USA in the observation of experienced air training units. That said, the use of american aircraft by commonwealth units in the US and Canada shows that the US industry was coming into its own.

Are you planning on following up with the Keystone bombers that presumably replaced the Martin types in service??

great work!

These videos on obscure nearly f orgotten interwar planes are very interesting. Thanks

l really like the photos you always show in your excellent video......Thanks my friend.....
Shoe🇺🇸

The first powered airplane was flown in the US in 1903. However, there was a great deal more to the reason why the US Air Service had fallen so far behind those of the Europeans than simply because of World War I. It actually had a great deal more to do with mismanagement on the part of the Army. First of all, the US Army made the Air Service a subsidiary of the Signal Corps. The leaders of the Signal Corps knew absolutely nothing whatsoever about aviation, so they turned over the responsible for the qualification of the pilots to a private flying club. Furthermore, not knowing anything about flying, the Signal Corps sent prospective Army pilots to the Wright or Curtiss aircraft manufacturers for flight training and, since Curtiss and Wright aircraft had completely different control systems, the resulting Air Service pilots were qualified only to fly one or the other, but NOT both. Third, it was Army policy that officers be attached to the Air Service only on a temporary basis from their original branch of the Army so that, by the time that many pilots had completed flight training, they were already due to be transferred back to the units from which they had originally come. The result of all of that mismanagement was that, by 1914, the US Army Air Service was a complete mess. When one reads up on what actually went on with the US Army Air Service prior to the US entry into WW-I in 1917 it absolutely boggles the mind that anyone could have been that stupid, and yet it was all true.

❤

I've never understood the animosity the USAAF had for Martin towards the end of their relationship. It seems to me that Martin made cutting edge bombers from the very start.

Pentagon mentality in that era: “Our forces are minuscule but look at all the money we’re saving!”.

All of you guys...If I want to convert metric, I can do it on my phone! Lighten up with the nerd stuff please.

Excellent

Another smacking good video!

For the 1930s you can have a go at the Argentine designs from Fabrica Militar de Aviones. I couldn't find too much info about those...

it's crazy how when you adjust for inflation, that plane costs roughly 2,100,000 dollars. That's relatively cheap by modern standards :)

I found the first photo of a large number of biplanes interesting. There are a number of planes lined up, and there a number of mules also in the photo. It just shows how new the air plane was. The deaths of the war was not so much because the generals were uncaring, but because they didn't know how to fight this kind of war.

It's incredible that in 34 years we went from this plane to the b52. 72 years later, we are still in the b52

It looks very cool.

Air to air boarding action, sounds like something that would happen in Crimson Skies

"Boarding acation" , LMFAO!

Thanks Rex

Great video

Cheers

That transport version with the glazed limousine cabin looks great. Time to retrieve one of Glencoe's MB-2s from the dungeon and sharpen the axe... Maybe.

Great video as usual, Rex.

Cheers.

You just keep improving and improving with every video. Keep it up mate! I'm loving these!

What are the best ww1 and ww2 airplane books, I’m really interested in learning more.

any plans to release videos?

12 May 24

I love how the Americans built a bomber in America when the war is taking place in a totally different area of the world and no way of getting that kite to the war in any way or form. So typical American.

The Liberty engine made sense in certain cases, here for example. Later it became something of a pain in the butt. Way too many were built way too long.

30 May 24

04Jul 24

F.A.Q Section - Ask your questions here :)

Q: Do you take aircraft requests?
A: I have a list of aircraft I plan to cover, but feel free to add to it with suggestions:)

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A: Supporters over on Patreon now get to vote on upcoming topics such as overviews, special videos, and deep dives.

Q: Why do you use imperial measurements for some videos, and metric for others?
A: I do this based on country of manufacture. Imperial measurements for Britain and the U.S, metric for the rest of the world, but I include text in my videos that convert it for both.