Bombs, Torpedos

To the Glenn L. Martin Co. of Cleveland, famed airplane makers, was last week given a U. S. Navy contract for 54 bombing and torpedo planes. The Navy also took an option to buy 96 more planes of the same type within five weeks. The 54 planes already contracted for will cost $1,560,000; the entire order will assure a full year of steady work to the 800 Glenn L. Martin employes.

To the satisfaction naturally resulting from the securing of a million-and-a-half dollar contract, Glenn L. Martin had also the personal satisfaction of having built a plane with features that Navy experts had said could not be successfully worked out. Seeking the Navy contract, Mr. Martin had designed a plane which, using a Pratt & Whitney Co. air-cooled motor, could carry four men, bombs or a torpedo to the weight of one ton, and yet have a ceiling* of 12,500 feet and make 120 miles an hour with a flying range of 800 miles. Naval experts refused to authorize construction of this plane, believing that no plane could be built incorporating all these features. So Mr. Martin built, at his own expense, a demonstration plane, proved it would do all he claimed, then sold it to the Navy.

After the success of his demonstration plane, Mr. Martin said that the performance of its air-cooled motor had made the water-cooled motor "obsolete" for aircraft. Air-cooled (Wright Whirlwind) motors have been used on the Lindbergh, Chamberlin and Byrd transatlantic flights and on the flight to Honolulu.

* The ceiling of a plane is the highest altitude it can reach--a light scouting plane, for instance, would have a much higher ceiling than a heavy bombing plane.