The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1920-07-06
Aero Magazine That Would be Able
TO Torpedo an Enemy Vessel
Developed by Aviator Glenn
Martin.
! FACTOR IN COAST SAFETY
Invention Opens Up New Field Of
Naval Wsrfare-Weii Equip
ped for Fight
ing.

What is declared by the u s. Air
Service, an aero magazine, to be A
step that opens up a new field in
naval warfare has been taken through
the development of navy torpedo
airPlane by Glenn L. Martin, formerly
of Santa Ana, Calf now aeroplane
manufacturer with his plant at CIeve-
| land, Ohio. With the use Of this
| plane the torpedoing Of enemy yes
! sells would become tremendous fac
| tor in coast protection
Martin has gone heavily into the
| manufacture OF big machines Of the
bomber type, for use in passenger
| and ma1lcarrying in peace time
Differences in body design mainly
distinguish the four big machines
that the Martin factory is making.
First is the bomber, for war pur-
poses. with a wing spread of seventy.
one feet and five inches.
Second is the Martin mail plane.
The United States postoffice depart
ment has six of the Martin mail
planes IN service between New York
City and Chicago. The use Of these
planes enables the government to do
away with the use of one sixty-foot
mail car per day in each direction
between the two cities.
Third is the navy torpedo plane.
which can take OFF from the deck Of
warship or sea sled, swoop down
and launch its torpedo and then fly
back to shore Should an engage
ment take place far out to sea so
that return TO shore would be i'm
possible, the plane would still be
safe. for it is equipped with air bags
to keep it anoat and with attach
ments in the upper wings by means
OF which it can be lifted out Of the
water.
Fourth is the Martin passenger
plane, which carries pilot and
eleven passengers with four-hour
supply of fuel. 1t flies us miles an
hour. This plane with complete
equipment costs $4,000 at the fac
tory.
Martins most recent achievement
in aeroplane making is the navy tor
pedo plane. Concerning the tests
given that machine, the q. S. Air
Service says:
"A new field of naval warfare is
opened by the recent official tests Of
the Glenn l. Martin torpedo plane,
when it broke several records for
speed and climb under heavy load,
exceeding the contract specifications
for performance.
With three men, two machine
guns and ammunition, four hours of
fuel and a big torpedo weighing 1850
pounds, total weight being 10000
pounds, the large machine left the
ground in fourteen seconds. With a
ten-minute climb on the program, in
the course of which the specifica-
tons demanded that they resca an
altitude of 1000 feet, Springer nosed
the plane towards the sky and had
reached his 4.oo0-foot mark IN ex.
actly six minutes, according to the
Official time. In ten minutes the
plane reached $500 feet, almost a
$50 per cent performance.
THE performance were made be-
fore a trial board OF naval officers
who had journeyed to Cleveland for
the tests Commander N b. Chase, !
q. S. n. and Lieutenant E. 3. Roger, |
U. S. N, rode with Springer as OBJ
servers, while Lieutenant J. p. Fit1 |
patrick and Ensign G. II. Mccarthy |
took note OF the performance from |
the ground. All were apparently |
much pleased with the results, and |
it was announced that the plane |
would be flown by Springer to Nc
Cook field, Dayton, and later prob
ably to Boiling field
THE plane is duplicate In most
respects OF the Martin bomber, the
chief difference being in the landing
gear. which has been split to allow !,
the carrying and launching of a full
sized navy torpedo weighing 1,650
pounds The plane has a span Of II
feet inches, a height OF IA feet
and is IS feet from nose to tail. It
has no stagger, no sweep back and
no dihedraL"