Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1955-12-05

battleships and bring the whole
world to a vivid realization of the
possibilities of a few men and a
few swift aerial demons" he said.
Physician Differed
But not so prophetic was the
family physician who wrote his
parents when he was "a years
old, advising, IF you have any
influence with that wild-eyed,
hallucinated. visionary young
man. call him of before he is
killed. Have him devote his
energies to substantial. feasible
and profitable pursuits, leaving
dreaming to the professional
dreamers."
I The letter was motivated by
Glenn Martins work in his first
aircraft "factory"-an abandoned
Southern Methodist church at
/ Santa Ana, Calf, which he rent
ed for $12 a month. At the time
he had to black out the windows
ito protect his own sanity in the
eyes of unbelievers.
| One believer was his mother,
Mrs. Arminta Martin, who held
ia kerosene lamp for her son
while he put his first plane to-
lgether in the old Methodist
church.
/ So intense was her faith in him
that she became the first woman
to fly in 1912 in a plane built
and flown by her son. Because
1T was not equipped for pasSen-
gers. she sat on the front of the
lower wing. holding to one of the
struts. She died in 1853, but not
until after her son set up the
Minta Martin aeronautical re-
search laboratory at the Institute
of the Aeronautical Sciences in
New York.
He Believed In Self Also
Another believer was himself
Reaching for early aeronautical
knowledge, he admittedly was in
the shadow Of the pioneering
Wright Brothers, but his ad-
vancements were coincidentally
parallel with the Wrights'.
| In their early stages of aviA-
ton, the Wrights were intro
verted: modest. Not so, Glenn
Martin. He not only taught him
lself to ny as they, did, but he
exploited himself as they didn't.
He tossed baseballs from a
plane: delivered newspapers by
! air. took part in races; few the
| first airmail in California and
made the first over ocean flight
from the coast to Catalina Is
land.
| But he was no swashbuckler
in goggles.
Probably no other man In the
history of aviation could claim
so many "firsts" as the tall quiet
bachelor who combined the char
acteristics Of the pioneer and
industrial exploiter: the artist
land the mechanic: the visionary
and the banker
/ List Of Achievements
| Some of those "firsts"::
/ A take-off under a planes own
power "a 12-horsepower Ford !;
Ia parachute which could be
opened by the jumper at will:
participation in the Army's
closely guarded bombing expert
Iments in 1918; construction of
the first multi-passenger air.
plane. twin-engine bomber; tor
Epedo and dive bombers and the
isuper-cargo ship. the Martin
Mars.
/ Yet his vision went far beyond
the use of the airplane as en-
implement of war. His COM
mercial air transports fly the
airways, purring from the vast
plant near Baltimore.
! A monument to his continued
faith in aviation, whether in war
or in peace, stands at the Uni
iversity of Maryland-the Glenn
L. Martin Institute of Tech
nology. into which the pioneer
put some 1913 million of his own.
/ But until the last, the pioneer
instinct was still in him. Dur
ing an illness last month, when
he scoffed at people for making
a lot fuss about a bad cold" he
had, he told newsmen he had
been working hard on a secret
weapons development and an ex-
lplosives invention.
Conservation a Hobby
He was convalescing from
that sick spell when he was
stricken yesterday. His doctor
had promised Mr.. Martin would
be able to hunt ducks before
the end of this hunting season.
Waterfowl conservation was the
aviation pioneers principal
hobby.
His firm was one of the pio-
neers in construction OF launch
ing gear for earth satellites.
| Mr.. Martin was born at
Macksburg, Iowa, January II,
1886. and at an early age the
aeronaut in him was evident.
His boxkites outstripped any,
thing other boys could build and
Eventually he began selling them
for Is cents.
He took a two-year business
course at Kansas Wesleyan Col
Ilege and, when the family moved
to Santa Ana, he set himself up
in the automobile business. At
%, he had an income of $4,000
annually.
! His father, Clarence Y. Martin,
a hardware merchant, moved the