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Martin Model 210

1943 WORLD WAR 2 X-PLANE

History of the Martin Model 210

Longtime aircraft manufacturer Glenn L. Martin Corporation uses the "Type 210" designation to cover several designs related to United States Navy (USN) carrier attack aircraft requirements. This requirement culminated in the classic Douglas A-1 "Skyraider", which not only worked brilliantly, but also spawned a plethora of designs from various manufacturers.

This includes Martin's contribution, which in turn covers "Type 210-1" (the focus of this article), "Type 210-1A" and Type 210-2A - the design work for this series was revealed in August 1943 and broke out for the second World War II (1939-1945).

The three designs differ as follows: the 210-1 model features two liquid-cooled Allison V-1710 inline piston engines, while the 210-1A model is essentially the same aircraft but tuned for lower regions A turbojet carries its fuselage. The Type 210-2A was designed to accommodate the Pratt & Whitney R-4360-13 "Major Wasp", only this version of the three was further developed into the US Navy's AM-1 "Maurer" - although production was completed at 151 Afterwards, he was favored by the Douglas Skyraider.

Visually, the proposed Type 210-1 bears a striking resemblance to the Bell P-39 "Airacobra" from the early days of the war, albeit significantly larger. The single-seat cockpit with a teardrop-shaped transparent roof is armored and is located slightly forward midship, above the straight-wing monoplane. These wing elements are mounted low and taper to rounded tips on both edges. The fuselage is streamlined from nose to tail, the latter having a truncated vertical stabilizer and a low-set horizontal plane.

For ground operation, or in this case deck operation, the aircraft should have the same tricycle landing gear arrangement (two main legs, one front strut - fully retractable) with the main legs recessed into the wing and the front strut folded back towards the centerline of the fuselage. The aircraft was designed with a barrel length of 51.4 feet and a wingspan of 51.11 feet.

The inclusion of two Allison in-line engines was a unique design approach for this proposed attacker: the V-1710 in-line engines were housed in separate compartments, one in front of the pilot's position and the other One is located behind the pilot's position. Together these will be used to "counter-rotate" the 2 x three-bladed propeller units in the nose - maximizing propulsive power while eliminating the natural torque of a single engine.

Like other naval fighters of the period, the main aircraft of the Type 210-1 had a folding wing mass with elements hinged outside of the fixed forward-firing armament.

This weapon consists of 4 x 20mm automatic cannons buried in the wings, two cannons on the wing elements and mounted directly on the wing folding mechanism. In addition, the aircraft is also equipped with torpedo carrying capability, and a 2000-pound Mk 13 series torpedo gun can be hung under the belly.

It is understood that the attack aircraft will also carry air-to-air missiles and conventionally dropped bombs as needed to attack various targets on land or at sea - the multi-role nature is an inherent requirement of this type of fighter.

Like other proposals submitted to USN during this period, the Martin Model 210 did not go beyond the scope of company drawings.