Flying Yacht Anyone?
The Martin Mars Transport Airplane: A War-time Contribution to Peace-time World Commerce
Notes: A promotional publication (marked "restricted" on the cover because the Second World War was still underway) encouraging civilian adoption of the Martin Mars Transport, a massive flying boat that the Glenn L. Martin Company was developing to carry cargo for the Navy. The Transport was the planned successor to the China Clipper and the Martin Mars, a patrol bomber built for the Pacific. The Martin Mars had already set the world record for heaviest payload carried by an airplane and the Transport was even bigger, with a 200-foot wingspan.
This large (15-1/2 by 12 inches, oblong) book, fully illustrated with color drawings of the planned airplane, offers images and statistics for planes carrying passengers, cargo, or a combination of both, with ranges of up to 3500 miles. The Martin company even envisioned floating airport terminals serving fleets of flying boats. Only five planes were ever built, all for the Navy based on orders placed near the end of the Second World War. No civilian planes were ever completed. Until recently, two of the Martin Mars Transport planes were still in use as firefighting water bombers.
OCLC locates three copies of this book promoting one of the more fanciful paths taken by aeronautical engineers. While few flying boats were ever built, they have captured the public imagination and many people will recognize the names of other planes of the type, like the China Clipper and the Spruce Goose.
[40] pages. Comb-bound and wrapped in cloth-covered boards.
Edition + Condition: First edition (first printing). A fine copy, with a presentation label to Irving G. McCann. In the original box with a die-cut cardboard insert and ribbon to facilitate removing the book. Edges to box top worn, some corners split, generally good to very good.
Publication: Baltimore, MD: Glenn L. Martin Company, 1944.
Item No: #360751
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